The River We Remember is a powerful, and well thought out novel with unforgettable characters. William Kent Krueger does a wonderful job of drawing the reader into small town life in 1950s Minnesota. This novel sealed the deal for me: I will always read what William Kent Krueger writes.

Go read this one. It has something for everyone - colorful, interesting, complex characters with a setting that feels like a character (Jewel Minnesota). Big questions of “what would you do” are asked of the reader over and over again and it was written so well that I could almost see Brody Dern and his small jail and smell the friend chicken dinners being served by Angie. Within 30 pages, I was turning pages feverishly to find out what was going to happen. Everyone will love this book. And book clubbers ? Here you go - your next group read. Trust me.

William Kent Krueger at his best once again. A beautiful story that deftly weaves together the myriad stories of ordinary people in small town Minessota of the 1950s. If you loved This Tender Land and/or Ordinary Grace, this novel will keep you in thrall till the end. A half-naked dead body of a much-despised man is found floating in the river Alabaster on Memorial Day. This sets in motion a series of events as hidden agendas, old secrets and jealousies are revealed and the lives of ordinary citizens are irrecovably altered. Krueger once again highlights the trials and tribulation of the indigenous folk at the time as also the post-war hate towards the Japanese race. Filled with characters who are neither wholly likeable nor unlikeable, this is not a past-paced mystery novel. It is a slow burn, a story of life in a small town to be savoured with every page- classic William Kent Krueger and a must-read.

Thank you NetGalley, William Kent Krueger and Atria books for the ARC

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @atriabooks for this advanced reader copy of The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger.

When I listened to a sample of this novel a few months ago, I knew it was going to be special. Krueger continues his streak with his stand alone collection by releasing novels with memorable characters and excellent storytelling. Post WWII small town Minnesota along the Alabaster River is the setting for this novel, and it opens when the remains of the unlikable Jimmy Quinn are found in the body of water. Everyone’s hiding something (and for good reason), even the honorable sheriff Brody Dern. Some of those secrets reveal why Quinn has met his demise, and others will just break your heart.

This novel was everything I wanted it to be, and I’m so thankful I had the opportunity to read it. It releases Tuesday, September 5. If you read it, I’d love to know what your think!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The River We Remember is a stunning, atmospheric novel by William Kent Krueger. Although he is well-known for his Sheriff Cork O’Connor suspense series set in rural northern Minnesota, Krueger’s previous stand-alone books, Ordinary Grace, and This Tender Land, have solidified his place as one of America’s pre-eminent storytellers. With The River We Remember, he exhibits even more understanding and sensitivity to exquisitely express the depths of the human condition.
Appropriately opening on Memorial Day, 1958, this is the story of the residents and war heroes of small-town Jewel, Minnesota—“Gem of the Prairie.” The gruesome discovery of one of the town’s leading citizens in the nearby Alabaster River triggers an investigation by Sheriff Brody Dern, assisted by wise retired lawman Connie Graff. As Brody pursues the truth, the residents of Jewel reveal their actions, dreams, and motivations for good, and evil, behavior. The slow build story culminates in an incredibly impactful conclusion to the investigation.
Krueger’s writing is so evocative of time and place that it gives great context to the story. The themes of manhood—what it is, how and when it is achieved, when is it sullied—war and its aftermath with damaged bodies and souls of survivors, and racial and social injustices ring true in our time, just as they do in this story set in the Midwest of 1958.
The characters are from many sectors of society in mid-century USA, and their stories all unfold in poignant, well-placed detail. The characters come alive, leaping off the page with their descriptions. There is a slow, delicious, inexorable build up to the apex and ultimate revelations of each character’s story. The author has a particularly deft hand with the stories and feelings of the young teen boys, Scott and Del. With gentle insight, the author exposes each character’s strengths and weaknesses within the context of a flawed social milieu and prejudice, but ends with the ultimate idea “that’s one of the beauties of life…That we still fight on” for a better world and life.
Highly recommend this phenomenal novel!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Krueger’s stand-alones are always impeccable. This transported me to a time and place I had never visited, but felt like I’ve known all my life. All of the characters were distinct and gloriously flawed. 5 stars!

