Sulfur Springs by William Kent Krueger

Been awhile since MRB last checked in on Cork O’Connor.

He got married to Rainy Bisonette a few months back and is looking forward to July 4^th in way upstate Minnesota. Both Cork and Rainy have kids from prior marriages. Rainy’s son Peter calls and leaves a cryptic message about him having killed a man and something about someone named Rodriguez. 

Peter lives well outside Tucson in Sulfur Springs, AZ, a nothing town on the Mexico border. He finished at the U of Arizona and then joined the Marines. He was wounded in Afghanistan and returns home addicted to painkillers. Rainy arranged for him to get rehab at a tony center in Cadiz, AZ. After getting clean, he knocked around at some odd jobs and eventually worked at the rehab center with other vets getting treatment. 

Rainy and Cork grab the next flights to Tucson to find out what’s going on. Peter no longer works at the rehab center and now works for a up and coming winery doing whatever needs to be done. But as with most all counties bordering Mexico, there is a constant stream of drugs, illegals, and human traffickers along with those who might see some profit in the cross border trades. All of which are being run by two main cartels, the head of one just happens to be Peter’s dad and Rainy’s first husband. Throw in the DEA, ICE, Border Patrol, a renegade biker gang, and the FBI and you get a pot cooking that is ready to boil over. 

Enter Peter. He takes on the task of humanitarian by helping struggling families make their way into the US, safely. And this doesn’t sit well with anyone. With no one able to trust anyone, standoffs lead to violence and a string of dead people. And plenty of folks think all would be well if that guy from Minnesota and his Ojibwe wife had just stayed home and not poked a den of rattlesnakes. 

MRB has reviewed a number of books by Krueger and all have been first rate, regardless of whether the book is about Cork O’Connor or not. The good folks at Atria Books turned us on to him and I know I've been grateful ever since. His 2013 novel Ordinary Grace was the Edgar Award winner for Best Novel – fiction’s version of Best Picture. If you love stories of the older wizened lawman out there in rural America (I’m thinking CJ Box’s Joe Pickett or Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire), you’ll quickly bring O’Connor into your galaxy. With nearly 20 books to his credit, you’ll have plenty to keep you busy. 

ECD