North Country is a set of stories about different characters in upstate New York near the Canadian border. Although many of the characters are interesting, especially Kaiser, telling bits of the stories in alternation became tedious for me. It's as if the author couldn't decide what stories were worth telling, so he tells all of them. But the short segments mean that you read several other short segments that having nothing much to do with each other, then you go back to the first segment's part two. Every character seems adrift and depressed. The north country is depressing. There's a lot of crime. Essentially, for me, the novel lacks focus. I would have preferred fewer characters and more depth, and perhaps something or someone likable.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC. This book was incredible. I could not put it down. I wish it was coming out sooner so I could talk to people about it. By the time I finished the first chapter I had already texted five people to tell them to add it to their TBR list.

Readers of Cormac McCarthy, Ron Rash, and (hear me out) Leigh Burdago's book Ninth House will love this book. The writing style felt like a McCarthy-Rash blend that I really enjoyed.

This book is set in North Chazy, New York. A town that is home to a college, a supermax prison, and a pet food plant. Our primary protagonist is Kaiser, a discharged JTAC who returns to North Chazy, his hometown, under unknown circumstances. Kaiser's return quickly loops him into the underbelly that runs the economics of the small town near the Canadian border, teasing out economics factors, town-gown dynamics, and how their interact with much larger forces. The book mixes science, local lore, and rumors about the people and places - all of which mix together into small town drama with a seedy undercurrent.