This is another beautifully written book from William Kent Krueger. He is an incredible storyteller - the characters are well developed, and you really feel for them. I liked the epilogue at the end that wrapped everything up for all the main characters. If you enjoyed, Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, you won't be disappointed. Thanks to NetGalley got the digital ARC.

Wow.
This book is stunning. Usually after finishing a book, I have one lined up ready to go straight away. I had a belter too (The Women by Kristin Hannah) and this book just stopped me in my tracks. I was weeping quietly to myself during the last few chapters of this, and the characters and story just lingered so I couldn't start the Kristin Hannah. My heart ached by the time I closed this. Sad for the book, and sad for me that I'd finished it.
I have heard lots of great things about This Tender Land by this author, and based on this one, I will read everything he has written.
He writes such a compelling story, a murder mystery, yet the beauty of this book lies in the characters relationships' and the utterly beautiful setting of the Alabaster river.
I adored this, and highly recommend it to fans of historical and literary fiction.

4.5 stars

I loved William Kent Krueger’s previous stand- alone novel This Tender Land and since finishing that book, I’ve been highly anticipating his next one for some time. Though he did release 2 Cork O’Connor novels in between, I hadn’t started reading that series yet, so I didn’t read those 2 when they came out (I’m very particular when it comes to book series and prefer to start from the first book as much as possible). Of course, it should come as no surprise then, that when I heard his newest novel, The River We Remember, would be another standalone, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. I’m happy to say that the wait was well worth it, as Krueger gives us another poignant, atmospheric, multi-layered story with complex, nuanced characters. In the Editor’s Letter at the beginning of the novel, Krueger’s editor Peter Borland introduces the book this way: “This is a spellbinding novel that asks big questions about justice, redemption, and the fragile ties that bind a community together. In this book more than any of his others, Kent shows us that heroes have flaws, villains have virtues, and our lives are made better when we can feel compassion instead of hatred for our enemies.” Such a fitting description that perfectly encapsulates this brilliantly-written story!

The story starts on Memorial Day 1958, in a small town called Jewel, located in Black Earth County, Minnesota, where the Alabaster River “runs seventy miles before crossing the border into Iowa.” When the body of Jimmy Quinn, the richest man in the county who also owns most of the land in the area, is found in said river, it sets off a series of events that profoundly changes this small rural community. The gruesome death triggers an investigation by the town’s local sheriff Brody Dern (who is also the story’s main protagonist). As we follow the investigation that forms the “mystery” at the heart of the story, we soon come to understand that the narrative is actually much more complicated than what we initially thought. In essence, this story is an exploration of life in a small, tight-knit community where things are never as simple as they seem and one event can cause underlying tensions to rise to the surface. Krueger covers a lot of ground here in terms of bringing to light many of the issues in society — such as the deep-seated prejudices resulting from the lingering effects of war, the country’s history of mistreatment toward Native Americans and indigenous population, the divide between rich and poor, family conflict and dysfunction, abuse and trauma and grief, etc.

There is a large cast of characters, all of whom are realistically portrayed in that they are flawed and morally ambiguous, with things in their pasts that they have to constantly contend with while dealing with present struggles that they try to overcome. Also, as with most of Krueger’s stories, the setting here — in the form of both time and place — plays a hugely important role in the narrative arc. Even though it has been over a decade since the end of WWII, the wounds from the war still run deep in Black Earth County, which has the effect of shaping the attitudes and behaviors of its residents. I mentioned the Alabaster River earlier, which has such an outsized role in the story that it can essentially be considered a character itself. One of the things that always stands out to me in Krueger’s works is his ability to incorporate the local landscape to great effect and also write about it in a way that makes us (the readers) care about it as much as the characters do. I’m not much of a “nature” reader in the sense that I typically get bored with too much description of physical settings (i.e.: natural habitats and surrounding areas), but the way Krueger does it, I always find myself being drawn in — no doubt this is a testament to Krueger’s powerful writing and storytelling.

Needless to say, I recommend picking this one up, though be forewarned that the book deals with some difficult topics, so trigger warnings abound. Krueger fans definitely won’t be disappointed with the masterful storytelling and the unforgettable characters presented here.

