Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

 

"I have been told, Corcoran O'Connor, that the heart has two chambers. I believe it because I do know that the heart has two sides. One is love and the other is fear. One creates, the other destroys. Not every person kills, but every person could. It is how the Great Spirit created us. I do not pretend to understand why; I only know it is so."

         -Henry Meloux, from the novel

      

This is the eighth book in the Cork O'Connor series by this author. I still have at least 10 to go! I am rating this one only a 4 because it confused me at times and involved drug lords and gang violence. With many characters it was hard to keep the good guys and bad guys separate in my mind.

Former sheriff of Tamarack County (Minnesota) Cork O'Connor is now a private investigator. When a leader of the Red Boyz, an Ojibwe band, and his wife are murdered, Cork gets involved in the search for the killer. Cork's teenage daughter, Annie, is a friend of the young brother of the murdered man, providing a subplot of sorts, eventually ending in a frightening and all-too-familiar scenario.

Cork and his family have become familiar and special to me. A favorite secondary character is Henry Meloux, a Mide, or member of the Grand Medicine Society, a healer of the body and spirit, quoted above. He is a longtime friend of Cork, a nonagenarian who has a beautiful philosophy and always offers wise counsel. I have decided from now on, I will start my blog posts on this series with a quote from Henry.

And now on to Heaven's Keep, book #9. I will keep reading one per month until I finish the series.