Wildwood by Amy Pease

 Welcome to rural northern Wisconsin. Small summer resort town. Main lakeside hotel is a pricey retreat for the 1% who value their privacy. The only real connection with the town is with the locals who quietly clean rooms, cook, landscape, etc. The law is maintained by sheriff Marge North and her PTSD afflicted (Afghanistan) son Eli.  

Also in the community are what seem to be a large number of group homes for recovering addicts, an in-patient recovery facility, and what appears to be a pharmaceutical distribution business. 

Trinity is a stunning 20-something artist wannabe recovering addict struggling with her addiction while trying to regain custody of her 4yo son from her prepper parents in Illinois. One of the hotel guests, Charles  Dawson, is a suave, handsome 'businessman' of note; he owns most of those group homes. And the FBI (Alyssa) and the DEA (Adam) are convinced he is part of a drug scheme that has made him rich from fraud and drug distribution. The investigation has been going on for a few years and getting no where.

After crossing paths with Trinity, Adam convinces her to be his CI. He cleans her up, dresses her, and sends her to the hotel to catch Charles' eye, get close to him, and try to find some evidence that will drive the investigation. 

And she does. 

But along the way, people are dying. A recovering addict is just the start. As the bodies pile up, the evidence against Dawson becomes convincing, but it also points to someone above Dawson who drives an international industry of drugs, trafficking, weapons, money laundering, and murder.

This is Amy Pease's 2nd book set in rural northern Wisconsin featuring Sheriff North. But in this book, Pease focuses mostly on her son's slowly resolving PTSD, a possible relationship between son Eli and Special Agent Alyssa (that appears to have begun in 'Northwoods', book #1), what appears to be real feelings between Trinity and Dawson. Not a whole lot about Sheriff North (maybe that was the subject of book #1). Lots of balls in the air that Sheriff North juggles right down to the last chapter. Have to say that I liked how Pease presents the primary actors here: Eli, Alyssa, and Trinity. Each seems real, with their own issues that sometimes both interfere and aid in the entirely entertaining resolution. I'm interested enough to try and dig up her first book, Northwoods. I like William Kent Krueger's books set in northern Wisconsin/Minnesota so I'm not surprised that I like this one, too. And having live in Wisconsin for 2 winters (they don't tell time by 'years', they use 'winters'), I guess I come by that honestly.

And don't forget northern Wisconsin and its flaky fall/winter weather, is also a critical character. Gotta love Wisconsin weather, its 2-week summer/mosquito season and the endless frigid winter. 

Publication date Jan 6, 2026 (in the winter, naturally). And thanks for NetGalley for the advance reviewer copy in exchange for an unbiased review. 

ECD