Received ARC from Atria Books via NetGalley.

This book is a masterpiece. The storytelling alone is worth the entire read. That doesn't even scratch the surface, however, because the plot and characters are near perfection. This story is gripping, powerful, important and entertaining. Everyone can learn something from this story and anyone who reads it is sure to be absorbed as well as entertained. The historical element combined with the cutting-edge, razor sharp subject matter hit me in a new way than his other books have and I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it! I cannot wait to get this into the hands of readers because they are going to rave about it!

Can William Kent Krueger do no wrong? He’s become one of my favorite authors over the last year, and this book is no exception. This book started out more slowly for me than some of his others, but that ending more than made up for it! I stayed up much too late to finish this book— I couldn’t put it down. Krueger does a fantastic job developing his characters, and his writing is just beautiful. I will continue to read whatever he writes. Thanks to
NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this wonderfully written book.

Like all William Kent Krueger books, this story is rich and complex. His love and devotion to his home state of Minnesota shines through in his descriptions of the people, the places, and the scenery. I loved his books "Ordinary Grace" and "This Tender Land" and I will be adding this book also to that list.

In 1958, in a small Minnesota town, a body of a wealthy landowner is discovered along the banks of the Alabaster River. This was a man who was generally disliked by almost everyone in town, including his family. However, after his death has been ruled a homicide and a suspect has been jailed, the county residents begin to take sides. Can Noah Bluestone, a Native American and WWII veteran who came home from the war with a Japanese wife, get a fair trial in a county full of prejudice against them?

It's the characterization of the people within this town that makes this story so compelling and so much more than just a simple mystery or police procedural. Many of the men in town, including the sheriff, still carry the ravages of war with them, long before it was labeled PTSD. These are men who returned home as heroes with medals from WWI, WWII, and the Korean War, but they were often missing parts of their bodies and their minds. The families of the community continue to struggle with grief and loss, and everyone is hiding secrets. In perfect WKK style, there is even the inclusion of a coming-of-age story of two prepubescent boys along with their struggles to fit in.

William Kent Krueger is a brilliant storyteller, and his fans are in for a treat when this book comes out on September 5th, 2023. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for giving me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this amazing novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

It's William Kent Krueger, so of course there are multiple well developed characters dropped into a rich setting from historic Americana. But, I have never read a book where so many characters, though far from innocent pawns, tried to shape events to protect the people and town around them in so many selfless ways. You will not be dissappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books of Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for this review.

If you've never read a book by William Kent Krueger do yourself a favor and read The River We Remember. Krueger's storytelling and attention to detail is masterful and a wonderful gift to readers everywhere. The River We Remember is a story of a small Minnesota town named Jewel and the story is set in 1958. All of the townsfolk are gathered for the parade on Memorial Day when Sheriff Brody Dern gets notified that Jimmy Quinn is floating in the river. Quinn is dead and his face has been eaten away by catfish. As the investigation proceeds. the autopsy shows that Quinn was murdered from a shotgun blast.

Rumors begin to circulate around Jewel that Noah Bluestone is responsible for the murder. Noah is a Native American veteran who fought in WWII and recently returned to Jewel with his Japanese wife, Kyoko. Many in the town don't like Noah because he's Native American and they don't like him being married to a Japanese woman. As Sheriff Dern investigates an arrest is made due to evidence found. Sheriff Dern doesn't believe the person arrested killed Quinn and makes sure he has a lawyer. There's a lot of hatred and racism at this time and the men that have returned from war are injured, but not the kind of injuries you can see. Sheriff Dern returned to Jewel as a war hero but he is still fighting things that he had to endure in the war. Will he be able to find peace himself? Will he be able to solve the mystery about what really happened to Quinn? Will he be able to stem the hatred to protect the most vulnerable citizens in town? Will Dern be able to forgive himself and finally let a woman get close to him?

