THE RIVER WE REMEMBER - William Kent Krueger

In the southwest corner of the state of Minnesota is the small town of Jewel. It is 1958 and the War is still fresh in people's minds and Memorial Day has significant meaning to most. But this particular Memorial Day, while many are celebrating the day, the body of Jimmy Quinn (a wealthy, local landowner) is found in the Alabaster River - dead from a shotgun blast.

No one seems to upset at his passing, not even his own family (a daughter living in Iowa won't even come back for the funeral) but the general talk in town is that it might have been a suicide (he's tried before and he was a heavy drinker) but it was most likely a murder done by Noah Bluestone. Bluestone, a local Native American who grew up in Jewel, had worked for Quinn and was fired by Quinn just days before the murder.

Despite growing up in Jewel, Bluestone has always been an 'outsider'. Being 'Indian' is enough to have most convinced he committed the murder, but coming home from World War II with a Japanese wife (who also worked for the Quinn's) has really set him apart. Now the community has already decided he's guilty and some are getting restless and want to take action.

Sheriff Brody Dern finds himself with more than he can handle alone - investigating the murder and protecting Noah Bluestone whether he's guilty or not - and gets help from the recently retired sheriff and a part time deputy.

There's definitely a lot to like about this book.  Author William Kent Krueger definitely knows how to tell a good story and he's no stranger to the mystery genre. The writing here is poetic - lyrical and hypnotic. His writing will definitely draw the reader in.

I did have a couple of complaints, however.

First, Krueger spends an inordinate amount of time setting up and then telling us that Noah Bluestone is guilty.  He's the first, and for the longest time, only suspect. But then something will happen (a gut feeling from the sheriff or a piece of evidence) and we won't think he's guilty, but then Krueger goes right back to telling us that he must be guilty. Frankly, there was so much attention being paid to Bluestone that it seemed pretty clear to me that Krueger was setting us up for it to be someone else.  It was just too much time and attention trying to make it seemed like Noah was guilty.

The ending was a surprise for me, which I appreciate, and I think that we might have had some hints of where this was going to go very early, but then we were led down the Bluestone path. The meat of the story - the actual murder investigation - doesn't happen until quite late in the book.

A very minor point, but one that kept my from being truly immersed in the book.  As a western reader I expect to find the names of people, places, and things that are familiar to me.  Especially here in a book that takes place essentially just a few miles from where I live. An unfamiliar name will stand out, and probably for good reason (like "Bluestone"). So why confuse us (or me, at least) and give our male protagonist, the previous sheriff, what we might generally consider to be a feminine name (especially in 1958) - "Connie" while a female lead in the book (who doesn't appear until chapter 13) the typically male name of "Charlie". Connie and Charlie, male and female, respectively.

Since I don't sit down and read the book in one sitting, I'd come across a name and have to remind myself "Connie is the male sheriff and Charlie is the female lawyer" which slowed the reading down.

I enjoyed the insight in Noah Bluestone and I liked the very little bit we got to know his wife but it was too little and very much too late.  The second half of the book is really excellent, but you have to read a lot about how Noah Bluestone must be guilty before you get there.

I can understand Krueger maybe wanting to take a break from his Cork O'Connor series, but darned if I don't miss him.

Looking for a good book? The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger is a historical police procedural mystery with beautiful writing but a bit slow on developing the mystery.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

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The River We Remember

author: William Kent Krueger

publisher: Atria Books

ISBN: 9781982179212 

hardcover, 421 pages