Winter Counts: A Novel
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Winter Counts: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Author), Darrell Dennis (Narrator), HarperAudio (Publisher)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2,485 ratings
Editors' pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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An addictive and groundbreaking debut thriller set on a Native American reservation and hailed by CJ Box as "[A] hell of a debut".

"Winter Counts is both a propulsive crime novel and a wonderfully informative book." (Louise Erdrich)

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 own 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 21st century comes at an incredible cost.

Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.

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  1. Listening Length
    8 hours and 17 minutes
  2. Author
    David Heska Wanbli Weiden
  3. Narrator
    Darrell Dennis
  4. Audible release date
    August 25, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    HarperAudio
  7. ASIN
    B082XJZJH1
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 17 minutes
Author David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Narrator Darrell Dennis
Audible.com Release Date August 25, 2020
Publisher HarperAudio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B082XJZJH1
Best Sellers Rank #102,173 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#154 in Native American Literature (Audible Books & Originals)
#958 in Native American Literature (Books)
#3,912 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
2,485 global ratings
Stellar reading list that is not to be missed.
5 Stars
Stellar reading list that is not to be missed.
Not since I read The Round House by Louise Erdrich has a story of tribal law moved me so. 'Winter Counts' is an extraordinary debut novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Sicangu Lakota), who has overnight become an automatic buy author for me.Virgil Wounded Horse acts as an enforcer for hire on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota where the tribal police and federal agents often contest justice. Where the law is too loose, Virgil picks up the slack. After the death of his sister, Virgil has raised his nephew Nathan, and together they forge a household. When heavy drugs begin turning up on the reservation and Nathan gets mixed up with a bad crowd, Virgil is hired by a tribal councilman to track down those that would disrupt and poison the lives of his tribe. The story leads us on a cross-state journey with Virgil that ultimately delivers a perfectly packaged slowburn crime thriller driven by rich characters and narrative storytelling.I loved Wanbli Weiden's ability to create such a fascinating atmosphere instead of heavily pushing the plot and action until the denouement. I found this a refereshing change from some of the other crime stories that I have read this year. Through subtle character interactions we catch glimpses into reservation life, culture, and the hard truths of colonialism. I especially loved his references to Vine Deloria Jr., the growing awareness of Indigenous food sovereignty, and tribal agency. And don't skip the Author's Note at the end. Wanbli Weiden provides some additional insights to the book, reservation life and law, the Lakota ceremonies depicted within 'Winter Counts', and to top it off there is even a stellar reading list that is not to be missed.'Winter Counts' is a perfect debut and a novel I know I will read again. Is it too much to ask for a Virgil Wounded Horse series??? Please? I need it.
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Top reviews from the United States

Jim Hight
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting story with rich personal and cultural elements
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2024
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I was very pleased with this book and hope to see more titles from the author soon. It's a ripping good thriller/mystery that probes many dimensions of personal and cultural trauma without getting into a simple narrative of good and evil. Of all the fiction and non-fiction I've read about Lakota communities and history, this is one of the best. There's also a wonderful counter-intuitive Carhenge scene.

The hero, Virgil Wounded Horse, is driving to Denver with his ex-girlfriend when she convinces him to stop at Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska. “My first impulse is to mock the crazy man who’d created this weird folk art,” Virgil tells the readers.

But as Virgil wanders among the meticulously buried and welded American cars, arranged to mimic England’s ancient Stonehenge, the magic of the place grabs him. He has a vision of his late parents, other relatives, and ancestors. “The Lakota phrase mitakuye oyasin—we are all related—came to me, and in that moment, I understood what those words meant.”
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Neil S. Friedman
4.0 out of 5 stars Indigenous Indeed!
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2024
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Loved this tale of indigenous people that demonstrates the abject neglect of Native Americans from local and federal law enforcement agencies.
Protagonist is comparable to a Native American Equalizer, who often seeks justice and/or retribution when crimes against his people are often ignored.
While covering elements of law-and-order on a Lakota reservation, the author also includes plenty of eye-opening details about the rituals some readers, like myself, are unaware of.
The plot starts somewhat slowly, but gradually builds to fast-paced action as the story unfolds.
Hoping this is just first in a series from this Lakota author involving the main character.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Day To Live
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
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This book is a very interesting about reservation life and the struggles Indian people have from the outside work and from within. Virgle is a great character to follow. Great read. Big D
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Greg Flakus
3.0 out of 5 stars A Hardboiled Lakota Mystery
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021
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Having grown up in South Dakota I was curious about this book, especially because of its setting on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. The main character, Virgil Wounded Horse, is a Lakota of mixed ancestry, which has been a problem for him on the res since childhood. He carries a lot of resentment against prejudiced white people (wasicu) as well as some of the full blood Lakota who bullied him when he was young. He becomes a twisted bully himself as an adult earning money for taking extra legal justice on wrongdoers who never face consequences for their crimes. This is mostly due to the distorted justice system on Indian reservations, where the feds are supposed to prosecute felonies, but only take on murder cases and the reservation police are limited to investigation of lesser crimes. The gap, which the author says is true, leaves many child abusers and other such criminals free to continue.

