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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Readers say *The River We Remember* is a richly layered, character-driven mystery set in 1958 small-town Minnesota, praised for William Kent Krueger’s...
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What’s it about?
This novel is set in 1958 in the town of Jewel, Minnesota. Brody Dern is the sheriff in this small town when he gets a call that a man is dead down by the river. When the man turns out to be a not very well-liked large landowner in the community, Dern is hoping for a suicide ruling. The community has murder on its mind and is sure that Noah Bluestone (a local Native American) is responsible. Brody Dern will have his work cut out for him.
What did it make me think about?
How easy it is to have preconceived notions when racism is involved.
Should I read it?
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger is one of my favorite novels. This new book has many of the same hallmark features. There is a sweetness to William Kent Krueger’s characters that make his novels really appealing. This book is no exception. It is easy to read- and although lots of characters appear in the story I did not find it that difficult to keep it all straight. This is a great book to curl up with for the weekend. Any fan of William Kent Krueger will not be disappointed. Ordinary Grace is still my favorite of the two but I also enjoyed this novel.
Quote–
“Grief- both Charlie and Brody knew this well- doesn’t come in the immediacy of the moment. Nor does it send a calling card for later. It arrives unannounced, springing from some unexpected incident, grabbing the heart in moments of total surprise.”
What’s it about?
This novel is set in 1958 in the town of Jewel, Minnesota. Brody Dern is the sheriff in this small town when he gets a call that a man is dead down by the river. When the man turns out to be a not very well-liked large landowner in the community, Dern is hoping for a suicide ruling. The community has murder on its mind and is sure that Noah Bluestone (a local Native American) is responsible. Brody Dern will have his work cut out for him.
What did it make me think about?
How easy it is to have preconceived notions when racism is involved.
Should I read it?
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger is one of my favorite novels. This new book has many of the same hallmark features. There is a sweetness to William Kent Krueger’s characters that make his novels really appealing. This book is no exception. It is easy to read- and although lots of characters appear in the story I did not find it that difficult to keep it all straight. This is a great book to curl up with for the weekend. Any fan of William Kent Krueger will not be disappointed. Ordinary Grace is still my favorite of the two but I also enjoyed this novel.
Quote–
“Grief- both Charlie and Brody knew this well- doesn’t come in the immediacy of the moment. Nor does it send a calling card for later. It arrives unannounced, springing from some unexpected incident, grabbing the heart in moments of total surprise.”
On Memorial Day, in 1958, the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past. But then, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls directly to Sheriff Brody Dern, who is himself broken from the war.
Sheriff Brody Dern, a decorated war hero himself, is left to untangle the many lies and secrets behind Quinn’s death. Almost everyone in the town has a reason to want Quinn dead!
We watch as this small town is torn apart by anger and mistrust. There are many characters to discover, a local newspaper man who desperately wants to uncover the truth, an aging deputy and a female lawyer who all struggle with their own personal histories.
I always appreciate Krueger’s honest look at the beauty but also the hardship of life in these small farming communities in Minnesota. The Book investigates topics such as racism, love, abuse, loss, and especially PTSD. This book brings forth the many people who struggled with mental health conditions in the past (as we are finding with most war veterans), in different forms, from Felix, who constantly talks about the war and gets drunk whenever he can, to Brody, who holds his tongue about all the horrible ways there are for people to die. I really enjoyed how the author handled PTSD in this story, and I loved the end and the epilogue.
My thanks to Atria Books, The Author, William Kent Krueger, as well as NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The River We Remember.
Sheriff Brody Dern, a decorated war hero himself, is left to untangle the many lies and secrets behind Quinn’s death. Almost everyone in the town has a reason to want Quinn dead!
We watch as this small town is torn apart by anger and mistrust. There are many characters to discover, a local newspaper man who desperately wants to uncover the truth, an aging deputy and a female lawyer who all struggle with their own personal histories.
I always appreciate Krueger’s honest look at the beauty but also the hardship of life in these small farming communities in Minnesota. The Book investigates topics such as racism, love, abuse, loss, and especially PTSD. This book brings forth the many people who struggled with mental health conditions in the past (as we are finding with most war veterans), in different forms, from Felix, who constantly talks about the war and gets drunk whenever he can, to Brody, who holds his tongue about all the horrible ways there are for people to die. I really enjoyed how the author handled PTSD in this story, and I loved the end and the epilogue.
My thanks to Atria Books, The Author, William Kent Krueger, as well as NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The River We Remember.
This was one of the nominations for the Mystery Crime Thriller January group reads. It wasn’t one of the winners, but it was the one I voted for. While this has only been on my TBR list since Dec2023, I have had this author on my to-read list since 2020. So many of the reviews I come across for a lot of his books are very glowing and highly rated. While that alone doesn’t guarantee a great read, it does make it a little more enticing to at least check out something of his just to see if it lives up to all the hype.
