Six top vigilante thrillers

Molly Odintz is the Senior Editor for CrimeReads. She grew up in Austin and worked as a bookseller at BookPeople for years before her recent move up to New York City for a life in crime. She likes cats, crime novels, and coffee.

At CrimeReads, Odintz tagged six favorite titles from the "new wave of thrillers where the oppressed get some well-earned revenge." One title on the list:

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts

This one’s noir to the bone, even moreso because the need for a vigilante is based in real life circumstances. David Heska Wanbli Weiden’s stunning debut, Winter Counts, follows Virgil Wounded Horse, who acts as kind of enforcer for those who are caught in a legal no-man’s-land on their tribal reservation, and need some major ass-kicking on their behalf. He usually spends his days delivering beatings to pedophiles and wife-beaters and caring for his orphaned nephew, but when he reconnects with a old flame and is hired by her father to investigate an uptick of youth drug use, he finds himself tested to protect his community in a whole new way.

Read about another entry on the list.

Winter Counts is among Jennifer Baker's top twelve mystery novels featuring BIPOC protagonists.

The Page 69 Test: Winter Counts.

My Book, The Movie: Winter Counts.

Q&A with David Heska Wanbli Weiden.

--Marshal Zeringue