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Alex McKnight #5
Blood Is The Sky
Before Blood is the Sky, the Alex McKnight series had already hit bestseller lists and won awards, but this novel took it to a whole new level. Set in the forests of northern Ontario, a land of savage beauty and sudden danger, Blood Is the Sky shows why Steve Hamilton is one of the most acclaimed crime novelists writing today. Alex McKnight isn't a man with many friends, but the few he has know they're never alone in a fix. So when Vinnie LeBlanc asks for his help in taking a trip deep into Canada in search of his missing brother, he knows he can count on Alex. His brother had taken a job as a hunting guide for a rough crew of Detroit "businessmen." The group was due back days ago, yet there's been no sign of them, and there's mounting evidence of something odd about their disappearing act. The trackless forests of northern Ontario keep many secrets, but none more shocking than the one that Alex is about to uncover. And the more closely Alex looks for answers, the more questions there become.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 31, 2003
347 people are currently reading
1161 people want to read
About the author
Steve Hamilton
53 books1,684 followersTwo-time Edgar Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Nick Mason series, The Lock Artist, and the Alex McKnight series. AN HONORABLE ASSASSIN (Mason #3) coming August 27, 2024!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews
February 17, 2014
Steve Hamilton writes clean, full-blooded stories. It's impressive how he packs so much of an experience into relatively few words.
I admit it had been a bit since I'd read the last Alex McKnight and I'd forgotten how much I like Hamilton's style. Light prose that packs a great punch. Blood is the Sky is more of the same. I mean this is only a good way--I don't know if I've read a book of this length (barely over three hundred pages for the mass market paperback) that left me feeling as if I'd been on such a long journey through the wringer. So much distance is covered here (and not just in fictional geography), yet it doesn't feel rushed. It's told in a measured enough pace that you can enjoy every bit of it.
McKnight, Hamilton's unconventional on-again, off-again PI, is still an evolving character five books in. His world is small and familiar, but it's interesting to see both his adaptation to it and his resistance to fade away into a tiny corner of the upper peninsula of Michigan. Blood takes place in a broad geographical setting, and Hamilton captures the atmosphere in an impressive way, somehow never bogging the story down with descriptive nonsense.
It's nice to be reminded how much you like a particular thing. Steve Hamilton did that for me with Blood is the Sky. I like these characters, I like this series, and most of all, I like the way he writes.
Recommended for all thriller/mystery fans. Especially those who can appreciate a rich story told with masterful economy.
I admit it had been a bit since I'd read the last Alex McKnight and I'd forgotten how much I like Hamilton's style. Light prose that packs a great punch. Blood is the Sky is more of the same. I mean this is only a good way--I don't know if I've read a book of this length (barely over three hundred pages for the mass market paperback) that left me feeling as if I'd been on such a long journey through the wringer. So much distance is covered here (and not just in fictional geography), yet it doesn't feel rushed. It's told in a measured enough pace that you can enjoy every bit of it.
McKnight, Hamilton's unconventional on-again, off-again PI, is still an evolving character five books in. His world is small and familiar, but it's interesting to see both his adaptation to it and his resistance to fade away into a tiny corner of the upper peninsula of Michigan. Blood takes place in a broad geographical setting, and Hamilton captures the atmosphere in an impressive way, somehow never bogging the story down with descriptive nonsense.
It's nice to be reminded how much you like a particular thing. Steve Hamilton did that for me with Blood is the Sky. I like these characters, I like this series, and most of all, I like the way he writes.
Recommended for all thriller/mystery fans. Especially those who can appreciate a rich story told with masterful economy.
July 15, 2018
Alex McKnight's best friend has a wastrel brother. To get a job as a hunting guide, said brother impersonates the best friend...then disappears.
McKnight starts looking, and finds some real unpleasantness, and gets his butt kicked constantly, because he doesn't pay attention. I really started to doubt our hero's competence. He's supposed to be an ex-cop from Detroit, but he has less street smarts than a suburban child.
Lots of driving to Canada, and he meets his lady love.
I can't really recommend it, because McKnight is just so stupid.
