This is Barb Gross with the Sioux City Public Library, and you’re listening to “Check it Out.” Today, I’m recommending Winter Counts, a remarkable debut novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, a member of the Lakota Nation of South Dakota. At first glance it’s an action-packed, gritty thriller, but Weiden also explores many social issues faced by Native Americans. Virgil Wounded Horse is the novel’s flawed but endearing main character. He’s a vigilante, and his job is to bring justice to Native people who have nowhere else to turn. The Federal government often ignores crimes committed on the reservation, and tribal police can’t prosecute felonies. That’s where Virgil comes in. He enjoys administering justice, with his fists, to men who hurt women and children. Sounds grim, right? But oddly enough, the book has many humorous moments as well.