Book Review: Blood Country

Reviewed By: Carl Brookins - RAM

Blood Country     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Mary Logue
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Claire Watkins # 1
Walker & Co.; Sept. 1999; $23.95; 256 pp.

Claire Watkins is a damaged ex-Minneapolis police detective. She's also the protagonist of Mary Logue's new crime novel, following "Red Lake of The Heart," and "Still Explosion."

In "Blood Country," Watkins and her partner are moving toward arresting members of a major drug ring when Claire's husband, Steve, becomes the victim of what appears to be a hit-and-run accident. Shocked and desolate, Watkins abruptly resigns from the department, takes her young daughter, Meg, and flees to the small Wisconsin town of Fort Antoine. To support herself and provide a protective environment for Meg, Claire joins the county sheriff's department which hasn't seen a murder in at least a generation.

Then Claire's neighbor is found face down in his garden. Greed has raised its ugly head, generating conflict over a real estate development in the tiny rural community. Citizens are split over maintaining traditional values, against the prospect of substantial new money.

Logue sets a consistent pace, entwining the major plot elements with other developments in a pleasing manner and, through shifting points of view and realistic action, continually raises the feeling of mystery and danger. Logue's background as a successful poet shows in her narrative style which flirts with free verse, providing a meter of starts and pauses.

One of this novel's strengths is its thoughtful incompleteness. The main plot and some subplots are carefully resolved by the end, but other questions posed by characters to themselves and others are left unanswered. It's an invitation to the reader to speculate about their future. And its encouragement to watch for the next book in the series.

Carl Brookins - RAM

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