Heaven's Keep

A Novel

  • reading group guide
  • customer reviews
When a charter plane carrying Cork O’Connor’s wife, Jo, goes missing in a snowstorm over the Wyoming Rockies, Cork must accept the terrible truth that his wife is gone forever. But is she? In Heaven’s Keep, celebrated author William Kent Krueger puts his intrepid hero through the most harrowing mission of his life.

In the dark days following Jo’s disappearance, Cork struggles to cope with his grief. Then two women show up at his doorstep with evidence that the pilot of Jo’s plane was not the man he claimed to be. It may not be definitive proof, but it’s a ray of light in the darkness surrounding Cork’s loss. Agreeing to investigate, he travels to Wyoming where he battles interference from local law enforcement, hostility from members of the Northern Arapaho community, and dogged assassins determined to throw Cork off the trail—permanently. At the center of all the danger and deception lies the possibility that Jo is not really dead and that, somewhere along the labyrinthine path of his search, Cork will find her alive and waiting for him.

With deft plotting and writing that satisfies as much as it thrills, Heaven’s Keep gives readers an adventure they won’t forget.
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  • Atria Books | 
  • 336 pages | 
  • ISBN 9781439165713 | 
  • September 2009
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$10.93 List Price
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Praise

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ONE

Day One

After Stevie took off for school that morning, Cork O’Connor left the house. He headed to the sheriff’s department on Oak Street, parked in the visitors’ area, and went inside. Jim Pendergast was on the contact desk, and he buzzed Cork through the security door.

“Sheriff’s expecting you,” Pendergast said. “Good luck.”

Cork crossed the common area and approached the office that not many years before had been his. The door was open. Sheriff Marsha Dross sat at her desk. The sky outside her windows was oddly blue for November, and...

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Book Reviews

Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for Heaven's Keep includes an introduction, discussion questions, and a Q&A with author William Kent Krueger. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

Retired sheriff Cork O’Connor has been through harrowing experiences in his days, but nothing that compares with what he faces in Heaven’s Keep. Author William Kent Krueger’s intrepid hero gets struck with tragedy when he learns that a charter plane carrying O’Connor’s wife, Jo, went down somewhere over the Wyoming Rockies. Despite Cork and his son Stephen’s valiant efforts to search for her, they come up empty-handed. They resign themselves to the fact that Jo is no longer with them and that they have to move on.

Six months later, just as Cork is pulling his life back together, two women approach him with evidence that the pilot of Jo’s plane was not who he claimed to be. As Cork begins to investigate, he quickly finds himself and his new partner, Hugh Parmer, in harm’s way. Refusing to give up, he travels to Wyoming, where he meets with resistance from local law enforcement and the Northern Arapaho, both of whom seem to have a lot to lose if Jo see more

Video

Novelist William Kent Krueger Discusses Heaven's Keep

Novelist William Kent Krueger reveals the inspiration for his Cork series.

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