Don'T Think Twice

The North Lakes region of Minnesota is a place of breathtaking beauty--where thousands of small islands and lakes stretch as far as the eye can see. In his haunting second novel, Don't Think Twice, Wayne Johnson brilliantly evokes a sense of place--where people definitely do not have the upper hand. "On quiet mornings, a light mist rises off the water. There is something new about it all. Life here has just a toehold on these glacier-scarred basalt and granite islands." Johnson grew up on the White Earth and Red Lake reservations, and his novel tells the powerful story of one man's struggle to keep his land, and his dignity.

Paul Two Persons owns a resort lodge that sits on 1,400 acres of land, close by the reservation where he was born. But beyond the idyllic location, all is not well. Several months earlier, Paul's young son, Bobby, had died in a hunting accident; his marriage is shaky; and he's on the verge of losing the lodge thanks to a bad loan to his friend, Al. People have stopped talking to him because "getting too close meant trouble. Tchibai, the old ones called it, or walking shadow." Adding to his woes, Al dies in an apparent suicide. Paul quickly realizes that his troubles are not just fate: they are being deliberately orchestrated, and someone is pulling his strings.

Don't Think Twice is a remarkable literary thriller that eloquently portrays the torment of one man as he battles with various demons. The book leaves us breathless--and needing more of Johnson's magic. --Naomi Gesinger