Rating: 
Summary: Perfect
Review: "Blood is the Sky" is perfect. It is suspenseful, it is respectful, it is intelligent, and it is just about the best mystery ever written!!! I might be slightly biased because I know and love the Upper Peninsula, the setting does make the book magical for me, but Hamilton's writing and pacing and the twists & turns make for one of the finest works of mystery fiction...EVER!!!!!! Buy it! Buy 4, and make sure he writes another. The series just keeps getting better and better.
Larry Hellyer
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling On More Than One Level
Review: After his recent adventures, chronicled in the previous book North Of Nowhere, Alex McKnight is attempting to pick up the pieces of his life by rebuilding his cabin with the help of Vinnie Le Blanc, an Ojibwa indian who is his friend and neighbour. Breaking the reverie that comes with the rebuilding process is news that Vinnie's brother Tom is way overdue from a hunting expedition in Canada where he was to act as a guide. The two men decide to head north in a bid to track Tom's movements and try to find him. From here the story turns into a fight for survival in the wilds of North Canada.As Alex and Vinnie uncover the story of what happened up at the hunting lodge, more questions come up than are answered. They realise too late that their lives have become endangered but can't work out why. Of course, they aren't given terribly long to work on the why part of the question because they are kept busy working overtime trying to save their own skins. It's a tantalising thriller that had me guessing right up towards the very end. Thrown in with this are the wonderful descriptions of the untamed wilderness of Ontario that was brilliantly captured by Hamilton. I found the story compelling reading on more than just one level making it doubly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Strong Blood Ties
Review: Alex McKnight travels to the woods of north Ontario with Ojibway friend Vinnie LeBlanc in a search for Vinnie's brother, Tom, hired as a guide for five Detroit gangsters, all of whom have failed to return. When they arrive, Alex and Vinnie are told the hunting party has already left. In Alex and Vinnie's search they discover the Suburban, find shallow graves, and bears digging up burned bodies. BLOOD IS THE SKY reveals much about family, revenge, and soothing the wounds of sorrow created when children are killed. Alex becomes Vinnie's blood brother and the theme of the story compares the bond of friendship to the bond of ancestry and family. BLOOD IN THE SKY was a quick, thought-provoking mystery and thriller. It was very realistic and plausible and concludes by tying the loose ends together in an ending that is believable and makes perfect sense.
Rating:
Summary: Blood Is The Sky is excellent!
Review: Blood Is The Sky - Steve Hamilton This was my first Alex McKnight novel and it blew me away. Alex McKnight, former Detroit police detective, beings to rebuild his previously destroyed (the last book maybe) log cabin in Paradise, Michigan, when a friend appears with bad news. Vinnie has lost his brother and needs Alex's help to find him. The two set off on a trail which takes them into the mountains and lakes of deepest Canada. Switched identities, fearsome bears, moose with bad road sense and a deep, dark conspiracy test Alex and Vinnie's resilience and relationship to the limit. At once sad and funny, Hamilton has a great way of describing his surroundings, in what is obviously a well researched or well loved locality. You can feel the cold clammy weather under your shirt and you can imagine the miles and miles of unbroken forestland ahead of you. The camaraderie between Alex and Vinnie is excellent and all the other characters are carefully drawn. In summary; great characters and an excellent plot, with a few twists to keep you on your feet, make this a sure fire award winner in the thriller genre. Highly recommended. Andrew Poole
Rating:
Summary: Test of Friendship
Review: BLOOD IS THE SKY is really divided into thirds. The story begins with Alex McKnight rebuilding a cabin his father built in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. His Indian friend, Vinnie LeBlanc,ends up helping him.
The first 100 pages deal mostly with rebuilding their friendship that became strained in NORTH OF NOWHERE, along with the cabin. Extremely poignant characterization dealing with loyalty, male bonding, test of friendship, and difference of culture. In the second third of the book, action really picks up when Vinnie's brother, Tom, disappears. Tom, an ex-convict and ex-drug addict is trying to get his life into order. He takes a job as a moose-hunting guide in the wilds of Canada. Tom and his Detroit hunting party disappear without a trace. Alex and Vinnie head to Canada to find him. Events happen that strands Alex and Vinnie a very remote wilderness with little more than the clothes on their backs. Here their survival skills come into full-play. Fast-paced, page-turning action in this section. The last third of the book deals with the why of what happened. There are plenty of surprises in store. I like the way Steve Hamilton can unravel his stories without a lot of misdirection, but at the same time keep the suspense level high. Steve Hamilton is one of the finest crime writers working today. He continually weaves together detailed plotting, compelling primary and secondary characters, and heart-pounding action.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: Blood is the Sky recaptures that feeling of danger-at-every-turn excitement that got me hooked on this series when I read A Cold Day in Paradise. That was something that I thought was really lacking in North of Nowhere and Winter of the Wolf Moon. We also start to see some real development and progress in Alex as a character, and the way this book ends really makes you look forward to the next novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: Despite significant effort on my part I could not finish this novel - it was just too boring. Chapter after chapter went by and nothing caught the attention of my imagination. Flat characters, tedious scene descriptions, flaccid style -- I can't imagine how Hamilton has earned a reputation as a good writer. There are too many excellent mysteries on the market to waste time with this mediocrity. I give it an F.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Fast Paced and witty
Review: Ex Detective Alex McKnight teams up with his Indian Friend Vinnie to investigate the disappearance of Vinnie's Brother, whom has not returned home from a hunting trip.
The disappearance leads them both to the Canadian Mountains where they have to face more than moose and bears.
This book was a non-stop, fast paced , witty read which I managed to read in one day.
I thoroughly recommend this book to you all, and personally I want to hunt down all of this Edgar Award winning authors previous books.
Rating:
Summary: Like eating peanuts
Review: I discovered this Steve Hamilton novel by reading through some of the customer's reviews on a C. J. Box story. So I picked up this story at a local Waldenbook's store and literally got hooked on the storyline and character of Alex McKnight. Coincidentially, my family and I had spent a week in a cabin on the Lake at Paradise, MI about ten years ago (nearly froze our butts off when we visited Whitefish Point-and it was July yet). The authors descriptions of the UP are right on the mark-even to the only blinking red-light in the town. This is a very fast paced narrative story. Hamilton is a great storyteller-actualy he's telling the story in the lst person through Alex. I could not put the book down once Alex and Vinnie arrived at the remote lake by plane. After finishing the novel, I bought five more of Hamilton's novels. Just finished "A Cold Day in Paradise" and I am presently "digesting" Winter of the Wolf Moon. Like I said, once you start, it's like eating peanuts. All you need is a bottle of Canadian Moulson Beer with which to wash it all down.
Rating:
Summary: Better and better
Review: I live in Sault Ste.Marie,Ontario-and it is fascinating to read a REALLY good mystery set so accurately in your own area.So many times I have been disappointed by poor writing by other authors.But Steve Hamilton just keeps getting better and better.I was hooked from the time I read his first book and this book does NOTHING to change that.I have got several bulletin board buddies now under his spell.Can hardly wait to read "Ice Cut"!!!!
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