The powerful eighth book in William Kent Krueger’s Cork O’Connor mystery series opens with a young Anishinaabeg warrior preparing for his first war party. This traditional scene and the fear and ultimate triumph the boy feels over his foe leads the story into modern day tensions where rules and transitions to manhood are not so clear cut.
A group of young men who call themselves the “Red Boyz” defiantly take the name of Ojibwe war chiefs when they join the gang. Led by Alexander Kingbird “Kakaik”, they stand together against increasing hatred in the small town where they live, that hatred fueled by the death of a daughter of a wealthy businessman.
Cork O’Connor, former sheriff, now a PI, often walks a fine line between his Ojibwe heritage and his white heritage. In Red Knife, he is challenged to choose sides. For his family’s sake he tries to stay out of the oncoming battle but he cannot escape it, he is forced to fight.
I find his character to be so interesting for his deep spirituality. He mixes Catholicism and Ojibwe mysticism as if they went together naturally. I love the way he cares deeply for his family, especially his children. I have found his wife Jo a little hard to take in the past, but here she finally seems to soften.
William Kent Krueger spotlights so many other relationships in the book as well, husband/wife, parent/child, friendships, communities such as the Red Boyz and the tribal elders and how they interact. There is so much raw emotion everywhere in the book, and yet everyone on the surface tries to portray utter calm. That keeps the reader on edge, just waiting for dozens of things to boil over, and boil over they surely do.
Without spoiling the ending, I will say it could appear that this might be the end of the series. I’m sure there are many more Cork O’ Connor stories to tell, especially since he has made the choice to stand with one side of what can only be an ongoing conflict.
Discussion Questions for Red Knife (added 3/26/2013)
Discussion
Questions for Red Knife by William Kent Krueger
1. How
does the prologue describing the attack on an unsuspecting enemy tribe tie in
with the rest of the book?
2. Could
there have been a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the Red Boyz and
Buck Reinhardt or was violence inevitable?
3. What
makes Cork decide to join in on the attack on the Latin Lords?
4. Although
that attack appeared to be successful, will the drug lords really stay away?
5. Why
does Cork leave his guns with Henry Meloux?
6. What
is Henry Meloux’s role in this novel? If
you have read other books in the series, is his role the same or does it change
over time?
7. Why
do the Anishinaabe trust Cork? Do the
Caucasian characters trust him? Why or
why not?
8. How
does Cork balance his deep Catholicism with his Anishinaabe beliefs?
9.
William
Kent Krueger adeptly focuses on relationships such as husband/wife,
parent/child, friendships, and communities such as the Red Boyz and the tribal
elders. Discuss some of these
relationships and how they affect the fates of the characters in Red Knife.
10. Does
the school shooting at the end of the novel tie in with or reflect the
situation in the prologue or other incidents in the novel? How?
Was this event foreshadowed in any way?
11. William
Kent Krueger has said that Red Knife was inspired by the violence of the Red Lake
Minnesota school shootings:
“Red Knife is a book about violence, which
is something I've been thinking a good deal about over the past several years.
In March of 2005 on the Red Lake Reservation in northwestern Minnesota, the
worst school shooting in this nation's history up to that point in time
occurred. But it wasn't the first fatal school shooting in Minnesota. Two years
before that in a small town west of the Twin Cities a high school student shot
one of his classmates to death. These tragedies disturbed me greatly. And I
began to reflect on violence in our culture and in other cultures and have
become convinced that, despite all our lip service about being a peace-loving
nation and people, we have perpetuated a belief system that encourages violence
as the most legitimate response to threat. Red Knife was the result of all that
rather grim rumination.”
12. How does the violence that permeates the
story of Red Knife reflect the violence of the Red Lake shootings?
Author background and bibliography added 3/26/13
Author background and bibliography added 3/26/13
Author
Background William Kent Krueger: Red Knife
William Kent Krueger was born November 16, 1950 in
Torrington, Wyoming. His family moved
around frequently in his youth. He went
to Stanford University and participated in protests which got him kicked out of
school. He worked as a logger and in the
construction industry. During these
years he wrote articles for magazines and newspapers.
He met and married his college sweetheart Diane and
moved to St Paul, MN in 1980. Kent began
writing short stories and found that he wrote most effectively in a notebook at
the St Clair Boiler. It was there that
he also wrote his first novel “Iron Lake.”
Part
Irish, part Anishinaabe/Ojibwe, Cork O'Connor is a Chicago policeman who
returns to his hometown of Aurora with his lawyer wife, Jo, and their three
children to take a job as sheriff.—Iron Lake
William Kent Krueger travels with fellow authors
Ellen Hart and Carl Brookins as the Minnesota
Crime Wave. Together they have produced
two anthologies of short stories by Minnesota authors: Silence of the Loons and Resort
to Murder. The Crime Wave also hosts
a mystery program on CTV-15 called Minnesota Crime Wave Presents. They interview local authors, discuss mystery
writing and mystery novels. Visit the
Minnesota Crime Wave at http://www.minnesotacrimewave.org/index.html
The
Cork O’ Connor Novels
Iron Lake 1998
Boundary Waters 1999
Purgatory Ridge 2001
Blood Hollow 2004
Mercy Falls 2005
Copper River 2006
Thunder Bay 2007
Red Knife 2008
Heaven’s Keep 2009
Vermillion Drift 2010
Northwest Angle
2011
Trickster’s Point 2012
Standalone
novels:
The Devil’s Bed 2003
Ordinary Grace
2013
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