Boundary Waters

This is the 2nd in William Kent Krueger's "Cork O'Connor" series [see post for Iron Lake] set in northern Minnesota. The town of Aurora is adjacent to the the Ojibwe reservation and the Boundary Waters, a densely forested area of lakes and mountains that crosses the border into Canada. Cork is approached by recording executive, William Raye, to help locate a famous country and western singer, Shiloh, that is believed to be hiding out in the area.  She has distant connections to the Ojibwe through her grandmother who lived and ran a small business in Aurora. Shiloh's father was never identified by her mother and her mother was murdered when Shiloh was 4 years old, so Raye took on the responsibility of raising her. He now says he is worried about her and Cork agrees to help find the young woman. When Shiloh's great uncle who has been supporting Shiloh's seclusion in a cabin in the deep wildermess fails to appear for 2 weeks, Shiloh is convinced something has happened to him and she must find it within herself to figure out a way back to civilization. Told alternately from the perspective of Shiloh and the group of searchers that includes Cork, Raye and some dubious federal officials, all come to realize that a 3rd party is trying to find Shiloh intent on not rescue but murder. The motive for the lethal hunt does not become clear until nearly the end of the book and the reader will be cheering on Shiloh and her would be rescuers the whole time.  But even among the would-be rescuers, there are murky motives for finding Shiloh. 

Kirkus says of this second installment, "Cork remains a spritely, intriguing hero in a world of wolves, portages, heavy weather, and worrisome humans,..." Similarly, Publishers Weekly offers, "Krueger follows up his sure-handed debut novel, Iron Lake (1998), with an equally effective second thriller..." and goes on to conclude their review with "Krueger's writing, strong and bold yet with the mature mark of restraint, pulls this exciting search-and-rescue mission through with a hard yank."