The River We Remember: A Novel
AN EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel, an instant New York Times bestseller and "a work of art" (The Denver Post). On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn's murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past. Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn's death threatens to expose. Both a complex, spellbinding mystery and a masterful portrait of mid-century American life that is "a novel to cherish" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), The River We Remember offers an unflinching look at the wounds left by the wars we fight abroad and at home, a moving exploration of the ways in which we seek to heal, and a testament to the enduring power of the stories we tell about the places we call home.
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Community Reviews
Our Sept. library book club pick. I prefer fast paced, psychological thrillers, so I didn’t initially enjoy this book but I kept going and ended up really liking it. The River is a slower paced mystery with some action but more back story than anything else. The character development in this book was in depth and fantastic. Book #91 in 2024
William Kent Krueger’s The River We Remember “came from an understanding of the long, difficult history that existed between the whites of Black Earth County and those in whom the blood of the Sioux ran. It was, at its heart, about an old war and wounds that had never really healed…In a town where the hatred from wars long past and wars more recent still had hooks set in so many hearts, was anyone safe?”
The county is convinced that Native American WWII vet Noah Bluestone is the culprit for the death of a pillar of the community–“the bully, the brute, the blustering Irish giant”--Jimmy Quinn, but Sheriff Brody Dern is determined not to remain mute when faced with “the ogre we call justice.”
But “there is a profound tenderness in this land…and life has been brought forth from it in wondrous measure. Stories are like those seeds we plant in the soil. They just grow and grow. So this story, which began with a man found eaten by catfish in a river, is not yet finished. Some of the pliers are no longer part of it, but the story goes on. The river continues to flow” leaving in the wake of death, a small, beautiful piece of wisdom.
“And here it is: We all die, but some of us”--the broken but blessed– “have the opportunity before that end to be redeemed. We can let go, forgive others, and also forgive ourselves for the worst of what we are or have been…that’s one of the beauties of life. That we still fight on.”
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