Things change for Virgil when his nephew, Nathan, almost dies from a heroin overdose and then gets charged with drug possession and distribution. Virgil and his girl friend, Marie, try to track down a jerk named Rick Crow who they believe is bringing dangerous drugs to the reservation. They believe Nathan is innocent and want to help him avoid an unjust prosecution. They take a short trip to Denver as part of this effort and meet a cop who is also trying to stop Rick Crow and some unsavory Mexican gang members from selling heroin throughout the region. Things get more complicated from there on, but I want to avoid spoilers.

The plot is fairly thin and the characters are pretty much the same ones you have met before in other books from this genre except for their Native American ethnicity and the struggle they face trying to maintain their heritage while trying to find a place in the modern world. There aren't many books set in South Dakota, so people familiar with the state should enjoy all the references to places there. There is even a reference to Runza!

The book has a lot of humor as well as drama and some pretty graphic portrayals of violence. I like the parts where it mocks the pretentious white people who co-opt indigenous customs and practices, but don't really understand the people themselves. In a Denver marijuana store Virgil and Marie meet a man who corrects them when they call someone an Indian, suggesting that they use the term Native American. From my own experience on various reservations around the country I have found many people who resent that term being imposed on them with most of them preferring to be called Indians. Of course, that is problematic in that the origin of the term goes back to Columbus and the first European explorers who thought they were in the east Indies rather than a "new world." Most of the words we use everyday in English have origins that are pretty remote from the modern meaning of the words, but once the expression has become common usage there is resistance to change. I guess my only opinion on this is that white people have imposed too much already on North America's indigenous people, so stop insisting that they use the term Native American and let them decide for themselves. There are good reasons to avoid the word "native" as well as "American," the first having been used to denigrate indigenous people in various parts of the world by colonialists and the second being a word derived from the name of an Italian map maker in the 16th Century.

This book is well worth reading for mystery and crime novel fans who may not be familiar with the peculiarities of life on the reservations today and the consequences of bad policies imposed by the US government over many decades. It offers a glimpse into that world, although I am sure some of the people in it might not fully agree with the depiction of life on the res. That's okay, though, because no book or film ever made about people in any nation or community has ever met with 100 percent approval from the people depicted. The author of this book has made a diligent effort to get things right and has provided a basis for understanding a culture that has been misunderstood and misrepresented for far too long.
8 people found this helpful
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Jeannette Hartman
4.0 out of 5 stars A strong man beset by losses
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2021
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Author David Heska Wanbli Weiden has created a gripping story about the opiod crisis on the haunting Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota: the small houses with backyards full of rusting cars and appliances, the busy bars, the divisive caste system based on the purity of one’s Lakota blood, the bullying, the simmering grievances, the ambitions and aspirations, the temptation of money and the call to the ancient traditions.

Virgil Wounded Horse is the man people turned to when they can’t find justice from tribal police or federal authorities. “A thug for hire,” his former girl friend’s mother sneers. But her husband Ben Short Bear, a member of the tribal council, isn’t above hiring him to go after Rick Crow, a person Short Bear says is bringing heroin to the reservation.

That all gets set aside when Nathan, Virgil’s nephew, first overdoses on heroin and then appears to have filled his school locker with bottles of opiods.

Virgil finds himself forced to work with federal agents who promise to keep 14-year-old Nathan out of a federal adult prison and a possible 10-year, no-parole sentence if Nathan agrees to make a drug buy wearing a recording device. Virgil has no trust for federal agents, but everything to lose if something happens to his nephew.

