Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Iron Lake: Cork O'Connor, Book 1

Top positive review

Great characters

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2023

While this is a mystery, I think I really enjoyed the people in the town. Cork, Jo, Molly, Henry, Wanda....I'll look forward to reading more about them in the next story!!
I also appreciated the setting. The cold, the snow, and the difficulty in getting around in the winter were NAILED!

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Amazon Customer

basic murder mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 21, 2023

A good beach read- or cozy snowy day read. A murder mystery, average..written for the big screen where you have very evil and sneaky guys and unreal situations and murders and explosions,etc. Not really the authors genre- I much prefer his other human interest books which are excellent.

10,777 total ratings, 1,270 with reviews

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From the United States

Tee

Great characters

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2023

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 9, 2020

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I left Central Wisconsin 56 years ago but was painfully reminded of the harsh winter climate when reading this novel set in Minnesota. Add in the early morning paper route one of the young characters was responsible for which required newspapers to be delivered during all kinds of weather. Another similarity was that both of us were Eagle Scouts and members of the Order of the Arrow. And then of course we had a hunting cabin (or tar paper shack is a better description) just on the other side of a bog close to the Manitowish Waters Ojibwa Reservation. The Ojibwa by the way had much better and far more comfortable accommodations than we had. While the bog served as a natural boundary, on occasion we could tell that we were being watched, but we never did discover who was doing the watching. So the similarities I lived through were prevalent in this story.

This personal history helped me relate to the people, climate and scenes described in "Iron Lake". I normally read aggressive crime/thriller/mystery novels which are set in large urban populations where the technology used is up-to-date, the urban scenes dark and dreary, and a host of attractive women seem to make up the majority of the population. Many of those novels don't even identify the race or heritage of the characters, leaving the reader with a homogeneous feeling. Mr. Kruger however is very specific on race, body type, character, level of intelligence, and the goals of each of his actors.

I discovered this novel when I switched up my method of discovering new authors to read. Recommendations from friends helped as well as tracking down some of the novels that Amazon sends me outlines of. Then it's a matter of weaning down the choices further to determine the average rating given by reviewers -- not just to each specific novel selected but also to the other works written by the same author. William Kent Krueger stood out for the quality of all of his works and because of the rather unusual setting for his Cork O'Connor mystery series.

This novel turned out to be an exceptional selection. "Iron Lake" was written 20 years ago and was such a good seller that a twentieth anniversary edition was just published for those of us unfamiliar with this author's skill set. The northern winter scenery was a story in itself and figured prominently in the plot. Nothing moved too fast and in fact some critical thinking was required to keep up with the characters' thoughts and actions. But the novel itself proved to be an extremely enjoyable read especially since the first person narratives were often given by several of the main characters. That was extremely helpful in deciding why some actions were taken and how those activities affected the lives of each of them. Great job Mr. Krueger. I'll be taking another trip with Cork very soon.

33 people found this helpful

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Jana L Engele

Love this author!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 22, 2023

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After reading Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land I was wanted to read more from this author so I started the Cork O’Connor series. Good mystery! Can’t wait to dive into the prequel, Lighting Strikes.

One person found this helpful

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Virgie Alexander

emotional and heart stopping

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 17, 2023

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A few parts developed slowly but wound up to s cashing finish with lots of loss, twists and turns. A good easy read with high emotions blooming through out. Some doubt about the final outcome remain - probably reserved for the next book in the. Series.

2 people found this helpful

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Tasha

Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2023

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I'm reading through the entire Cork O'Connor series, and while they're all excellent, this novel, which opens the series, is the best yet. Krueger presents compelling, believable characters, and a plot that keeps a reader turning the pages. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

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James L. Thane

Introducing Cork O'Connor

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 15, 2014

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After working a number of years as a Chicago cop, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor moves his wife and children back to Auora, Minnesota, his tiny home town in the northern part of the state. His objective is to provide his family with a better quality of life, but those dreams go up in smoke very early on, both in his professional and personal lives.

Aurora borders the Anishinaabe Indian reservation, which is enjoying a newfound prosperity as a result of the casino that has just been built on the reservation and which is practically minting money. O'Connor is part Anishinaabe himself and would seem to be the ideal bridge between the two societies. But when things take a decidedly bad turn, O'Connor is forced to stand in a recall election and is booted out of office. As the book opens, he's reduced to eking out a living running a seasonal hamburger stand. Meanwhile, his wife has become a very successful attorney and the two are now estranged.

When the town's most prominent citizen, a political boss named Judge Parrant, is found dead from a shotgun blast, the new sheriff declares it a suicide, but O'Connor isn't so sure. On the same evening that the judge dies, a young Indian boy goes missing from his paper route in a huge blizzard. Is there a possible connection between the two events?

Though no longer having any legal authority to do so, O'Connor begins investigating both developments. This will inevitably get him in hot water with a lot of people, and in the meantime, his family situation continues to deteriorate. O'Connor is also feeling guilty because, in the wake of the separation from his wife, he has secretly begun seeing a beautiful waitress with a hot sauna and a bad reputation.

The strength of the book lies principally in Krueger's description of the brutal winter landscape in which the story plays out. He's also carefully researched this history of the Anishinaabe and describes their culture and society sympathetically and knowledgeably. It's a complex story with lots of twists and turns, and a reader would be well-advised to have a hot toddy or two close at hand as a remedy for the freezing Minnesota winter.

If I have a concern about the book it lies principally with the whole idea of Cork O'Connor conducting this investigation with no legal authority to do so. This involves him meddling in crime scenes and breaking and entering into several buildings in search of evidence, legal niceties be damned. The new sheriff is something of a Casper Milquetoast, who occasionally warns O'Connor off, but who at other times works with him. It's hard to imaging this scenario ever playing out in real life, and virtually all of the evidence that O'Connor gathers would be inadmissible in any court, given that it was obtained illegally and without the benefit of warrants, proper chain of custody and other such minor matters. But if one can suspend disbelief long enough to overlook these issues, this is a very solid start to the Cork O'Connor series.

11 people found this helpful

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Peter R. Nichols

Not sure

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2022

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I'm not sure how much I liked or did not like "Iron Lake". It certainly does not live up to " Tender", the only other book I have read by Krueger, either in depth or poignancy. That was a very special book, and led me to try the first of the "Cork" series. In comparison, I found this story overly complicated and with a few disturbing patterns. The main character is predictable, always being blindsided, getting into situations where someone is sneaking up on him, getting beaten up but not killed. In the end, I chose to take this latter pattern as humor. I did appreciate the various passages of insight on life, which are also found in "Tender". I haven decided, yet, whether to try another in the "Cork" series.

6 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

basic murder mystery

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 21, 2023

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 7, 2023

Verified Purchase

This is the start of a series that promises much. I am without question going to number two not only because of the engrossing yarn but for the settings and perspectives presented.

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commercial banker

good start

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 13, 2023

Verified Purchase

Not as deep as Purgatory Ridge but worth the read. Love the use of the last three chapters. Have to read # 2.

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5 star		53%
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