Winter Counts
A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx. 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 punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and 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 reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he 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.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Winter Counts
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Virgil Wounded Horse is a hired enforcer on the Rosebud Lakota reservation in South Dakota, the man people pay when the tribal courts and the FBI will not act.
It is the first book in David Heska Wanbli Weiden's Virgil Wounded Horse series. The sequel is forthcoming.
It won the Anthony Award, the Thriller Award, the Spur Award, and the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, and was a finalist for the Edgar Award.
Winter Counts is 336 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Winter Counts takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Winter Counts is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
Winter Counts is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.