"Loren stumbles backward, her lips peeling back into a horrifying gaping shape. Samantha's mom scrambles up the step, shaking the lifeless legs attached to the magnificently beaded moccasins.
First Kill yanks Cherie's face into his stomach, shielding her. Mara rips her hands from her mouth and barrels after Samantha's mom. 'Does she have a pulse?'"
K. A. Cobell's Looking For Smoke starts off with a tragedy set in a festive occasion. It's an annual tribal celebration, attended by thousands, some who travel from great distances, who are drawn to the traditional activities and food and the chance to spend time with kin. It's the kind of event where you don't expect a brutal murder to take place just yards away from the bright lights, crowds, and festivities.
Sam, a local tribe member, who is a high school student and gifted dancer, has been strangled. Four of her classmates, the last people to see alive, become prime suspect.
*Loren is Sam's best friend. But lately they haven't been as close. Since Loren's sister, Rayanne, vanished without a trace Sam has seemed to be drawing away. After losing her mother to drugs she's being raised by her grandmother.
*Although Mara and her parents are tribe members they have only recently moved to the reservation. Although she didn't expect to be fully accepted immediately, she's been shocked by the extent to which she's been shunned and othered. Sam was the worst of her tormenters.
*Brody has had an unreciprocated crush on Sam. He's an anxious teen who hides his insecurities under a veneer of humor. When his mother took off to start a second family and his father died his big brother, Jason, left college to raise him and run the family ranch. He fears that Jason, too, will abandon him.
*Eli (First Kill) has also lost his mother. His drug addicted father is hardly ever around. He has taken on the challenge of raising his beloved seven-year-old sister, Cherie. He's come to believe that his dad has disappeared for good but is keeping this a secret, fearful that if the wrong people find out Cherie will be taken into foster care.
As the murder investigation drags on tensions rise. People are understandably afraid of a killer in their midst. They four begin to question and mistrust each other.
Looking For Smoke is a first rate chiller and a whole lot more. Embedded in the narrative is information about how although Indigenous girls and women are missing and murdered at much higher rates than white girls and women much less of an effort is made to investigate . In an author's note Cobell says "In writing the story of a group of teenagers grappling with the disappearance and murder of their classmates, I hoped to bring readers' attention to those startling statistics and, more importantly, to the emotional reality of the families and community member impacted by this epidemic."
I'd recommend this very engaging and thought provoking novel to its target demographics and above, especially college and university students.
On a purrrsonal note, the unseasonably high temps are taking a toll on me. I'm more tired and lethargic. My appetite is nonexistent and I feel queasy. Yesterday I went on campus to Black Bear Exchange which is open every other week in the summer to get food and clothes. Then my friend Adam who is a fellow cat person gave me some bags of food for Tobago. I didn't know how I'd get everything home on the bus. Luckily my friend Andrea gave me a ride home. After supper it was muggy in the house because we'd closed all the windows because it was raining. Fortunately Eugene had given me a big umbrella he had found. It kept me and the book dry. This morning it's raining but much cooler in the house. Tobago is loving that. She's a lot more lively than she was yesterday.
A great big shout out goes out to Adam, Andrea, and, of course precious Tobago.
Jules Hathaway
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