Steve Hamilton - Blood Is the Sky (2003)
Steve Hamilton's reluctant private investigator Alex McKnight has returned for his fifth adventure in the latest entry in this Edgar Award-winning series. Although all of Hamilton's books thus far have been good, this is probably the best one yet.
McKnight is a former Detroit cop living a lonely life on Northern Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He still bears the scars, both physical and mental, of a near-fatal shooting, along with a bullet he carries around lodged near his heart.
Alex is recovering from the traumatic events of North of Nowhere (the previous book in the series) when his old friend Vinnie "Red Sky" LeBlanc comes to him for help. Vinnie is an Ojibwa Indian who works as a hunting guide when not dealing blackjack at the local casino.
Vinnie's brother, Tom LeBlanc, led a group of five Detroit businessmen on a moose hunt in a distant, isolated stretch of Northern Canada a week before and is overdue for his return. Tom is on parole for drug offenses and entered Canada illegally; thus, Vinnie is reluctant to involve the authorities McKnight (as his name would imply) has no choice but to agree to help. The two men set off for Canada together, trying to discover what happened to the wayward Tom. What they find puts both their lives and their friendship in jeopardy
As with all of Hamilton's books, Blood Is the Sky is notable for its strong sense of place. From the small town of Paradise, Michigan, to the crisp waters of Lake Superior and north to the frozen backwoods of Hornepayne, Ontario, the author really makes the settings come alive.
The locales of Hamilton's stories contribute to their forlorn sense of atmosphere, an isolated, brooding feeling that is echoed in protagonist Alex McKnight, one of the best series characters in the mystery genre today. He grows and develops with each book, as the author reveals another side of this good, but troubled man.
The reader can't help but be touched by this noble, solitary soul, a classic example of "the knight in tarnished armor" who has populated the detective novel since the days of Raymond Chandler. Even better is the way in which the author brings him alive, making McKnight seem like a living, breathing, bleeding person, not just a fictional creation.
Hamilton also does an excellent job of crafting his mystery. Not only is the plot genuinely suspenseful, which keeps the reader turning the pages, but the author also makes you care about what happens next. Part of this is due to the skill with which his characters are created, but part is also due to the downright intriguing nature of this puzzle.
At its heart, Blood Is the Sky is a book about friendship. Hamilton understands the unique bonds that exist between men and what drives them to such lengths on each other's behalf. It is refreshing to see that true brotherhood still exists, even if it is only in the pages of a mystery novel.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
