Reviews with content warning for Rape - Winter Counts

This book was everything I want in a crime thriller, without any of the tired tropes that make me end up avoiding crime thrillers even though I tend to want to read them. I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes a medium to fast paced crime drama - if you can stomach descriptions of violence and fighting, I think it's worth it because this story involves bad guys coming to justice in really satisfying ways. As a final note I really appreciated the author's writing of the characters overall - they were believable and sympathetic - but especially the women characters. I typically avoid fiction written by men because of too many bad experiences with the way women characters were written, but Weiden's female characters were fully developed, not just accessories to the vigilante male protagonist. Much respect to this author and I look forward to future works by him.

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lklitup's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden is an epic crime adventure following Virgil Wounded Horse of the Lakota Rosebud Reservation. As a “hired thug,” he enacts violent justice amongst wrongdoers who have been let go or ignored by the tribal police and/or federal authorities. His nephew, Nathan, becomes immeshed with one of Virgil’s targets, and Virgil comes to learn the dangerous, underhanded world of drugs and reservation politics.

The story in this book was absolutely enthralling, and I anxiously read through each new turn of events. I became invested in the well-being of the reservation, and I credit that to Marie’s character and the cultural information woven throughout. I wish there had been more, although the author gives some insight as to that decision in the acknowledgements. Virgil is a prototypical anti-hero whose decision to shirk his culture is belief by the sense of duty to his neighbors (albeit for his financial gain). His love for Nathan and his desire to do right made me root for him along his way.

My main gripe with this novel is its swift resolution within the last 15-20 pages. So much information is discovered, so many loose ends are quickly tied. The rest of the book was a well-built, well-maintained slow burn, so I thought the end had come too quickly. Additionally, some of the violence, while central to Virgil, was graphic to the point I needed to skim.

Content Warnings