McKnight starts looking, and finds some real unpleasantness, and gets his butt kicked constantly, because he doesn't pay attention. I really started to doubt our hero's competence. He's supposed to be an ex-cop from Detroit, but he has less street smarts than a suburban child.
Lots of driving to Canada, and he meets his lady love.
I can't really recommend it, because McKnight is just so stupid.
October 20, 2017
An over all 5 star read- 4 for the story line and then I added 1 more for a great series , great characters - all around great novel.... Keep them coming Steve Hamilton.... I just cannot get enough of Alex McKnight !! I'm sure so many others feel the same way too !!
April 4, 2009
I picked up this paperback and was pleasantly surprised. "An Alex McKnight novel" Vinnie is searching for a brother who went to Canada as a guide for 'businessmen from Detroit'. I loved the combination of hard-core city cop and reservation culture. Good stuff.
August 6, 2024
Might be my favorites so far in the McKnight series.
January 27, 2012
There are several reasons why I like Steve Hamilton's books: 1) Set in the UP in places that I have visited. 2) Simple dialogue and description...one needs a break from James Lee Burke occasionally! 3) Interesting plots and lots of action 4) I just like the way Alex McKnight thinks and talks. Quick, easy, satisfying read. And contrary to what others may say, the books don't have to be read in order. There is enough background to explain who the recurring characters are.
July 11, 2014
What are friends for? Well, Alex McKnight demonstrates just that in this novel which takes him and his erstwhile friend, Vinnie Le Blanc, on a stormy adventure way up in the wilds of northern Canada. It starts when Vinnie, with whom Alex has been at odds since an event in the previous novel in the series, asks Alex to help him find his brother, who is days overdue returning home after accompanying a hunting party as their scout at a Canadian lodge.
To complicate matters, Vinnie’s brother Tom is on parole and is forbidden to leave the country. So he and Vinnie trade identities. Alex and his friend drive for hours until they reach the lodge, and there is no sign of Tom or the hunting party. But something seems “off,” and they begin to scout the area where the group was housed at a lake further north. And thereby hangs a gruesome tale.
The author, known for his vivid descriptions of the Upper Michigan peninsula, shows an equal facility for the vast untamed wilderness of northern Canada. He has written a taut tale filled with danger and violence. And at the end, lays the seeds of Alex’s further adventures yet to come. Recommended.
To complicate matters, Vinnie’s brother Tom is on parole and is forbidden to leave the country. So he and Vinnie trade identities. Alex and his friend drive for hours until they reach the lodge, and there is no sign of Tom or the hunting party. But something seems “off,” and they begin to scout the area where the group was housed at a lake further north. And thereby hangs a gruesome tale.
The author, known for his vivid descriptions of the Upper Michigan peninsula, shows an equal facility for the vast untamed wilderness of northern Canada. He has written a taut tale filled with danger and violence. And at the end, lays the seeds of Alex’s further adventures yet to come. Recommended.
August 26, 2019
Alex is one of the most human characters I've come across in mystery literature. Yes, I know some scholars would cringe at using mystery and literature in the same sentence but to those snobs I say, A pox upon your snobbishness!
Alex has faults and he has strong points. He makes mistakes, some of them quite costly. But he also does some very good things, even to the point where Mrs. LaBlanc adopts him as her son. Oh, it's all unofficial of course but then what makes an adoption a true adoption is the heart, not a bunch of writing on a piece of paper with all of its here to fores and known by these presences and other such legal gobbledygook.
And Alex has a friend. More than one actually but in this story we're more concerned with Vinnie, who before the book is over becomes Alex's brother because the aforementioned Mrs. LaBlanc is Vinnies mom. Maybe not all of the cousins agree but then they weren't asked. To know what all that's about you should READ THE BOOK!
Vinnie has another brother, younger, by the name of Tom. Tom has sort of gone off the rails at times and thus there's a lot of things he can't. . . make that shouldn't, do. Like leave the country for the wilds of Canada to act as a hunting guide.
And then Tom doesn't come back when he's supposed to and it turns out that neither do the men he was supposed to guide.
So what's a brother supposed to do, especially if he aided and abetted that little cross border jaunt? Well he has to go find the lost brother and of course he takes his friend and soon to be brother with him.
