Nathan Active is an Alaskan state trooper. He was born to an Inupiat girl and a white father, but raised by a white couple, so he knows almost nothing about his native heritage. Now he's been assigned to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. He'd love to get back to Anchorage, but until then, he's got a series of strange suicides on his hands. Everyone else is happy to write them off as alcohol, as a curse, as whatever. But Nathan not so sure that they are suicides at all. And what does the local oil company have to do with this?

I have mixed feelings on this one. I liked the setting a lot, and I was involved in the mystery. But Nathan is a funny sort of character. He is a good cop, but just randomly jumps into bed with a coworker without a second thought. He's all conflicted about it and it causes complications at his job, but then he does it again as soon as he get the chance. That makes me wonder just how smart he really is. I did like the ending, but I'm not sure I'll read another by this author.