Reviews with content warning for Violence - 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.

Content Warnings

kalmed22's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

1st in this series. Lakota vigilante and his nephew encounter trouble on the reservation. The story is reflective and I enjoyed the details about their life and cultural beliefs/rituals. It was more story-telling than mystery, but it worked. Hoping the next book digs deeper.

Content Warnings

lizflynn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Phew, my anxiety was through the roof reading this book!! I mean that in a good way, because the story was action-packed and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Nathan! If you are a fan of Attica Locke and other books in that same vein, I would recommend this one. It was interesting to read a book set on a reservation, and the legal/judiciary failings that are present because of out-dated, racist legislation.

Content Warnings

keatynbergsten's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I don’t read a lot of crime/thriller books. But this one really got me! I was in a bit of a reading slump, working really slowly through a couple slower moving books and picked this one up and it was just what I needed. Wasn’t super creepy like many thrillers but still really caught my attention and kept me wanting more.

Content Warnings

abigailp's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark informative medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

boothdwellerbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Virgil Wounded Horse is an off the books enforcer for hire on the Rosebud Indian Reservation scraping a living together by taking action against lowlifes when the police can’t (or won’t) help. The story follows Virgil as he begins to investigate and then gets mixed up in plans to start moving hard drugs on the reservation. The entire time he is constantly navigating his personal relationships and where he fits in the community. This book was a really great blend of mystery, introspection, history, and connections. Virgil is an honest and very human narrator and I was very drawn into his world.

Content Warnings

lklitup's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

lairofbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

More...