This is the ninth title in the Cork O'Connor series, and as titles go, this is my favorite. I love how it sounds, and I love how it resonates with the story that follows.
The idea at the heart of Heaven's Keep was given to me many years ago during a discussion with a guy from "up North." He was telling me about the vast stretches of peat bog in northern Minnesota and how treacherous they can be. "A person could disappear there and never be found, not a trace."
That got me to thinking about the possibility of someone disappearing without a trace, someone important to Cork O'Connor, and what would he do to find that person and how would he react while he's searching and afraid. The idea of the peat bogs went by the wayside fairly early on. I wanted someplace more distant, someplace alien to Cork, but someplace compatible with the idea of rugged wilderness, which is a part of the attraction of the series, I think. So I pulled out my trusty Atlas, took a good long look at the North American continent, and thought about what destination, logically, could be involved. My eye finally settled on those towering, intimidating peaks of the Wyoming Rockies.
I know Wyoming. The truth is I was born there. Torrington. I still have lots of family ties with the Cowboy State. And the idea of using the magnificent backdrop of the Rockies for a setting—Christ, the moment the possibility hit me, I knew it was perfect. It was the perfect place.
So it goes without saying that someone important to Cork disappears, lost on a charter flight that goes missing during a terrible snowstorm near a formidable mountain formation known as Heaven's Keep. I won't be giving anything away to say that it's Cork's beloved wife, Jo. Nor will I be giving anything away if I say that she's lost to him. Or so he believes. The book is written in two parts. The first is subtitled Lost. The second is subtitled Found.
This is the book that contains Cork's most personal story.
I hope you read it. I hope you enjoy it. And I'd love to hear what you think.
© William Kent Krueger. Web site by interbridge.