Virgil is a strong man beset by losses – his parents, his sister killed in a head-on collision caused by a probably drunk driver, and the many, many tragedies brought to him by clients for revenge, retribution or justice. He has little education and no training. Drunken, angry words drove away his former girlfriend Marie Short Bear. He's given up drinking, but he's also given up Lakota beliefs and ceremonies.

Weiden blends old ways and new, loss and recovery to create a mystery in which, while the darkness is never eradicated, it hasn't won yet.

This is a haunting mystery that I greatly enjoyed.
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Top reviews from other countries

Cj C
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and entertaining
Reviewed in Canada on February 26, 2022
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Great book really entertaining couldn’t put it down well written I read it twice I hope this book becomes a series
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Amazon Kunde
4.0 out of 5 stars Good insights into present-day life on the reservation
Reviewed in Germany on April 30, 2023
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Actually, this book was somewhere between three and four stars for me, but because it shines a light on a neglected culture, I'm giving it four stars.
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JenMedBookLover
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful narrative and a perfectly crafted thriller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2022
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This is the story of Virgil, a 'fixer' on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota, a part of the Sicangu Lakota Nation. Laws on the reservation do no work in the same way as they might outside of its borders, and sometimes justice is not always achieved in the most orthodox of ways. This is where Virgil steps in, getting a kind of justice for people who may otherwise be overlooked. He is tough, principled and fiercely loyal, especially to his friends and to his Nephew who he is raising alone after the death of his sister. He was a character I was drawn to immediately, even though we meet him in less than conventional circumstances. When he is approached by a tribal leader to look into a recent influx of drugs on tribal lands, he is initially reluctant, at least until the action comes a little too close to home. it becomes somewhat of a personal mission for Virgil, one which leads him and those he cares for into trouble and danger all while he pursues his special brand of justice.

This is a fine thriller, one which blends mystery and action with cutting social commentary and a good deal of history, highlighting not only the dark past of injustices inflicted on the Indigenous people, but the impact that it continues to have on their lives today. From the growing problem with drugs, to the impact of social deprivation and poverty that affects so many of the reservations people, this is a brilliant example of crime fiction mirroring true life. It pushes us to think long and hard about not just the present, but the past, offering an alternative point of view on things we have come to recognise as an integral part of American culture. It also take a long hard look at cultural identity, examining Virgil's continued reluctance to accept his cultural heritage and how he pushes against the tribal ways, even as his nephew and former girlfriend, seek to become more a part of them. He is not 'true full-blood' Lakota, his biracial status being a cause of torment in his youth and another reason for his refusal to fully subscribe to the ways of his ancestors, one which informs his character in very key ways.

Talking in board terms, this is a brilliantly crafted thriller, a story of unscrupulous drug gangs preying on the weak and the young and not caring about how dangerous their drugs may be. It is the story of Virgil's quest to find and to stop them, a quest driven by a personal desire for justice rather than a desire to help the wider community. And yet there is a real emotional heart to the story, and for every moment of anger there is a contrasting moment of quiet contemplation in which Virgil is prone to introspection and a real interrogation of who he is and who he wants to be. And this internal battle is reflected in the beautiful narrative. David Heska Wanbli Weiden skilfully creates a real sense of place, creating such vivid imagery that I could picture every scene, and capturing the moments of stillness as effectively as the pulse pounding action scenes of confrontation that litter the text. It hits all the perfect notes for me and had me longing for more by the time I turned the last page. thankfully, book two is due out next year and I for one cannot wait.

With beautiful, visually descriptive prose, action filled scenes, strong emotional undertones and a truly thought provoking narrative, this is most definitely recommended. a truly stunning read.
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Daniel Hoffmann
3.0 out of 5 stars If you want a thriller, this is not your book
Reviewed in Germany on January 16, 2022
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As a reader from Switzerland, I got interesting insights into the situation in the reservations. Things I really was not aware of. For such the book is very interesting. Apart from that the books nowhere near to the terms crime or thriller. I had to stop in the middle. Also because the plot is not really plausible.
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Mel Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2022
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Loved the involvement of the legends and lifebof the Lakota people.
Really good characters, wanted to keep reading.
I'll look out for the next book.
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