Review: The River We Remember (by William Kent Krueger)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

I loved William Kent Krueger's previous stand- alone novel This Tender Land and since finishing that book, I've been highly anticipating his next one for some time. Though he did release 2 Cork O'Connor novels in between, I hadn't started reading that series yet, so I didn't read those 2 when they came out (I'm very particular when it comes to book series and prefer to start from the first book as much as possible).  Of course, it should come as no surprise then, that when I heard his newest novel, The River We Remember, would be another standalone, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible.  I'm happy to say that the wait was well worth it, as Krueger gives us another poignant, atmospheric, multi-layered story with complex, nuanced characters.  In the Editor's Letter at the beginning of the novel, Krueger's editor Peter Borland introduces the book this way:  "This is a spellbinding novel that asks big questions about justice, redemption, and the fragile ties that bind a community together. In this book more than any of his others, Kent shows us that heroes have flaws, villains have virtues, and our lives are made better when we can feel compassion instead of hatred for our enemies."  Such a fitting description that perfectly encapsulates this brilliantly-written story!

The story starts on Memorial Day 1958, in a small town called Jewel, located in Black Earth County, Minnesota, where the Alabaster River "runs seventy miles before crossing the border into Iowa."   When the body of Jimmy Quinn, the richest man in the county who also owns most of the land in the area, is found in said river, it sets off a series of events that profoundly changes this small rural community. The gruesome death triggers an investigation by the town's local sheriff Brody Dern (who is also the story's main protagonist).  As we follow the investigation that forms the "mystery" at the heart of the story, we soon come to understand that the narrative is actually much more complicated than what we initially thought.  In essence, this story is an exploration of life in a small, tight-knit community where things are never as simple as they seem and one event can cause underlying tensions to rise to the surface. Krueger covers a lot of ground here in terms of bringing to light many of the issues in society — such as the deep-seated prejudices resulting from the lingering effects of war, the country's history of mistreatment toward Native Americans and indigenous population, the divide between rich and poor, family conflict and dysfunction, abuse and trauma and grief, etc.  

There is a large cast of characters, all of whom are realistically portrayed in that they are flawed and morally ambiguous, with things in their pasts that they have to constantly contend with while dealing with present struggles that they try to overcome.  Also, as with most of Krueger's stories, the setting here — in the form of both time and place — plays a hugely important role in the narrative arc.  Even though it has been over a decade since the end of WWII, the wounds from the war still run deep in Black Earth County, which has the effect of shaping the attitudes and behaviors of its residents.  I mentioned the Alabaster River earlier, which has such an outsized role in the story that it can essentially be considered a character itself.  One of the things that always stands out to me in Krueger's works is his ability to incorporate the local landscape to great effect and also write about it in a way that makes us (the readers) care about it as much as the characters do.  I'm not much of a "nature" reader in the sense that I typically get bored with too much description of physical settings (i.e.: natural habitats and surrounding areas), but the way Krueger does it, I always find myself being drawn in — no doubt this is a testament to Krueger's powerful writing and storytelling.

Needless to say, I recommend picking this one up, though be forewarned that the book deals with some difficult topics, so trigger warnings abound.  Krueger fans definitely won't be disappointed with the masterful storytelling and the unforgettable characters presented here.

Received ARC from Atria Books via NetGalley.