The River We Remember

William Kent Krueger writes novels that always impress me. This mystery set in 1958 is masterfully written with beautiful description of the landscape of Minnesota and strong development of an interesting cast of small town characters.

The story is set along the fictional Alabaster River, in which a prominent citizen of the small community of Jewel, Minnesota is found floating dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation leads to Noah Bluestone, a Dakota Sioux, who worked for the victim with whom he had a long-standing antagonistic relationship. While most of the town condemns him as guilty due to this Native-American ancestry, a few members of the community question the evidence and search for an alternative suspect. Through the investigation, many personal secrets are revealed.

This book is very character driven, which I love. The reader gains much insight into the histories and the motivations of these small town characters. Many of them are dealing with trauma from WWII while others are trying to cope with difficult events in their personal lives. Strong bonds are creates between characters during the course of events in the book.

The book explores themes on topics such as prejudice, trauma, coming of age, abuse, and redemption. Krueger handles these topics with sensitivity, but does not shy away from the ugliness and hard truths associated with them.

I highly recommend this book, along with Krueger's other historical fiction novels Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land. All three are excellent.

Try as I might, I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. It was good, yet, I can't say I particularly enjoyed it. The pacing was good, the writing was great, the mystery was as expected for the tone of the book, and yet, I was left uninvested. I struggled to keep the characters straight and overall didn't connect with them. Not for me, I guess. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy a quieter mystery that emphasizes the prose over the thrill.