I read it here recently, can’t remember where, but it was something like “any year that I lived through is not considered Historical Fiction”. Sounds good to me😊 On that note, this is a historical fiction story about the 50’s in a small MN town. It takes place on Memorial Day, so it’s revealed that there are veterans from all of the first half of the 20th century wars living in Jewel, along with all their scars and broken bodies that they came home with as well as the nightmares and PTSD that also followed them back home.
“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?”
There is also the ever-present blatant racist, xenophobic attitudes and behavior towards anyone who isn’t white and/or whose native language isn’t English that was so prevalent back then. Don’t even get me started on the misogynistic attitudes and prejudice towards intelligent, educated women who chose to spend their lives building a career instead of becoming a wife and mother. It’s incredibly sad and infuriating that 65yrs later, not a whole lot has changed for millions of Americans who actually believe that this period in our history was a time when America was great and who are determined to revert the country back to that kind of America.
Anyway, the book summary lays out the primary storyline of the suspicious death of the town bully, Jimmy Quinn, and also introduces some of the primary characters of the story. There is also a secondary storyline of Sheriff Brodie having an on and off again affair with his older brother’s wife, Garnet. There is also the storyline of a war widow and single mom, Angie, who runs the local diner who pines for Brodie. Angie also harbors her secrets of where she came from and how she met her husband and came to be in Jewel.
Then there is the storyline of why Sheriff Brodie wiped down the crime scene of any prints. WTH??? Right away, I’m guessing that Sheriff Brodie already knows what happened and who the killer is and that he is somehow involved. Going forward though, I’m keeping an open mind as to why Sheriff Brodie would do something like that. None of this is a spoiler since it all happens really early in the story.
Most of the story revolves around the investigation of Jimmy’s death. While most of the town despised Jimmy when he was alive because he was such a horrible and worthless excuse of a man, after his death, the town all demanded justice for Jimmy because he was one of “them”. “Them” being a rich (even though most of the town residents were not rich), white man who supported the Catholic church and employed many people to work his huge farm.
Stories like this are really sad as well as incredibly frustrating, for reasons that I have already mentioned. It’s stories like this, that I end up feeling sorry for many of the kids in the story for having been saddled with such crappy parents. For me, most of the story was a 3.5star read. However, the story was so well written and I really loved the way that Krueger described many of the scenes. Krueger is a very good writer and storyteller, hence, the 4star rating. I will definitely make time to get to some of his other work that has been on my to-read list for a long time.
I read it here recently, can’t remember where, but it was something like “any year that I lived through is not considered Historical Fiction”. Sounds good to me😊 On that note, this is a historical fiction story about the 50’s in a small MN town. It takes place on Memorial Day, so it’s revealed that there are veterans from all of the first half of the 20th century wars living in Jewel, along with all their scars and broken bodies that they came home with as well as the nightmares and PTSD that also followed them back home.
“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?”
There is also the ever-present blatant racist, xenophobic attitudes and behavior towards anyone who isn’t white and/or whose native language isn’t English that was so prevalent back then. Don’t even get me started on the misogynistic attitudes and prejudice towards intelligent, educated women who chose to spend their lives building a career instead of becoming a wife and mother. It’s incredibly sad and infuriating that 65yrs later, not a whole lot has changed for millions of Americans who actually believe that this period in our history was a time when America was great and who are determined to revert the country back to that kind of America.
Anyway, the book summary lays out the primary storyline of the suspicious death of the town bully, Jimmy Quinn, and also introduces some of the primary characters of the story. There is also a secondary storyline of Sheriff Brodie having an on and off again affair with his older brother’s wife, Garnet. There is also the storyline of a war widow and single mom, Angie, who runs the local diner who pines for Brodie. Angie also harbors her secrets of where she came from and how she met her husband and came to be in Jewel.
Then there is the storyline of why Sheriff Brodie wiped down the crime scene of any prints. WTH??? Right away, I’m guessing that Sheriff Brodie already knows what happened and who the killer is and that he is somehow involved. Going forward though, I’m keeping an open mind as to why Sheriff Brodie would do something like that. None of this is a spoiler since it all happens really early in the story.
Most of the story revolves around the investigation of Jimmy’s death. While most of the town despised Jimmy when he was alive because he was such a horrible and worthless excuse of a man, after his death, the town all demanded justice for Jimmy because he was one of “them”. “Them” being a rich (even though most of the town residents were not rich), white man who supported the Catholic church and employed many people to work his huge farm.
Stories like this are really sad as well as incredibly frustrating, for reasons that I have already mentioned. It’s stories like this, that I end up feeling sorry for many of the kids in the story for having been saddled with such crappy parents. For me, most of the story was a 3.5star read. However, the story was so well written and I really loved the way that Krueger described many of the scenes. Krueger is a very good writer and storyteller, hence, the 4star rating. I will definitely make time to get to some of his other work that has been on my to-read list for a long time.