Heaven's Keep: A Novel (Cork O'Connor Mystery Series)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 141655677X ISBN 13: 9781416556770

Publisher: Atria, 2010

Intrepid hero Cork O’Connor faces the most harrowing mission of his life when a charter plane carrying his wife, Jo, goes missing in a snowstorm over the Wyoming Rockies.

Months after the tragedy, two women show up on Cork’s doorstep with evidence that the pilot of Jo’s plane was not the man he claimed to be. It may not be definitive proof, but it’s a ray of light in the darkness. Agreeing to investigate, Cork travels to Wyoming, where he battles the interference of local law enforcement who may be on the take, the open hostility of the Northern Arapaho, who have much to lose if the truth is known, and the continuing attempts on his life by assassins who shadow his every move. At the center of all the danger and deception lies the possibility that Jo’s disappearance was not the end of her, that somewhere along the labyrinthine path of his search, maybe even in the broad shadow of Heaven’s Keep itself, Cork will find her alive and waiting for him.

Review:

Book Description
When a charter plane carrying Cork O'Connor's wife, Jo, goes missing in a snowstorm over the Wyoming Rockies, Cork must accept the terrible truth that his wife is gone forever. But is she? In Heaven's Keep, celebrated author William Kent Krueger puts his intrepid hero through the most harrowing mission of his life.

Months after the tragedy, two women show up on Cork's doorstep with evidence that the pilot of Jo's plane was not the man he claimed to be. It may not be definitive proof, but it's a ray of light in the darkness surrounding Cork's loss. Agreeing to investigate, he travels to Wyoming, where he battles the interference of local law enforcement who may be on the take, the open hostility of the Northern Arapaho, who have much to lose if the truth is known, and the continuing attempts on his life by assassins who shadow his every move.

At the center of all the danger and deception lies the possibility that Jo's disappearance was not the end of her, that somewhere along the labyrinthine path of his search, maybe even in the broad shadow of Heaven's Keep itself, Cork will find her alive and waiting for him.

Amazon Exclusive: Vince Flynn Reviews Heaven's Keep

Vince Flynn's writing career began in 1998, upon the publication of his first novel--and first bestseller--Term Limits. Since then, he has written ten political thrillers that feature renegade CIA operative Mitch Rapp. His two most recent novels, Protect and Defend and Extreme Measures, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers. His next book, Pursuit of Honor, will be published by Atria in October. He, like William Kent Krueger, has made his home in the Twin Cities, a longtime urban sanctuary for writers of every genre. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of Heaven's Keep.

William Kent Krueger is the real deal. A dedicated wordsmith, you can find him most days at the St. Clair Broiler in St. Paul, hunched over a notebook, handwriting his latest masterpiece. Kent has written nine novels featuring half-Irish, half-Native American private detective Corcoran O'Connor. Every one of them, from Iron Lake to Heaven's Keep, is brimming with suspense and taps into our darkest fear: the inevitability that our loved ones will be taken from us.

Heaven's Keep begins with a plane crash. Over the imposing fortress of the Wyoming Rockies, a small charter plane carrying Jo, Cork's wife and mother of their three children, seemingly disappears into thin air. Cork travels to Casper to investigate, his thirteen-year-old son Stephen in tow, and is met with forbiddingly frozen terrain and the kind of weather a polar bear would hesitate to journey into. Despite help from local authorities and search crews, no sign of Jo's plane is found, leaving Cork and his family nothing to do but mourn her death.

Six months pass, the spring thaw has begun, and Cork has done his best as a single father, when the wife of the man who owned and flew the plane calls on Cork's investigative skills. An unlawful death suit has been filed against her husband's estate, charging that he had gotten drunk the night before the flight disappeared and was too hungover to navigate his way through the storm. The widow and her attorney have credible evidence suggesting her husband didn't even fly the plane. But if he didn't, who did? And where did they take Jo?

Cork returns to Wyoming just as the snows in the mountains are receding. This time, he's not only a grieving husband but a hired investigator, here to crack the apparent code of silence surrounding the missing plane. And this time, the locals aren't so welcoming. Cork finds himself going head-to-head with a shady sheriff and threats from the Northern Arapaho, who are somehow involved in the tragedy. In the meantime, he has become the target of some brutal assassins hired to put his curiosity permanently to rest.

What keeps Cork going every day, knowing it could be his last, is the thought that Jo might not have been taken from him just yet--that she could, in fact, be waiting for him in the hard heart of Heaven's Keep.

Heaven's Keep has it all. A mystery that will have you stumped, a fascinating look at the traditions, folklore, and current-day politics of Native Americans, and a drama that will have you embracing your loved ones at the close of each and every chapter. It is a nail-biting suspense from a writer soon to be on the top of everyone's must-read list. --Vince Flynn

About the Author:

William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Ordinary Grace, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel, as well as eighteen Cork O’Connor novels, including Desolation Mountain and Sulfur Springs. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family. Visit his website at WilliamKentKrueger.com.