Atria
Published August 18, 2026
Reviewed by Julie Campbell
This was a difficult book to read. The writing and the characterizations are wonderful as always, but Cork is called on to decide which wolf to feed, and while what he goes through is necessary, you don’t always like him. And this was, by far, the most violent of all the books in the series.
While leading the men of his family on a canoe trip into the Boundary Waters, Cork learns that a friend who is a guide may have been kidnapped by the men who hired him. Sending everyone else back, Cork heads on alone to follow the kidnappers.
My only real problem with this was how often the story is moved forward by someone’s dumb decision: Cork’s to follow the bad guys with no defense or way to communicate; another canoer who is a cop and should know better who still follows Cork to offer help. But even the good guys sometimes makes bad choices. Recommended, with the caveat that it is definitely not a beach read. The fight between good and evil never is.