Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley

Gus Carpenter is the editor of his hometown newspaper, The Pilot, after his stint at the Detroit Times ended in disgrace. Growing up in the town of Starvation Lake, Gus played goalie on the local hockey team. Ten years ago, while Gus was in Detroit, his coach, Jack Blackburn, disappeared while snowmobiling on the lake. Now a snowmobile has been found on nearby Walleye Lake. When it is determined to be Coach Blackburn's, Gus' memories of his hockey-playing childhood are dredged up. This includes the whole town blaming him for losing their one chance for a state hockey title. A lot of people in the town want the truth of what happened to the coach to stay buried, but as a reporter (and for himself), Gus knows he must find out what really happened. While I enjoyed Starvation Lake, I was expecting to really love it because people have been comparing the novel to Dennis Lehane and the book has glowing blurbs on it by both Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly. Gruley is not quite the writer that Lehane is. I think the similarities come because both authors write about the working class and have a detailed setting. Gruley's characterizations could have more depth. I would have loved to see more complexity in the people of Starvation Lake.