This remarkable book will stick with you long after you finish it. There are so many memorable characters in this story that work so hard to keep going through many challenges. I absolutely loved The River We Remember and rate it 5 stars with my highest recommendation. I'd like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of The River We Remember in exchange for a fair review. #TheRiverWeRemember

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of book. It is so good, and yet, so simple, that it astounds and amazes. It is so moving that I am reaching to be able to give it the kind of review it deserves. It is about a small town in Minnesota: Jewel, which it is in so many ways. There is nothing extraordinary about it but it feels like home. Many people never leave, many return after living lives elsewhere. It is 1958, a time much simpler in many ways than the current day. These people have lived through wars, several. Jimmy Quinn is dead. There are few people that mourn him and plenty that are glad. Brody is the sheriff, after being deputy for years and running against a man who, even voters could tell, was not a good man and would not have been a good sheriff. Yet, here he was, spending the night to protect the crime scene, and carefully wiping away all the evidence. He didn’t know exactly why but he knew calling this a murder would open a box of worms that Black Earth County would regret for years.

The people in the story all had past lives which were uncovered slowly in a miasma of racism, sex, murder, abuse, theft, and more. Men had come home from each war different than they had left it. The characters were the perfect mix of good and bad or, in some cases, bad and good. People fell in love, others tried to hang on the love they had. As Brody had thought, the knowledge of the murder hurt people and created such a mess it was difficult to assess. Sometimes it is better to leave things alone. That seemed to be the overarching theme of this book. It is a frightening thought that sometimes a murder is better than letting the person live, but the repercussions of this murder were so far-reaching that it seemed to be the case. And this was the nuanced telling of that tale. What an amazing book. I really do not have the words.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The River We Remember by Atria Books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions were mine. #Netgalley #AtriaBooks #WilliamKentKrueger #TheRiverWeRemember

I run to read everything that William Kent Krueger writes, especially his stand-alone books. Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land are two of my favorite books. While I am not sure The River We Remember ranks as high with me as the two I mentioned earlier, this is a very good read. It has the right to be the most anticipated book for August 2023!

Mr. Krueger's down to earth characters and description of the Minnesota small town living in 1958 highlights his beautiful writing style. There is a murder investigation of an unlikable landowner, Jimmy Quinn. Sheriff Brody Dern has to figure out if someone shot Quinn or did he commit suicide on the banks of the Alabaster River. There are quite a few people that should want Quinn dead. However, many of the residents immediately point the finger at WW2 veteran, Noah Bluestone, who recently returned to the area with his Japanese wife.

This book touches on many sensitive topics. There are several that are touched by what would be called today PTSD due to the war. Some are touched by rape, prostitution, abuse and prejudice. There is a lawyer, that is looking for the truth but it is hard to be a woman lawyer in the 1950's. There are also great friendships, community coming together, and a love story.

I highly recommend reading The River We Remember!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The River We Remember. #NetGalley #WillaimKentKrueger #TheRiverWeRemeber

WKK does it again. Everyone should pick this book up at some point 🥲 A gripping and powerful tale, strung together in a meaningful and thought provoking way- human nature, American History and the courage to reveal the darkest parts of ourselves are all powerful themes that drive this novel. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC, I cannot wait to see the big waves this book will make!

This Tender Land is one of my favorite books of all time so I was really excited to see what else this author has to offer. The River We Remember was also extremely good! I love a good small town mystery and this author just has a way with words that puts you right in the middle of rural Minnesota. I loved this one and can’t wait to read more from this author!

I decided to request and read this book because Kent is a very popular author in my area (southern Minnesota) and my library hosts him with some regularity.
I can see where he has his audience (rural, small town MN), I just did not connect with it. DNF at about 60%
The sticking point for me was that the narrator was situated as modern omniscient, at one point referring to change a character had as "a lot for the time", insinuating that the narrator exists in a more modern context. However, they continued to use racist and sexist language (there was a particular description of a 14 year old girl that gave me big creeps) that was not appropriate. I understand the characters using such language (the story takes place in the 1950s) but if you're going to have a modern narrator, they need to use modern language. It's just inexcusable, really.

I really enjoyed this story. I've read a number of Krueger's books and I enjoy his story telling. This story, just like his others, are filled with a good plot, characters and adventure.