Max Rupert has left his position as a Minneapolis homicide detective to live in solitude. Mourning the tragic death of his wife, he’s also racked by guilt—he alone knows what happened to her killer. But then the former local sheriff, Lyle Voight, arrives with a desperate plea: Lyle’s daughter Sandy and his six-year-old grandson Pip have disappeared. Lyle’s certain Sandy’s ex-husband Reed is behind it, but the new sheriff is refusing to investigate. 

When Max reluctantly looks into their disappearance, he too becomes convinced something has gone very wrong. But the closer Max and Lyle get to finding proof, the more slippery Reed becomes, until he makes a break for the beautiful but formidable Boundary Waters wilderness with vulnerable Pip in tow.

Racing after the most dangerous kind of criminal—a desperate father—and with the ghosts of their own pasts never far behind, Max and Lyle go on the hunt within a treacherous landscape, determined to bring an evil man to justice, and to bring a terrified child home alive.

Review:

Twisty, intricate, and unsettling!

Forsaken Country is an addictive, sinister tale that takes you to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where Max Rupert has been living a reclusive existence since he exacted revenge on his late wife’s killer and handed in his badge for good, but when the daughter and young grandson of one of the only men to know his name in this sleepy town, former sheriff Lyle Voight needs his help he uses his intuition and skills to help hunt down some ruthless predators while also finding a little bit of lightness within himself.

The prose is crisp and intense. The characters are tormented, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot is a suspenseful, engrossing tale full of twists, turns, lies, deception, familial drama, obsession, depravity, violence, and murder.

I’ve been a huge fan of Allen Eskens since I read The Life We Bury almost ten years ago, and whether it’s one of his standalone novels or another saga in the Detective Max Rupert series, such as this latest release Forsaken Country, I am always riveted, entertained, satisfied and incredibly impressed by his brilliantly-executed plots and exceptional character depth.

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.