Helpful Score: 1
Listening for the Voices
We are blind. We are deaf. Thousands of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls call out and those voices are lost in the wind. Genocide is being perpetrated and we are oblivious. Make the victim one close to your heart and the issue would burn.
Syd Walker is a Cherokee archeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island. While studying the remains of a murder victim, she is called back to her home in Pincer, Oklahoma, where a skull has been discovered containing an old ID tag of hers. Someone is sending her a message and it has to do with a traumatic episode in her past in which five people died... including her friend, Luna, and one of the "devils' Syd shot and killed. Her sister, Emma Lou, survived the attack but was never the same, spiraling into drug addiction. Syd remains haunted by survivor's guilt and the ever-present spirit of Luna.
When Syd arrives back home, she discovers Emma Lou has disappeared. Pincer is now beset with major drug dealings, multiple body discoveries, shady land grabs, and an environment poisoned in the aftermath of mining. She is driven to find her sister, unwilling to allow her to be lumped into the thousands of missing Native women. After a few stumbles, the action picks up, there is a shocking twist revealed, and distractions are pushed aside as you make time to rush to the conclusion.
The character of Syd Walker possesses the potential to lead an important series. An independent Cherokee archeologist - investigator who is also lesbianâ you just do not hear that voice much in literature. Fighting to change the culture of the BIA, "...created to control and, in many cases, eliminate Native peoples' relationship with the land," she is looked down upon by many of her own as working for the enemy.
This is a promising time for Native voices. Tony Hillerman's Navajo novels have been retooled by Native artists in "Dark Winds." The FX series, "Reservation Dogs" has also produced some incredible work, screening realistic, three-dimensional people. On the literary front, authors such as Morgan Talty, Tommy Orange, and Mona Susan Power are just a few recently breaking down preconceived notions and increasing awareness of past and present realities.
A very enjoyable read, as Vanessa Lillie succeeds in delivering an engrossing mystery, bringing out important issues without preaching a heavy-handed sermon. I hope to see the world through Syd Walker lens in the near future.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
We are blind. We are deaf. Thousands of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls call out and those voices are lost in the wind. Genocide is being perpetrated and we are oblivious. Make the victim one close to your heart and the issue would burn.
Syd Walker is a Cherokee archeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island. While studying the remains of a murder victim, she is called back to her home in Pincer, Oklahoma, where a skull has been discovered containing an old ID tag of hers. Someone is sending her a message and it has to do with a traumatic episode in her past in which five people died... including her friend, Luna, and one of the "devils' Syd shot and killed. Her sister, Emma Lou, survived the attack but was never the same, spiraling into drug addiction. Syd remains haunted by survivor's guilt and the ever-present spirit of Luna.
When Syd arrives back home, she discovers Emma Lou has disappeared. Pincer is now beset with major drug dealings, multiple body discoveries, shady land grabs, and an environment poisoned in the aftermath of mining. She is driven to find her sister, unwilling to allow her to be lumped into the thousands of missing Native women. After a few stumbles, the action picks up, there is a shocking twist revealed, and distractions are pushed aside as you make time to rush to the conclusion.
The character of Syd Walker possesses the potential to lead an important series. An independent Cherokee archeologist - investigator who is also lesbianâ you just do not hear that voice much in literature. Fighting to change the culture of the BIA, "...created to control and, in many cases, eliminate Native peoples' relationship with the land," she is looked down upon by many of her own as working for the enemy.
This is a promising time for Native voices. Tony Hillerman's Navajo novels have been retooled by Native artists in "Dark Winds." The FX series, "Reservation Dogs" has also produced some incredible work, screening realistic, three-dimensional people. On the literary front, authors such as Morgan Talty, Tommy Orange, and Mona Susan Power are just a few recently breaking down preconceived notions and increasing awareness of past and present realities.
A very enjoyable read, as Vanessa Lillie succeeds in delivering an engrossing mystery, bringing out important issues without preaching a heavy-handed sermon. I hope to see the world through Syd Walker lens in the near future.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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