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Late one night, a plane lands on a deserted airstrip. Five dead bodies are found there the next morning.
And now Vinnie LeBlanc is missing.
Vinnie is an Ojibwa tribal member, a blackjack dealer at the Bay Mills Casino, and he just might be Alex McKnight’s best friend. He’s come through for Alex more than once in the past, and he never ever misses a day of work. So Alex can’t help but be worried. There’s a deadly crime war creeping into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, leaving bodies in its wake, and Alex wouldn't think for a minute that his friend could be involved. But when an unexpected and unwelcome stranger arrives in town, Alex will soon find out that the stakes are higher than he ever could have imagined.
Two-time Edgar award-winner and New York Times bestselling author Steve Hamilton returns with thid outstanding new novel--perhaps his boldest book yet.
“[Hamilton] creates an ensemble of strong, believable characters and spins his suspenseful tale in crisp, hard-boiled prose. The result is a taut, fast-paced story with lots of gunplay and unexpected twists, along with a poignant subplot about the strained relationship between father and son.” —Associated Press
“Steve Hamilton keeps getting better and better, and in this latest Alex McKnight novel, he seems to have hit a fast-paced groove. This book is so spare and so elegantly assembled, it seems effortless. … This book has enough twists, emotional and otherwise, for me not to want to give away too much other than to say this is a powerful, and powerfully told, story by a writer who is at the peak of his narrative powers.” —AnnArbor.com
“In the latest of the Alex McKnight series, Steve Hamilton again demonstrates why he is one of the better authors at giving a sense of depth to the stage where his characters reside.” —San Diego Union-Tribune
“Hamilton does an excellent job creating strong, believable characters that are frequently put in violent, deadly situations. Deftly structuring his novel, the author slowly increases the tension while providing useful background information and offering societal insights into life on the reservation.”—Lansing State Journal
“Die a Stranger is marvelously atmospheric with characters and locales so realistic, they jump off the pages. Alex is a flawed, but totally captivating, man whose principles are put to the test time and again. A great series!” —Fresh Fiction
“A master wordsmith…. His prose is not flowery, but is loaded with a quiet descriptive power that is easy to take for granted, so effortlessly does narrative slip across printed page. Hamilton makes it look easy, but I doubt it is.” —BookReporter.com
“Die a Stranger is an excellent book in every way.” —Reviewing the Evidence
“Hamilton's plot is swift and dialogue driven, his observations skillfully linking setting and character.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“McKnight is tough as nails and inordinately lovable, with an unerring, offbeat moral compass and a dark, ironic funnybone.” —Chronogram
“Hamilton keeps us on edge to the very end. His writing is sharp, his characters have dimension, and his settings are richly authentic. Die a Stranger is, quite simply, a terrific yarn.” —Open Letters Monthly
Praise for Steve Hamilton: "I'm often asked to recommend a detective series readers might have missed. This is it. Hamilton has been flying under the radar with his Alex McKnight series for too long." —HARLAN COBEN
“A proven master of suspense.” —LEE CHILD
"I really like his main character, Alex McKnight, and I'm ready to revisit Paradise, Michigan." —JAMES PATTERSON
“Already one of our best writers.” —LAURA LIPPMAN
"Hamilton writes tough, passionate novels.... This is crime writing at its very best.” —GEORGE PELECANOS
“Hamilton’s compelling, vigorous prose doesn’t allow the option of taking a break.” —Los Angeles Times
“Steve Hamilton writes the kind of stories that manly men and tough-minded women can’t resist.” —The New York Times
"Hamilton . . . paints a rich and vivid portrait of a world where the chill in the air is often matched by that of the soul.” —The Providence Journal
“Hamilton gives us mysteries within mysteries as well as a hero who simply won’t be beaten down.” —The Miami Herald
Excerpted from Die a Stranger by Steve Hamilton Copyright © 2012 by Steve Hamilton. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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Posted December 31, 2012
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 21, 2012
1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.corvettemary
Posted May 10, 2012
The Alex McKnight series books are full of twists & turns. By the 2nd book you feel like you know him personally. Steve Hamilton does an awesome job!! Gotta read these books!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 12, 2013
A must read if you like the McKnight Series.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The newest novel in the wonderful Alex McKnight series by Steve Hamilton starts
out, as do most of them, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The residents of the area, referred to as the “land of the Yoopers,” consist heavily of Native Americans, most of them living in the reservations in that part of the country. As the book opens, Vinnie Red Sky LeBlanc, an Ojibwa Indian who is probably Alex’ best friend, is mourning the death of his mother, a legend on the “rez.” Alex, a former cop from Detroit, has been living for years in the town of Paradise, where his father had built several cabins for rental to hunters and winter recreationers, lives in one of those cabins, just down the road from Vinnie, had moved off the rez years before. Much is made of the clannish nature of the folks on the rez, and how difficult it is for ‘outsiders’ to be trusted. Vinnie has never been allowed to forget that he is now an outsider, just as he has never forgotten that his father had left thirty years before, the same father apparently still in prison for a vehicular manslaughter/drunk driving incident.many years ago, the reason Vinnie himself never drinks.
At the same time, at a little airport three hundred miles away, an event occurs that will effect their lives and those of several others when a small plane holding large quantities of high-grade marijuana lands, precipitating a hijacking which ends with several dead bodies left on the field, only one man making it out alive. Both Alex and Vinnie become deeply involved in the aftermath: Vinnie disappears, and Alex is determined to find him and to discover how he what part, if any, he played in this.
The Upper Peninsula is again brought vividly to life by this author who, along with fellow Yooper William Kent Krueger, seems to completely “own” this part of the United States, just below the Canadian border, in their fictional endeavors. Mr. Hamilton’s description, in part: “It may be July, and it may feel like summer just got here, but the end is already on its way. The cold, the snow, the ice, the natural basic state of this place, it is right around the corner. . . It was another goddamned beautiful useless day in Paradise.” The book veers south to perhaps a lesser-known part of the State apparently called Michigan’s Gold Coast, with towns such a Petoskey and Charlevoix where one soon feels “like you’re in the middle of Times Square,” also beautifully evoked.
This is another terrific entry in the series, beautifully written, as usual, with a somewhat intricate, suspenseful plot and wonderfully drawn characters, and it is highly recommended.
cate-k
Posted October 23, 2012
Another winner from Steve Hamilton, with his Alex McKnight series. It's always interesting when Alex gets involved in his "cases" . He is like a dog with a bone and will not let go until he's got all the answers.
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Posted September 29, 2012
One of his best
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Posted September 10, 2012
Terrible tale thats all over the place with unplausible situations and .at all too many, times,boring narrative.My one and only experience with Mr. Mcknight. It's one of those novels you struggle through and look forward to finishing so you can read something better.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 9, 2012
I so look forward to the next book in this series, as I always know it will be enjoyable and well written.
This one was just a jewel, thank you Mr Hamilton
Anonymous
Posted July 8, 2012
Latest Alex McNight novel is gripping and moves right along - ending is exciting and ties the story nicely together
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Posted October 5, 2012
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Overview
Late one night, a plane lands on a deserted airstrip. Five dead bodies are found there the next morning.
And now Vinnie LeBlanc is missing.
Vinnie is an Ojibwa tribal member, a blackjack dealer at the Bay Mills Casino, and he just might be Alex McKnight’s best friend. He’s come through for Alex more than once in the past, and he never ever misses a day of work. So Alex can’t help but be worried. There’s a deadly crime war creeping into ...