Windigo Island: A Novel (Cork O'Connor #14) [S0019]

2015 PB in Gift-Worthy condition. When the body of a teenage Ojibwe girl washes up on the shore of an island in Lake Superior, the residents of the nearby Bad Bluff reservation whisper that it was the work of a deadly mythical beast, the Windigo, or a vengeful spirit called Michi Peshu. Such stories have been told by the Ojibwe people for generations, but they don't explain how the girl and her friend, Mariah Arceneaux, disappeared a year ago. At the request of the Arceneaux family, private investigator Cork O'Connor takes on the case. But on the Bad Bluff reservation, nobody's talking. Still, Cork puts enough information together to find a possible trail. He learns that the old port city of Duluth is a modern-day center for sex trafficking of vulnerable women, many of whom are young Native Americans. As the investigation deepens, so does the danger. Yet Cork holds tight to his higher purpose-his vow to find Mariah, an innocent fifteen-year-old girl whose family is desperate to get her back. With only the barest hope of saving her from men whose darkness rivals that of the legendary Windigo, Cork prepares for an epic battle that will determine whether it will be fear, or love, that truly conquers all.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Krueger gives us a window into a world many of us will never experience firsthand, shares words, customs, traditions, and details of Indian life that can be mined for the underpinning of Indian heritage and culture. But he also shares his clear-eyed view of what our country looks like-both physically and psychically-from the waterfront in Duluth and waves breaking on the shores of Lake Superior's rock-strewn islands to the inside of a home for runaways and the attitudes of oilmen living in barracks in boom towns. Krueger's series gives us a very interesting look at the modern Midwest, in all its glorious dishabille."; "Right up front, I want to say this book deals with the abduction and forced prostitution of young children. However, the most descriptive Krueger gets is telling you what the young girls are wearing. The rest will be in your imagination. I felt this was a powerful and emotional book. There is much Native American mysticism with the epitome of evil in the Windigo."; "Another gripping tale in the Cork O'Connor series, in which the sex trafficking of indigenous girls is the focus, during which both Cork and his older daughter, Jenny, are caught up in rescuing not just one girl but several others. Anyone with a tender heart will be unable to avoid feeling for these girls whose treatment is so destructive, not just of them, but of their families and tribes, too."