☕☕☕☕☕ (five stars as rated in cups of black coffee)
This book was just sensational! Thrillers so rarely surprise me but Winter Counts got me GOOD! I really was not expecting the ending, even though, maybe I should have been!? Either way, I am delighted.
The prose of this novel reads so emotionally at times, and like an action flick at others; minus the problematic narrative of masculinity for masculinity’s sake, of course. It is fast paced and vivid and maintains suspense without resorting to cheap tricks. Also, while the story is indisputably very bloody (most action/thrillers are) and is certainly VERY dark as well, the violence is never exploitative? Meaning, while it is difficult to discuss something as tragic as the phenomenon of MMIW without exploiting the memories and experiences of thousands of stolen girls and women for something as frivolous as shock factor, DHWW speaks to the shared trauma of Indigneous communities (such as this one) as only someone who has been personally affected by them can; with the kind of perspective that punches you in the face for having ever existed even remotely indifferent to it. And I know I’m not the only white person who needs to be confronted with that reality from time to time. Also, we get to see the main character

beat the crap out of a racist.

And, I’ll be honest, it was beyond satisfying.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden is, hands down, my favorite debut author of 2020. I love that he sort-of ended this story on a cliffhanger. At least, just enough of one that another book about Virgil Wounded Horse is not entirely out of the question. So fingers crossed for that!!!

Content warnings: death of an infant, death of a parent, drug use, alcoholism, neglect of a child, vigilante justice, torture scenes, kidnapping, general violence, racist language and behavior, vivid depiction and remembrance of the Massacre at Wounded Knee