That's when the shit hits the fan and damn if that fan isn't on high. More, that shit is 10 pounds stuffed into a 5 pound sack. Messy!
As usual Mr. Hamilton has given us a well written, believable adventure in this piece of mystery literature. (I wrote that just to rub the snobs noses in it. Ha!) Like so many books I enjoy the environment, meaning the land, the denizens and the weather all play a part in the story. You can feel the icy coldness of the lake water; you can feel the slickness of the road with fresh snow, you can even hear the windshield wipers going back and forth even if Hamilton doesn't write about them. Hey; we've all been in cars in inclement weather and we know about those windshield wipers like a metronome going left and right, left and right, left and right keeping the windshield clear.
If you've never been to Paradise and you like mystery literature (Ha again you snobbish snobs!) then go visit Paradise Michigan in the UP. It will be a good visit.
Alex has faults and he has strong points. He makes mistakes, some of them quite costly. But he also does some very good things, even to the point where Mrs. LaBlanc adopts him as her son. Oh, it's all unofficial of course but then what makes an adoption a true adoption is the heart, not a bunch of writing on a piece of paper with all of its here to fores and known by these presences and other such legal gobbledygook.
And Alex has a friend. More than one actually but in this story we're more concerned with Vinnie, who before the book is over becomes Alex's brother because the aforementioned Mrs. LaBlanc is Vinnies mom. Maybe not all of the cousins agree but then they weren't asked. To know what all that's about you should READ THE BOOK!
Vinnie has another brother, younger, by the name of Tom. Tom has sort of gone off the rails at times and thus there's a lot of things he can't. . . make that shouldn't, do. Like leave the country for the wilds of Canada to act as a hunting guide.
And then Tom doesn't come back when he's supposed to and it turns out that neither do the men he was supposed to guide.
So what's a brother supposed to do, especially if he aided and abetted that little cross border jaunt? Well he has to go find the lost brother and of course he takes his friend and soon to be brother with him.
That's when the shit hits the fan and damn if that fan isn't on high. More, that shit is 10 pounds stuffed into a 5 pound sack. Messy!
As usual Mr. Hamilton has given us a well written, believable adventure in this piece of mystery literature. (I wrote that just to rub the snobs noses in it. Ha!) Like so many books I enjoy the environment, meaning the land, the denizens and the weather all play a part in the story. You can feel the icy coldness of the lake water; you can feel the slickness of the road with fresh snow, you can even hear the windshield wipers going back and forth even if Hamilton doesn't write about them. Hey; we've all been in cars in inclement weather and we know about those windshield wipers like a metronome going left and right, left and right, left and right keeping the windshield clear.
If you've never been to Paradise and you like mystery literature (Ha again you snobbish snobs!) then go visit Paradise Michigan in the UP. It will be a good visit.
August 10, 2019
Steve Hamilton gets better with every book, and he started out very good so you can imagine what I think of this novel. It was great! Terrific insight into our main character, Alex McKnight, and a nice story arc this time where Alex is finally starting to change.
The other thing I liked about this book is just when I thought things couldn't get worse for Alex, they did. And then they did again. And again. That's not an easy thing for a writer to do, but Hamilton does it well. Also, this story was set about equally in northern Canada and the UP, so it was nice to learn about a new place.
Note: This is a mainstream story with some language and some violence (it's effectively a murder mystery)...but nothing wildly inappropriate. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.
The other thing I liked about this book is just when I thought things couldn't get worse for Alex, they did. And then they did again. And again. That's not an easy thing for a writer to do, but Hamilton does it well. Also, this story was set about equally in northern Canada and the UP, so it was nice to learn about a new place.
Note: This is a mainstream story with some language and some violence (it's effectively a murder mystery)...but nothing wildly inappropriate. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.
