This was a sandwich - the beginning and ending had me enthralled, but the middle felt like filler. I get that we needed to have the journey we had to get to the ending, but I don't feel like we got to know the characters any better nor was there as much character development I was expecting. Also, I could have done without the additional storyline of detective Lobos - retracted from the story rather than added.

I haven't read anything by Ivy Pochoda before, but keep hearing about her books, so took the opportunity to read Sing Her Down. She is a very good writer, so appreciated the literacy of the book. It was somewhat confusing at first to bounce back and forth between storytellers, but got into the swing of things before the women got released. Then it was very hard to put down before the ending. Wow, so much depth and fascinating characterization! Loved the book, but was heartbreaking too. Highly recommend.

WOW. This book. You can't even comprehend how much I LOVED this book. Sing Her Down is due to be released on May 23rd 2023 and I beg you to add it to that never ending tbr pile of yours, it deserves to be there!

Sing Her Down follows the story of 2 women in jail - Florida & Dios. When an unexpected reprieve gives both women their freedom, Dios's fixation on Florida turns into a dangerous obsession, and a deadly cat-and-mouse chase ensues from Arizona to the desolate streets of Los Angeles. The story is told from 3 POV's - Florida herself, Florida's cell mate Kase and a police officer Lobos. I love how the pandemic features in this book but it takes a backseat and adds an air of uncomfortableness to the bigger picture of the darkness within women.

This story is full of female rage and violence. It's dark, gritty, visceral and utterly breathtaking. At times it feels like a fever dream. Pochoda has written something to defy any genre, while not a western in the traditional sense, it features western touches in a modern way which I totally appreciated. It also has an element of noir, in the vein of Willy Vlautin, that vividly depicts the most desolate parts of American society and the people who have slipped through the cracks.

Pochoda has earned her place as an auto buy author for me and I will be looking to delve into all her backlist books now. Thank you to @netgalley @fsgbooks for this review copy!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda.

I've only ever read one other book by Pochoda, almost three years ago, and it left a lasting impression. After reading her second, I'm officially a fan. I LOVE her writing. I love how female focused she is, and how she really makes you feel the story without being heavy handed.

To be really reductive, this is a cat and mouse story amongst three women, but of course it is more complicated than that. Dios and Florida are two inmates that have just been released from prison, but Dios has some unfinished business with Florida, and Florida will do anything she can to escape not only the clutches of Dios, but also herself. And she doesn't just have Dios to worry about, Detective Lobos, a woman with her own ghosts, is on the hunt for Florida too. Dios and Florida have been leaving a trail of blood in their wake and Lobos has got to find them.

I'll never be able to adequately describe this story, how visual and visceral the experience of reading it was. All I can say is put me at the front of the line when Pochoda releases her next!

Dark , violent, trauma filled, powerful to those without the power. Pochoda can write the heck out of humanity. "Some people just like to watch the world burn and others want to set it on fire."
Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a book amount Florida and Dios, two women released from prison during the early pandemic. Lives of violence have sent them there and they have to decide how to live now. An interesting book, but a little difficult for me to get into.

Sing Her Down is a western novel with marginalized women at it's center. An abused woman who is also a police officer (an interesting dichotomy of power over and under experienced by one woman.) Working with her partner they seek to solve a murder.

Two prisoners. Let out of jail, with few skills in gaining access to resources that the state promises but doesn't deliver, their lives begin to spiral. They end up accused of a murder they don't commit.

An indictment of a broken justice system, the judgement of others, circumstances that obscure a person's true self, and a wild ride make this novel a page turner.

A biting, beautiful character study with so much heart. I am newly in love with Ivy Pochoda, and I didn’t even know about her until now. This book is worth the journey, and though the premise (prison, pandemic) is interesting by itself, the character study is what makes it. You will care about the characters, and you should. Thank you for the ARC, this review is written purely based on opinion.

An amazing fascinating story of a time and place that I don’t know nearly enough about. It is a world I could live a lot longer in and I look forward to what comes next from this author.

Ivy Pochoda is the queen of unique genre-bending, captivating thrillers, and I was EXCITED to get this eARC from Netgalley. Read ONE book by Ivy Pochoda, you will immediately know if you are a fan of her work, and if you are, she will draw you always draw you back - I, for example, am a "forever fan" and this novel not only examines the absurdity of our unjust justice system, it also reminds us that we are all just one step from being who we are currently judging. One of the most thought provoking novels of the year!

SING HER DOWN
BY: IVY POCHODA

I LOVED this latest Brilliant and Stunning novel by one of my absolutely favorite Authors, which Ivy Pochoda has delivered another Unforgettable razor sharp portrait of women excluded from societies benefits and the freedom we take for granted. Nobody writes and captures the plight of marginalized women quite like Ivy Pochoda. She is in a class of her own and has crafted another beautiful and haunting portrayal in her latest novel, called, "Sing Her Down." I also loved her novel written before this one called, "These Women," for which I will leave a link to my review at the end of this one. I loved those two above novels as favorites written in the last five years. They are both raw and stark and fill me with both awe and bittersweet melancholy. She gets better and better with each subsequent novel.

This novel is so real it took my breath away. All of the women portrayed were fascinating and the character development was ethereal. The setting is atmospheric, and typical and realistic of the time period captured fantastically. I enjoyed every minute of reading this genre bending slice of life. If you are looking for a unique plot that hasn't been done before this is a must read.

