Winter Counts

An addictive and groundbreaking debut thriller set on a Native American reservation Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council,Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishmentthe kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s own nephewhis vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming fromand how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservationa new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces togetherhe must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost. Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fictiona bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American lifeand a twistingturning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.