November 7, 2018
Another pretty good read from author Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight P.I. series. "Blood is the Sky", is the fifth outing for McKnight and his merry band of locals in Paradise, Mi. Picking up from the fourth book in series Alex is beginning to rebuilt cabin number six. Cabin six was previously burned to the ground at the end of, "North Of Nowhere, (Book #4 ). October is coming on strong as November is barreling down on the U.P. Unfortunately Alex toils by himself rebuilding this cabin battling some nasty snow and cold. (Just couldn't wait till spring !). Best friend Vinnie LeBlanc does eventually come to help with the building project. However Vinnie is helping out Alex so he can hit him up for a big big favor. Vinnie's brother Tom is newly home from prison and on parole. Tom isn't big on staying within his parole restrictions to which makes him dangerously close to having parole revoked using false ID and leaving country without permission. Tom has agreed to take a hunting party of rich guys from Detroit up into the wilderness of northern Canada. Also Tom has borrowed Vinnie's I.D. in order to cross Canadian border. Also using Vinnie's I.D. makes it less lucky to tip off his parole officer. However the party of five hasn't returned from their moose hunting adventure some five days after their expected return to Detroit. Alex and Vinnie must travels ten plus hours by truck to get to the hunting lodge. Vinnie knows Tom is an outstanding hunting guide and being lost in deep forest with these group is setting off red flags. Of course Vinnie gets Alex to come off to the Canadian wilderness to hunt for Tom and hunting party. Alex and Vinnie's bad luck increases with every mile they plunge deeper into Canadian territory. The pair must battle officers from the Ontario Provincial Police who want Alex and Vinnie to go home and stay away from their investigation. Naturally Alex and Vinnie end up tangling with redneck hunters, police, and owner of the hunting lodge who are not very cooperative. This fast paced plot features some interesting twists that surprised me. The supporting characters are vital to keeping this intense thriller rolling. At just over 300 pages, "Blood is the Sky", was very difficult to put down. Three stars out of a possible five stars For author Steve Hamilton's fifth Alex McKnight vehicle. (3.50 Stars closer rating here). Two quick points that hurt from rating this book, will Alex ever get a romantic interest ? I've read six books in series so far and he's a hermit in the love department. Plus, how long does Alex have to drive his beat up truck thousands of miles in the worst of weather ? Hurting my rating for this book I was somewhat disappointed in the conclusion. On my Kindle the ending came out of nowhere like a wall falling on me. The page counter on my Kindle didn't match up as end came roaring along. Having met author Steve Hamilton at this year's Tucson Festival of books he told me I'd really like this series. Steve was spot on ! I've excited to jump into many more of the twelve McKnight suspense thrillers. Check out this must read tale and this must read series.
April 17, 2018
My granddaughter gave me a remaindered library edition she'd picked up. I really enjoyed it and started reading the series. I am now on book 3 and none have been as interesting to me as this one. Set in the Canadian wilderness for the most part there is action aplenty. A good read.
January 25, 2019
Probably closer to 3.5 stars. I love Steve Hamilton’s books. This is another good one in the series.
December 27, 2023
Mystery murder, police, Indians, from northern Canada to the UP. With trip down to Detroit.
November 11, 2025
Another heavy hitter, I was glued to the pages
April 5, 2015
This is the 5th book in the Alex McKnight series by Steve Hamilton and if you are new to the series, consider yourself lucky (but start at the beginning, with A Cold Day In Paradise). This one picks up shortly after North of Nowher as Alex is rebuilding his cabin. His friend Vinnie asks Alex to travel to Canada with him to help find his brother, who has not returned from a hunting expedition.
It's a thrilling read, one of those books that keeps your up late, turning the pages. The first two thirds keep building the tension, building the tension, and then when that resolves there are a couple of twists to hold your interest.
I am so in love with the way that Steve Hamilton writes. He has such a wonderful sense of place - I feel like I know Paradise, Michigan now and that I'd find Alex living there if I were only to visit it. (I was girlishly delighted to look in the atlas and discover that it's a real place). All of his characters are so beautifully realized and the conversations that they have all feel so natural. He's a fine writer and this book is as good as or better than the others I've read to date.
It's a thrilling read, one of those books that keeps your up late, turning the pages. The first two thirds keep building the tension, building the tension, and then when that resolves there are a couple of twists to hold your interest.
I am so in love with the way that Steve Hamilton writes. He has such a wonderful sense of place - I feel like I know Paradise, Michigan now and that I'd find Alex living there if I were only to visit it. (I was girlishly delighted to look in the atlas and discover that it's a real place). All of his characters are so beautifully realized and the conversations that they have all feel so natural. He's a fine writer and this book is as good as or better than the others I've read to date.
