Shaky Lake, Wisconsin is the setting for the aptly titled crime tale NORTHWOODS. Eli North was a seasoned Fish and Game investigator before heading to Afghanistan. Now he’s scarred and mentally absent from his life much of the time. He is a deputy in the town, which serves the lake vacation trippers and underemployed locals.  Eli’s job is just as shaky; the sheriff is his mother Marge North, and with any other boss, his constant drinking would have got him fired. But the sudden death of a teen visitor at the lake means all hands are needed.

I have great respect for anyone who writes an antihero; it’s not easy to carry this character and their bad decisions and still make the reader sympathise. Probably it’s twice the work of writing a straightforward hero. The writer also has to convince us that there’s a reason this investigator stays employed. Well, the continual budget cuts mean the town is reduced to a small handful of officers, with their food donated by a local business and their personal phones used as the main tools of investigative recording. It almost looks as though someone on the council doesn’t want efficient law enforcement, but the tale doesn’t go that far. Maybe if there’s a sequel it would take that direction.  

Due to the lack of resources, FBI agent Alyssa Mason is requested to assist with the investigation of the death of a teen boy, Ben, and disappearance of his friend, a teen girl, Caitlin. Alyssa is efficient with online searches, talks to women witnesses, and expedites tests. Her female role fills the gap left by Eli’s wife demanding a divorce after he let the family down once too often. Eli still wants to make it up to his son Andy, but seems he just can’t get anything right.  

A few diversions to check in on the local drug addicts lead to the more serious and influential aspects of this case. Some readers will get absorbed in the investigative side and others will just read for the setting. Mosquitoes, friendly dogs, old-timers, and the splash of oars on the lake surface. The smell of grease and beer in the eatery, the haunting music traveling across the lake at night. Amy Pease has provided a great deal to like in her first book. NORTHWOODS is a gripping crime tale and a comment on small towns, with a hard look at America’s opioid problems. The strong women characters grabbed me more than Eli North, but I hope they will all return for another adventure.