This novel explores white hot rage in its zenith as imbued in a couple of women. In the case of Detective Lobos it is because of her abusive husband whom she has moved out, and has a restraining order that he violates. I greatly admired how she kept it in check and under control. She is investigating two murders with her empathetic male partner. They work for the LAPD in the Homicide division. Detective Lobos understands female oppression from her years of experience with working in the Vice division.

Florence "Florida," Baum has just been released from the Department of Corrections in Arizona. She is delivered to a typical run down motel with instructions of calling her Parole Officer once per week. She has just spent three years in prison and is not equipped with much in the way of resources. She is supposed to have her meals delivered and when the State fails to do that she starts exploring her surroundings. She has been given a debit card with four to five hundred dollars, for which can be used up quickly. As Florida explores the limited food venues, temptation sets in and she is on an illegal bus headed home to Los Angeles to get her Jaguar vehicle. Florence feels freedom driving her car on the highways.

Dios egged Florida in prison on, and soon shows up on that same bus. Dios is trouble for Florence and before long they are implicated in the murder of a Corrections Officer perpetrated by Dios. Dios was poor and grew up in Queens, New York as a well educated scholarship student who attended college. In prison she doesn't act smart, and acts tough and she resents Florida, thinking that Florida denies her participation and responsibility in her crime, which got pleaded down to an accomplice of murder, after the fact. She resents Florida and makes it her mission to make Florida a part of Dios's escalating aggression, and crimes after they are released. She seemed like a sociopath who got punished for acting in self defense before with a rich young man. She makes Florence her prey and Dios is the predator.

This novel soars above most novels I have read this year. It is an interesting case study of how it feels to be in a no win situation. These women were released during the raging pandemic and although that is evident in the landscape of the setting, the pandemic is firmly in the background. These women I feel strongly were failed by society and set up to fail. As soon as Florida and Dios left Arizona on that bus they were their own worse enemies by committing a parole violation that would land them back in prison. Florida is a sympathetic character as well as Detective Lobos. Dios was the perfectly portrayed antagonist. I really very highly recommend this and I will be buying myself a hardback physical copy for myself and for friends and family who love reading the best contemporary fiction that portrays reality. This terrific novel affected me on a deep level and will stay with me forever. Ivy Pochoda is one of the finest writers out there. I didn't feel as though I was reading fiction, but real life case studies of real people and our society. That is the highest praise that I can bestow on a novel.

Here is my link to my review of the phenomenal novel called, "These Women." https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Available Now!

Publication Date: May 23, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley, the talented Ivy Pochoda and Farrar, Straus and Giroux MCD for generously providing me with this wonderful ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#SingHerDown #IvyPochoda #FarrarStrausandGirouxMCD #NetGalley

Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD and to NetGalley for the review copy.

As always, I enjoy Pochoda's writing, but came away wondering what her message is. Is it about women finding and realizing their "true" selves? Does it glorify violence? Is she telling us that we all have another self, for better or worse and that we should strive to find the better one, or combine them to become one?

It was a good read, exciting thriller with strong female characters, but I am left wondering what the author's intentions are.

I first encountered Ivy Pochoda through her Dennis Lehane-backed novel, VISITATION STREET. Fell in love with the dark mysticism of her writing immediately, and, two novels later, with THESE WOMEN, had no choice but to push her to the top of my favorite crime writers list. SING HER DOWN only burnishes Pochoda's reputation. This novel gleams. On the surface, its the story of some hard, violent women, told in a Greek chorus of enchanting voices. Beneath the surface, it's an examination of trauma, and how trauma begets violence, and even worse, desperation. The characters are beautifully rendered. The writing sings. Plot doesn't really matter, but this one is a corker. Two women, Dios and Florida, just released from prison and on a collision course neither can avoid. This will be on many best of the year lists. Pochoda is a rock star.

Fast paced and engaging , this tale of two female prisoners in Arizona is a winner. I love Ivy Pochoda’s ability to write with foul mouthed street language in one minute and switch to flowing beautiful prose in the next, showing her incredible talent of bringing a story to life. This is a roller coaster ride with ups and downs that left my head reeling and my mind wanting to read more and more.
Florence Baum aka Florida has been imprisoned in an Arizona facility for women. Diosmary Sandoval is her first cell mate The two women become “frenemies” who distrust each other and yet seem to gravitate toward one another. Florida professes her essential innocence and lack of responsibility for a crime that was committed with a male who she claims was the responsible party. When she is released early she travels by bus, against rules, to the streets of Los Angeles.
En route to L.A., Florida is not alone and an unpredictable act of savagery changes the course of her her future.Florida cannot elude, Dios, who has an unhealthy obsession with all things Florence Baum.
I read on and on into the wee hours with this wild ride of a page turner.
My thanks to #Netgalley and publisher # Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for an advance copy of this excellent book in return for an honest review.

"Florida" Baum is in Arizona against her will - imprisoned in a cell. While Florida claims she is innocent of her crimes, her old cellmate Dios (Diosmary) knows the truth. Unexpectedly they are freed together and thus begins a deadly cat and mouse game.

If you like hard boiled western style novels, cat and mouse games and second chances, Sing Her Down is for you! #farrarStrauss&Giroux