August 28, 2011
This is my third novel by Steve Hamilton, and the second in the Alex McKnight series. Steve Hamilton is a great writer, I really enjoy his style. This one is set deep in the Canadian wilderness, with a focus on the relationship between Alex and his good friend and neighbor Vinnie. They take a break from rebuilding Alex's cabin to go find out what has happened to Vinnie's brother, who has gone missing up in the Canadian wilderness. A convicted felon on parole, Vinnie's brother Tom has assumed Vinnie's identity in order to enter Canada to act as a guide on a moose hunt for some men up from Detroit.
Hamilton is able to capture and show the culture and lifestyle of the Ojibwa Tribe in this series of novels. In a market that has become quite crowded with series private eye characters, the Alex McNight series stands out.
Hamilton is able to capture and show the culture and lifestyle of the Ojibwa Tribe in this series of novels. In a market that has become quite crowded with series private eye characters, the Alex McNight series stands out.
June 13, 2014
One of the few mysteries set in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where I grew up. I didn't realize that when I bought it.
Alex McKnight is prevailed upon to find a friend's missing brother, who had taken a group of Detroit businessmen on a hunting trip in the wilds of Canada. The more Alex and his friend, Vinnie LeBlanc, look into this the stranger and more dangerous it appears. Alex and Vinnie find themselves far from any help and sitting ducks as targets.
Complicated, absorbing. And with the bits and pieces that spell the atmosphere of the gray cold upper peninsula.
Alex McKnight is prevailed upon to find a friend's missing brother, who had taken a group of Detroit businessmen on a hunting trip in the wilds of Canada. The more Alex and his friend, Vinnie LeBlanc, look into this the stranger and more dangerous it appears. Alex and Vinnie find themselves far from any help and sitting ducks as targets.
Complicated, absorbing. And with the bits and pieces that spell the atmosphere of the gray cold upper peninsula.
October 5, 2014
Another gripping adventure. Another chance for series hero Alex McKnight to test the limits of human recuperation and recovery.
This is a hero who suffers without the assurance of survival. He tells you how badly he is hurt, but never says "It's not supposed to be this way."
Bill Belichick says "It is what it is." Alex McKnight says "Pain is not as important as justice." Justice for him is not revenge but rather setting things right when possible, especially when it comes to his friends.
We should all have a friend like Alex McKnight! Thank you Steve Hamilton for sharing him with us.
This is a hero who suffers without the assurance of survival. He tells you how badly he is hurt, but never says "It's not supposed to be this way."
Bill Belichick says "It is what it is." Alex McKnight says "Pain is not as important as justice." Justice for him is not revenge but rather setting things right when possible, especially when it comes to his friends.
We should all have a friend like Alex McKnight! Thank you Steve Hamilton for sharing him with us.
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October 11, 2023So much packed in a few hundred pages! This one was a quick read on a trip and a fast page turner. I was astonished with the amount of twists and details the author has managed to fill in just 300 pages and yet not giving the feeling of the story being rushed or compressed. This is the first Hamilton book I read and am definitely picking up more from the author anytime I want a quick thriller read.
There were some instances where I felt McKinght(the protagonist) was foolish but overall it was a good thriller taking place in beautifully described scenery.
There were some instances where I felt McKinght(the protagonist) was foolish but overall it was a good thriller taking place in beautifully described scenery.
June 30, 2013
One of the better ones in the series. Alex is still troubled and too quiet and still gets poor Leon involved in his cases. This one didn't really get solved so much as Alex tracked down the right person to explain it to him, but that's okay with me. I just love the UP setting, even though I've never been there - not yet, anyway.
October 4, 2012
Light entertaining action. Not as good as some of his others but still Very readable. Good friends, good food and a certain amount of humor as well as interesting locations help to keep up the suspense and action. I like his writing style a lot.
June 26, 2016
It's been too long since I've read a Steve Hamilton book. Alex McKnight is an appealing character, and the plot in this mystery is intriguing. I've read the first in this series and at least one other. I'll have to determine which, and then find some more to tackle.
