Iron Lake

Cork O'Connor, Book 1

By: William Kent Krueger

Narrated by: David Chandler

Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Anthony Award-winning author William Kent Krueger crafts this riveting tale about a small Minnesota town’s ex-sheriff who is having trouble retiring his badge. Cork O’Connor loses his job after being blamed for a tragedy on the local Anishinaabe Indian reservation. But he must set aside his personal demons when a young boy goes missing on the same day a judge commits suicide—and no one but O’Connor suspects foul play.

Solve another case with Cork O'Connor.

©1998 William Kent Krueger (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Krueger makes Cork a real person beneath his genre garments, mostly by showing him dealing with the needs of his two very different teenage daughters. And the author's deft eye for the details of everyday life brings the town and its peculiar problems to vivid life." ( Publishers Weekly)

Iron Lake

I just discovered the William Kent Krueger series and love the 1st book. I am looking forward the next book.

Good writer but too much domestic soap

Often felt like book was 60 % domestic soap opera and 40 % crime novel. The writer was too good to quit on but found myself wanting to finish just to get on to something else

Cork was a bacon

The overall story was good. Extremely well performed. The main character was a buffoon; it’s hard to imagine a grown man who had been in law-enforcement in Chicago and then a county sheriff making so many boneheaded mistakes. His constant mistakes took a lot away from the believability of the story.

Really good first read.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Has it all- detective, romance, intrigue and western touches. Ready for Book #2 in series.

Loved it

The story was very good although descriptions of everything made it drag and slow down at times. Narration was excellent. I will definitely read this author again.

Good story, but….

This book either needed to be longer or a sequel. Too many loose ends and unanswered questions.

Having said that, I really enjoyed it. Good story and great narrator.

Loved this book!

This book is well written and well read with multifaceted plots and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this Audible book.

Good book for the road.

Goid book for the road. Keeps you awake on a long run. Good narrator. Good mystery.

Fans of Pickett and CJ Boxx will enjoy.

Recommended by a friend and did not disappoint. Reminds me of the Joe Pickett series although this has more literary aspirations. First in the series but hope it continues to avoid the temptation of killing the development of a character for a cheap thrill ending.

Engaging story

While I enjoy mysteries, my main genre of late has been urban fantasy, but my mother really likes this series. Add the Minnesota setting (lifelong Minnesotan here), and strong Native American elements (a background I typically enjoy in my reading) and I had several reasons to give this a try.

I actually liked this a lot more than I expected, enough to pick up the next few books in the series before I even finished this one. It started a little slow for me as it took me a while to warm up to,Cork—I prefer stories where I like the main characters, because I want to be cheering them on—but I did get there eventually. The story was layered and, once beyond the first couple of chapters, the pace and action picked up and had me resenting interruptions and eager to get back to it. There are plenty of interesting, well-rounded characters, and the background of both the familiar Minnesota locations and the Native culture added a lot of richness to the story. I would have liked a little more conclusion, or maybe an epilogue to follow up with the characters, but I expect I’ll find what I’m looking for in the coming books.

I thought the narrator did a great job throughout. I don’t want to be paying attention to the narration instead of the story; if I don’t have to think about the narration and I don’t have trouble telling characters apart, that’s exactly what I’m looking for, and this narrator succeeded admirably. I did see a review criticizing the narrator’s accent—well, more the lack of a Minnesota accent, I think—but as a Minnesotan myself, it wasn’t something I noticed.

All in all, an entertaining story that gave me both Longmire and Tony Hillerman vibes, and I’ll definitely be continuing on with the series.