Lightning Strike – William Kent Krueger.
(Read – December 27-January 8,2022)
Lightning Strike is book #0 in the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent Krueger.
Lightning Strike is set in 1963, when Cork was a twelve year-old and his father Liam was the sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota.
While on a hike into the Boundary Waters Cork and his friends make a side trip to Lightning Strike. Lightning Strike was the site of a logging workers camp that was destroyed by a lightning strike. The Objiwe believed the destruction was an act of their God.
When they arrive at the site, they discover the hanging body of Big John Manydeeds. Big John had apparently committed suicide.
Initially, it appeared to be the death of a despondent man. Big John was a veteran of WWII and like many booze eased the pain he carried with him. Being Ojibwe only made things worse. However, he beat the bottle and was a recovering alcoholic. So when the autopsy revealed a very high level of alcohol in his bloodstream everyone assumed he had fallen off the wagon became depressed and ended his life.
Soon the community is divided. Big John’s relatives and friends including Cork‘s maternal grandmother, believed Big John was murdered. Additionally, they were convinced Big John hadn’t started drinking again.
In the midst of this stands the Irish cop from Chicago, Liam O‘Connor. Liam approaches the murder/suicide with one mission to discover the truth, whatever that may be.
Along the way, young Cork helps and gets his first lessons in following the crumbs of an investigation. As well as, race relations between the Ojibwe and the whites of his hometown of Aurora.
William Kent Kreuger on Lightning Strike
In an interview at Mystery and Suspense William Kent Krueger says this about Lightning Strike….
Lightning Strike has allowed me to create what is essentially a coming-of-age mystery. Cork is twelve years old. It is the year before his father is killed in the line of duty. I’ve been able to go more deeply into the nature of Cork’s family, their strengths, their conflicts, the differences in their cultural backgrounds and how that affects the dynamics within the family and with the larger community of Tamarack County, both white and Ojibwe.
For readers a little daunted by starting with the first book in a series that currently chronicles fifteen years in the lives of its characters, this is an excellent stand-alone introduction to the world of Cork O’Connor.
You can read the complete interview at Mystery and Suspense.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is Lightning Strike is a wonderful addition to the Cork O‘Connor series. It is a great place to start the series.
However it’s great even if you, like me, have read all the books. It was great to meet and get an in depth look at Liam O‘Connor and Cork‘s mother and grandmother. It was also great to read again about Sam Half Moon and a younger Henry Meloux.
Lightning Strike is a great mystery and coming of age novel. In addition It provides a look the impact of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 had on many Native American communities.
The Indian Relocation Act of 1956
Since I didn’t know much about the Act before reading Lightning Strike I researched it at Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia…..
The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 (also known as Public Law 959 or the Adult Vocational Training Program) was a United States law intended to encourage Native Americans in the United States to leave Indian reservations and their traditional lands, to assimilate into the general population in urban areas, and to weaken community and tribal ties.
It was part of the Indian termination policy between 1940 and 1960, which terminated the tribal status of numerous groups and cut off previous assistance to tribal citizens.[1]
The Indian Relocation Act encouraged and forced Native Americans to move to cities for jobs opportunities. It also played a significant role in increasing the population of urban Native Americans in succeeding decades. Read More
In the novel, Big John‘s sister and her son return to the reservation after John‘s death. They had moved to Los Angles in accordance with the Act to find a better life. And as it was for many, that did not happen.
Through the years, I have read many books on the Indian Wars and always felt badly for the first Inhabitants of North America. Amidst all that reading I have never come across this Act or our country‘s „Indian Termination Policy“
So thank you William Kent Krueger for opening my eyes to another blemish on our nation‘s historical past. Now if we all could accept those wrongs and try our best to right them we’d end up the better for it!
You can find links to learn more about William Kent Krueger, and my reviews of past books of his I’ve read, here at his page.