The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger Summary

The River We Remember is a historical murder mystery set in Jewel, Minnesota on Memorial Day 1958. The novel follows Sheriff Brody Dern as he investigates the shotgun murder of Jimmy Quinn, a wealthy and despised landowner found floating in the Alabaster River. The prime suspect becomes Noah Bluestone, a Dakota Native American WWII veteran married to a Japanese woman, exposing the town's deep-seated racism and the lingering trauma of war that haunts multiple characters.

William Kent Krueger is a New York Times bestselling author known for his Cork O'Connor mystery series set in northern Minnesota. Born November 16, 1950, and raised in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, he won the 2014 Edgar Award for his standalone novel Ordinary Grace. Krueger has received multiple prestigious awards including the Anthony Award, Barry Award, and Minnesota Book Award. His last thirteen novels were all New York Times bestsellers, and he lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife of over fifty years.

The River We Remember is ideal for readers who enjoy historical mysteries, literary crime fiction, and character-driven narratives exploring social justice themes. Fans of William Kent Krueger's previous standalone novels like Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land will appreciate the layered storytelling and moral complexity. The novel appeals to those interested in post-WWII America, Indigenous representation, and stories examining racism, trauma, and small-town secrets through a murder investigation framework.

The River We Remember received critical acclaim and was featured on many best-of-2023 lists, earning an Edgar Award nomination for Best Novel. Critics praise Krueger's masterful storytelling and well-drawn characters who are "neither wholly good nor wholly evil". The novel offers a spellbinding mystery while delivering an unflinching examination of war's lasting wounds, racial prejudice, and healing through community. Readers seeking both engaging plot and meaningful social commentary will find significant value in this literary crime novel.

The River We Remember explores racism against Native Americans and Japanese people in 1950s Minnesota, showing how wartime prejudices persisted after WWII. The novel examines war trauma through multiple veterans struggling with physical and psychological wounds, including Sheriff Brody Dern's POW experience. Other prominent themes include land ownership and Indigenous dispossession, the burden of secrets, and finding purpose despite life's mysteries. The Alabaster River itself symbolizes memory, perspective, and how each person's understanding of truth differs based on their experience.

Noah Bluestone, a Dakota veteran fired by Jimmy Quinn before the murder, becomes the primary suspect when his wife Kyoko's history as Quinn's sexual assault victim emerges. The town's anti-Indigenous and anti-Japanese prejudice quickly turns against the couple, with latent racism unleashed as Noah sits stoically in jail refusing to discuss the murder. Meanwhile, Kyoko manages their farm alone while enduring bitter prejudice and confronting her own WWII demons. The investigation reveals Noah's complex relationship with Quinn involved land theft from Bluestone's ancestors.

The River We Remember portrays war's lasting damage through multiple veterans including Sheriff Brody Dern, a former Japanese POW, and Noah Bluestone, both haunted by their experiences. Jimmy Quinn, the murder victim, had "hidden demons like every other soldier who survived," suggesting his bullying stemmed from unprocessed trauma. Sheriff Dern observes that "there were many ways of being wounded," acknowledging psychological scars alongside physical ones. The novel shows how 1958 America failed to support veterans' mental health, creating cascading consequences for individuals and communities.

The Alabaster River serves as both the murder scene and a symbolic space where characters seek solace, beauty, and memory throughout The River We Remember. Krueger states in his epilogue that "the river we each of us remembers is different," representing how perspective shapes truth and memory. The river's haunting presence triggers different memories and meanings for each character, embodying the novel's exploration of subjective experience and collective history. It becomes a metaphor for life's purpose and flow, with characters contemplating their role in a larger, unknowable design.

The River We Remember confronts 1950s racial prejudice against Indigenous peoples and Japanese Americans, showing how Noah Bluestone and his wife Kyoko face compounded discrimination in small-town Minnesota. The novel challenges American land ownership ideology through Noah's reference to Crazy Horse: "How can anyone own the land we walk? It's like owning the air we breathe". Other social issues include gender identity and LGBTQ+ struggles through lawyer Charlie's orientation, sexual violence against women, childhood abuse, and class inequality between wealthy landowners and marginalized communities.

Both The River We Remember and This Tender Land are William Kent Krueger standalone novels featuring ensemble casts of morally complex characters who are "neither wholly good nor wholly evil". While This Tender Land follows orphans during the 1930s Great Depression, The River We Remember is set in 1958 post-WWII Minnesota, focusing on a murder investigation. Both novels earned critical acclaim and New York Times bestseller status, exploring American history's darker elements through literary mystery frameworks. The River We Remember addresses racial justice more directly through its Indigenous and Japanese-American protagonists facing systemic prejudice.

Sheriff Brody Dern is a highly decorated WWII hero who carries physical and emotional scars from his service as a Japanese prisoner of war. Despite his heroic reputation, Dern engages in an adulterous affair with his brother's wife Garnet, having begun the relationship after returning from war. His complexity deepens when he wipes down the murder scene to remove fingerprints, privately believing Jimmy Quinn's death was justified due to Quinn's abusive character. Dern's struggle to solve the murder while battling his own demons makes him a flawed yet determined protagonist driven to protect his community.

The River We Remember contains content warnings for violence, sexual assault, rape, and dated offensive language describing Indigenous peoples, which some readers may find disturbing. Some critics note the novel's pacing is a "slow build" with over 400 pages, requiring patience from readers preferring faster-moving mysteries. The multiple character perspectives and complex plot lines, while praised by many, may overwhelm readers seeking straightforward narratives. However, most critical reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with the novel appearing on numerous best-of-2023 lists and receiving an Edgar Award nomination.