November 1, 2015
As usual Alex rushes straight into Lois problems with no planing and survive barely ... no matter we like him anyway.
April 23, 2022
Alex McKnight is a former Detroit Police Officer who took a disability retirement 15 years ago after an attack killed his partner and left him with a bullet one centimeter from his heart. He's attempting to live a simpler life renting out some cabins that his father had built years ago in Paradise, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. He’s been a loner for years but, like it or not, a few friends keep trying to make him part of their family. "There was a terrible beauty to the place, and I could be alone up here in a part of the world where being alone was the rule and not the exception.”
When Alex's neighbor and friend, Vinnie, asks for help in locating his brother, the two head for Canada. Vinnie and his brother Tom are Ojibwa, and Tom has taken a job as guide for a group of businessmen hunting moose in northern Ontario. The problem is Tom is on parole, is not supposed to leave the state-let alone the country, and is traveling using Vinnie’s I.D. Hindsight and Alex have both helped Vinnie realize what a stupid idea this was. Now the group is days late returning and Alex and Vinnie soon come to believe that, despite what the hunting lodge people are saying, no one in the group has returned. But, where are they? Now Vinnie must use his own Ojibwa tracking skills to locate his brother. They may be able to find them but with hungry Black and Brown Bears in the woods, their odds do not look especially good. Soon they themselves are stranded in the woods with no food, water or weapons and someone who is out to make sure that they, too, do not return.
The book is told in the first person by Alex McKnight, a curmudgeonly, sarcastic, likable enough guy who makes a credible hero. The book is well paced and the details are engrossing.This is a fun series with a lot of action and plenty of twists and turns. Blood is the Sky is book 5 in the series and each one gets better. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #BloodoftheSky #SteveHamilton #AlexMcKnightSeries #MinotaurBooks #NickSullivanNarrator #mysteryfiction #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama StMartins #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #AprilReads #audiobooks #audible #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #librarybooks #AnnArborDistrictLibrary #AADLGRAM (less)
When Alex's neighbor and friend, Vinnie, asks for help in locating his brother, the two head for Canada. Vinnie and his brother Tom are Ojibwa, and Tom has taken a job as guide for a group of businessmen hunting moose in northern Ontario. The problem is Tom is on parole, is not supposed to leave the state-let alone the country, and is traveling using Vinnie’s I.D. Hindsight and Alex have both helped Vinnie realize what a stupid idea this was. Now the group is days late returning and Alex and Vinnie soon come to believe that, despite what the hunting lodge people are saying, no one in the group has returned. But, where are they? Now Vinnie must use his own Ojibwa tracking skills to locate his brother. They may be able to find them but with hungry Black and Brown Bears in the woods, their odds do not look especially good. Soon they themselves are stranded in the woods with no food, water or weapons and someone who is out to make sure that they, too, do not return.
The book is told in the first person by Alex McKnight, a curmudgeonly, sarcastic, likable enough guy who makes a credible hero. The book is well paced and the details are engrossing.This is a fun series with a lot of action and plenty of twists and turns. Blood is the Sky is book 5 in the series and each one gets better. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #BloodoftheSky #SteveHamilton #AlexMcKnightSeries #MinotaurBooks #NickSullivanNarrator #mysteryfiction #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama StMartins #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookrecommendations #AprilReads #audiobooks #audible #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #librarybooks #AnnArborDistrictLibrary #AADLGRAM (less)
July 13, 2024
I can’t believe that Steve Hamilton built a franchise of 12 books and many accolades around Alex McKnight. At least according to Blood is the Sky (Alex McKnight #5), which is my first and last read in this series, there is nothing special about the protagonist. Yes, he is a good friend to his Indian neighbor, but the rest of his life is as boring as watching paint dry. Alex is a loner who lives in the backwoods of northern Michigan. Aside from that, we learn that there are a lot of ex’s after his name - ex baseball player, ex Detroit cop, ex partner, etc.
Speaking of Indians, Hamilton employs every stereotype in the book to describe Native Americans. They are Noble Savages in touch with the spirit of the land and the spirits of their ancestors. They have issues with alcoholism and substance abuse. And they are better hunters than the stupid white man.
