A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series) - Windigo Island

It is a slow read............lots of Indian terms and content. Great descriptions of the western Lake Superior area. Very poor ending, like the story just quit. If you are from northern Wisconson or NE Minnesota you will like the book.

Krueger delivers again. I love Cork O'Connor and the way Krueger manages to weave a mystery while at the same time delivering a thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate protagonist. The Native American aspect of his stories always intrigues me and brings in a spiritual quality that I find quite compelling. Cork's daughter, Jennifer, is a big part of this particular installment and I found that character to be a little annoying. One minute she's written as if she's an extremely sensitive, nurturing, intelligent young woman, but the next she's doing something stupid and thoughtless. Not sure what it is, but I find her character bothersome and wasn't the least interested in her outcomes.

Clearly Windigo Island is William Kent Krueger’s poorest work, especially when compared to his outstanding preceding novel Ordinary Grace and Krueger’s earlier novels I’ve read. Windigo Island’s plot is naïve -- a teenage Indian girl is abducted to be a whore and her family hires Krueger’s frequent protagonist Cork O’Connor to find her – that’s the best this book offers. The text is filled with hundreds and hundreds of references to a mystical Indian spirit and paranormal evil sex trafficker both named Windigo – utter hocus pocus. The scenes along the way to the inevitable return of the teenage girl and the killing of evil Windigo are mind-numbing; no mystery or character development here! T. Hillerman was the master of Indian folklore woven into the fabric of an interesting mystery story-line and M. Cole’s earliest novels followed in suit – but Windigo Island is trash, rated 5 Stars to ward off in unwary.

Windigo Island is one of his best books! Great plot; great writing; a good man behind both the plot and the writing. I grew up in the real Aurora. I love reading about the fictional Aurora, and Duluth, Superior, Bayfield, and the other parts of the north country that I know and love. I believe in this book he's also laid the ground work for future books featuring Rainy and Cork, Stephen, Jenny and Daniel, the Native American Wisconsin DNR officer. I love that he integrates Native American people and their culture into the stories. We have much to learn from native people.

A good book. Normally his books are deeper, that said I still enjoyed the book tremendously. I also appreciated that he brought human trafficking to the forefront. It can and does happen everywhere.

We've reading William Kent Krueger's books since he started writing the Cork O'Connor series. Each has been a very satisfying read. We love hearing about the Native American lore the threads through his stories. We also enjoying learning more about living in the northern part of our state of Minnesota and about the issues the affect the lives of the folks there. And of course, we find the mysteries engrossing with all the twists and turns. Cork O'Connor and his family seem like regular folks, who just keep trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing with their lives like the rest of us.

A good book. Normally his books are deeper, that said I still enjoyed the book tremendously. I also appreciated that he brought human trafficking to the forefront. It can and does happen everywhere.

We've reading William Kent Krueger's books since he started writing the Cork O'Connor series. Each has been a very satisfying read. We love hearing about the Native American lore the threads through his stories. We also enjoying learning more about living in the northern part of our state of Minnesota and about the issues the affect the lives of the folks there. And of course, we find the mysteries engrossing with all the twists and turns. Cork O'Connor and his family seem like regular folks, who just keep trying to figure out what they are supposed to be doing with their lives like the rest of us.

I have enjoyed Krueger's books very much. This story spoke so much about how we raise our children what teach them. The problems in this book are real and ignored still today. Hopefully we will all join the fight to protect all children.

I like how Krueger keeps on developing the individual characters. Makes them more interesting. I especially liked the later part of the story when they went to western North Dakota - my old stomping grounds!