Iron Lake: Cork O'Connor, Book 1

Excellent well written mystery thriller. I'm not quite as dumb as Jo so I figured it out long before she did, but she was rather distracted. The hero of this series isn't your typical dashing, daring, unbelievable character, but rather just a normal guy with normal guy faults and strengths. That makes him perfect for this series. I look forward to more.

I'm a HUGE CJ Box fan. As I listened to this narrator - David Chandler (also the voice of Box's Joe Pickett) I had to keep reminding myself this was Cork nor Joe. Cork and Joe are brothers from different mothers.

Finding Krueger and his large collection of Cork novels I feel like I've found long lost CJ Box stories. Both involve rural outdoors and a straight arrow hero with a family. Just enough differences in the two (Joe and Cork) to make all the books interesting.

This is a great book. This is were it all started and I think that you all will love this one.
Roger

I have been re-visiting in audio the first volumes in some of my favorite series! William Kent Krueger's is as good as I remembered, and, with David Chandler's terrific narration, listening is even better than reading. "Iron Lake" is full of non-stop suspense and introduces characters who grab your interest and sympathy at once. Ex-Sheriff Cork O'Connor is a decent man with an interesting cultural heritage, a troubled past, and a complicated family life. You'll want to follow him anywhere!

This is my first book by William Kent Krueger and I was really pleased. I really enjoyed the background of this upper Minnesota setting and the Native Indian culture. I figured out the "whodunit" too soon, but the story was still interesting. There were some parts of the story where my heart was really beating fast so I am looking forward to continuing this series. I love the main character, Cork O'Connor. The narrator, David Chandler, did a good job. I don't remember him using different voices for the different characters, but the writing was so well done that I always knew whose voice was talking. The dialogues were very well done and fun to listen to throughout the story.

This was an enjoyable mystery, although it tends to wander a bit and drones on too long about the plight of the Ojibwe tribe and their exploitation by whites, all of which is probably true but for the most part, tangential to the plot. On the other hand, his descriptions of the wilds of Minnesota and its history add to the drama. I understood that this was the first of a series with Cork O'Connor as the protagonist, so however dire his situation appeared to be at any point, I knew somehow he would survive. I liked that he and his wife were multidimensional, having both great strengths and evident weaknesses. Many of their adversaries, however, are more one-dimensional, purely cunning and evil, without any sign of conscience. The female leads are both very beautiful, and sex is always passionate, thrilling, and uncomplicated. The plot is intricate, but fairly predictable, and the ending was, for me, typical of the genre, not at all unexpected. I was rather surprised to learn that Iron Lake won the 1999 Anthony Award for best first novel. The quality of the prose does not compare to that of Louise Penny or Michael Connelly. However, from other reviews, I infer that the writing becomes stronger with time, and note that subsequent books in this series won Anthony Awards for best novel of the year in 2005 & 2006. His latest, Trickster's Point, the twelfth in the series, is currently #12 on the NY Times hardcover best sellers list. So I'd be willing to give a later book in the series a try sometime, but am in no rush to do so. David Chandler was an excellent narrator; I enjoyed listening to him.

My sister recommended this book and she was right...it is a good read.

The plot allowed me to think I knew Who did it" and Why? Then I was wrong. It carried me along thought snowing nights and ice filled lakes. I seemed real in person and deed.

I will look for this author again and return to this listen again.

I live in Northern Wisconsin and been to the range many times so it was easy to picture the scenes and the people and the town. The character were especially colorful and I enjoyed the mysteries, twists and turns of the plot.

The main character has such an interesting complex personality that I want to listen to the next book right away so I can find out more about him.
I love that part of the country and now I can't wait to get back up to the Boundary Waters as soon as spring arrives (That's late June up there)

Northern Minnesotan dialect

One half chapter seemed to be repeated right after itself but slightly differently. I listened to it 3 times and I never did figure it out

It's different from my home. The caracters seem real.

Ordinary Grace....also by Krueger. I am really enjoying his writing.