Finally, there is not much action in this supposed thriller. Most of what little action there is occurs in the last 10% of the book, and the plot is only revealed in the last 10 pages.
Speaking of Indians, Hamilton employs every stereotype in the book to describe Native Americans. They are Noble Savages in touch with the spirit of the land and the spirits of their ancestors. They have issues with alcoholism and substance abuse. And they are better hunters than the stupid white man.
Finally, there is not much action in this supposed thriller. Most of what little action there is occurs in the last 10% of the book, and the plot is only revealed in the last 10 pages.
February 11, 2021
A reward for reading a book series in chronological order for me is seeing an author's writing improve (just read the first two or three Nesbo books if you doubt me--there's a reason they weren't translated until years after the later ones became popular in English reading countries). Steve Hamilton's fifth Alex McKnight book is a winner in every respect: a page-turner from start to finish, fascinating glimpses of Ojibwa and Cree people, and Alex is more introspective and less smart-alecky this time out.
Although I was expecting to spend my time exploring the environs of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, when I opened this book, most of the story is set in Northern Ontario on the other side of Lake Superior. Vinnie's brother didn't come home when expected from guiding a group of Detroit hunters so he and Alex set out to find him. Let the plot twists begin!
Although I was expecting to spend my time exploring the environs of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, when I opened this book, most of the story is set in Northern Ontario on the other side of Lake Superior. Vinnie's brother didn't come home when expected from guiding a group of Detroit hunters so he and Alex set out to find him. Let the plot twists begin!
February 7, 2022
Another winner by Steve Hamilton in the consistently excellent Alex McKnight series. Among other first-rate aspects of this book is the scene setting. As I was reading I felt as though I was in Canada, dealing with the cold, the isolation and yet the beauty of the area. It became practically a character in the story. Although I have never visited the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, again I felt as though I was there. This is not to denigrate the characterizations. which are well-drawn, and the dialogue which is sharp. And this reads as an adventure story as much as a mystery, but make no mistake, the mystery is first-rate and had me guessing right up to the end, especially the revelation, which was stunning, that led to everything that subsequently happened. It was a pleasure, as always to read a Steve Hamilton story.
June 11, 2022
Best of the series so far (I have read 6). Although there are 11 homicides bodies in the story, this is more of a search for missing persons than murder mystery. Alex is enlisted by friend Vinnie to help look for his brother Tom, who was guiding a group of four moose hunters in northern Canada. First half of book is about the search; they find them all dead along with a cop and a pilot, and Alex and Vinnie barely survive exposure to cold and wet weather. They get back home, but then Vinnie goes missing and Alex must search for him. Four more dead bodies later Vinnie is found; the motive for all the murders goes back decades to a horrific hotel fire that killed 28 people. The best part is the search for all the missing persons. Alex is not as cranky and irritable as in previous books. At the end he seems to have found a nice woman.
December 1, 2019
A new author for me and he tells a good tale. Alex McKnight is an x Detroit detective who has moved to the Upper peninsula Michigan to a camp ground started by his father. He is the process of rebuilding a cabin that was destroyed by fire. It is late in the season and working by himself he hopes to beat the first snow. When his neighbor Vinnie offers to help, slowly agrees. One day Vinnie asks for help to find his brother who has gone to Canada to guide hunting party and has not returned when expected. There are complications and Vinnie and Alex run into all sorts of trouble as they try to track down Vinnie's brother. Interesting and nicely put together, I will be finding more of the McKnight books in the future.
August 28, 2018
"Alex McKnight isn't a man with many friends, but the few he has know they're never alone in a fix. So when Vinnie LeBlanc asks for his help in taking a trip deep into Canada in search of his missing brother, he knows he can count on Alex. His brother had taken a job as a hunting guide for a rough crew of Detroit "businessmen." The group was due back days ago, yet there's been no sign of them, and there's mounting evidence of something odd about their disappearing act. The trackless forests of northern Ontario keep many secrets, but none more shocking than the one that Alex is about to uncover. And the more closely Alex looks for answers, the more questions there become."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 259 reviews