The life of Quill on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota takes a dark turn after she hears a chilling scream during a morning run while training for the Boston Marathon. This story hooks the reader from the start with its urgency and heartbreak.

Quill isn't just a runner; she's a mother and wife, trying to balance her love for her family with the trauma and injustices surrounding her. Her husband, Crow, and their children provide a poignant contrast to the unfolding horrors, grounding her determination with their love and support. This contrast strengthens Quill’s resolve to investigate the pipeline workers, as she is driven by a fierce need to protect her loved ones and her community.

The narrative skillfully blends past and present, shedding light on the historical and ongoing struggles of Native American women. Quill’s mission to uncover the truth behind the disappearances is not just a personal quest but a collective fight against a culture of silence and oppression. The novel's depiction of these women’s plights is both heart-wrenching and illuminating, showcasing the deep-seated issues within their society.

Quill’s character is beautifully complex. Her connection to her Anishinaabe heritage and her struggle to navigate her identity within it is relatable and deeply moving. She embodies resilience and determination, making her a protagonist worth rooting for. Crow’s unwavering support adds a layer of warmth to the narrative, emphasizing the strength found in family bonds.

As Quill delves deeper into the mystery, the suspense builds relentlessly. Each revelation brings her closer to a dangerous truth, raising important questions about bystander culture and the long-lasting trauma inflicted on marginalized communities. The story’s dark undertones and unflinching portrayal of violence against Native American women make it a compelling read.

Overall, this novel is a dark, captivating read that sheds light on critical social issues while delivering a gripping mystery. Its emotional depth and relentless suspense keep readers hooked until the very end. It’s a powerful testament to the strength and resilience of Native American women and a call to acknowledge and address the injustices they face. This book is a must-read for those looking to be both educated and profoundly moved.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for sharing this fascinating reading' s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange of my honest thoughts.

Where They Last Saw Her follows Quill as she is on a journey to help find a missing Native woman, she heard scream in the woods. As she takes it upon herself to investigate, she is faced with more woman and children,

I loved the cover art for this book. It is absolutely beautiful in my opinion. I also felt connected to the book as I grew up in Minnesota near a reservation, I knew the area that the book takes place in. This book could really open the eyes of people who maybe don't know what it is like being targeted because of race. It felt so real hearing how Quill and the others felt about all of the missing and murdered Native Americans. The fact that she felt neither the tribal nor local police were doing anything is justified. I understood why she took the investigation into her own hands. The only reason I didn't give it a 5-star rating was because there was a scene that just felt repeated almost to the exact detail and it made the ending feel rushed. I know the author said that it was like last time but maybe it could have used a little rewriting. It was sad that the ending brought little closure to the missing woman but honestly that is reality to a lot of families. All in all, it was a good book. I would also mention as a trigger warning there is domestic violence and talks about drugs/drugging woman.

This book was hard in a lot of ways, from anger at the men who traffic women to frustration with the authorities who can’t keep up with all the missing and murdered indigenous women and children to disgust with the media who doesn’t cover these stories — and also feeling lazy for not running enough!

Rendon does a good job painting the bleakness of a Minnesotan winter and also of rez life. But she also shows us the joy and resilience. Quill is a strong and complicated character doing the best she can to survive and make life better for others. I’m very interested in reading Rendon’s other works now.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Quill loves her family and his happy. She learns that several women from the area have gone missing and decided to do sone investigating. This book kept me guessing.

Thank you Netgalley and Bantam for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Wow. Everything about this book was amazing, horrifying, compelling. Quill lives on reservation with her husband and two children. While on a run, she hears a cry but upon investigating cannot locate the woman or where the cry came from. She finds some evidence, however with friends she begins to investigate the matter on her own. Will Quill draw danger to herself, her friends, her family while investigating???

Quill is running her usual route through the woods one afternoon when she hears a single ear-piercing scream. Convinced it was the scream of a woman, she senses danger and grows increasingly concerned over the following days. Weaved in to this unsettling event are groups of unruly, brute men arriving to town to work the pipeline. Quill’s small town of Red Pine—where everyone knows everyone and they all look out for each other—is beginning to feel more and more unsafe.

As concerned as she is about recent events, she’s also angry. She’s tired of the kidnapped and trafficked, the missing and murdered Indigenous women. It’s all happening on her land and she’s determined to protect it and bring justice to the women who are so easily forgotten by those outside of the reservation.

<i>Where They Last Saw Her</i> is rich with Native American history as well as the present day turmoils they face. In a way that’s difficult for me to explain, this feels like one of the most touching and effective Native American novels that I have read; one of the most heart-breaking renditions of the epidemic their women—and by extension, their men and families—face. The storytelling is superb and kept me invested the whole way through; never once loosening its grip on me. At times, however, Quill’s thoughtless actions drove me nuts—though she was a woman on a mission so who can blame her?—and the writing started to fall apart a little towards the end.

Overall, this Native story will capture readers attention with its relentless suspense and headstrong MC.

Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review. Available 09/03/2024!

This book was very well written. It gives insight to the disappearances of so many women. While remaining an entertaining storyline. Poignant and well worth the read. Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy.

Missing Indigenous women – such a timely and upsetting news topic. Hopefully, law enforcement agencies are waking up and beginning to treat each missing person’s case as if it is a member of their own family. I received an ARC from NetGalley, and the opinions expressed are my own.

Quill lives on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota with her husband and two children. While on a run, she hears a woman's cry, but isn't able to find the woman. Reporting it to the Tribal Police, no evidence is found. Upon returning to the area, she finds an earring which enables her to discover the woman's identity. Along with two friends, she investigates the woman's disappearance and learns of other missing Indigenous women. Since the pipeline construction crews have camps in the area, women and children have gone missing. To her husband's displeasure, Quill puts herself, family and friends in the path of danger. Highlights the indifference to missing and Indigenous women and children by authorities.
#WhereTheyLastSawHer #Bantam #RandomHouse #NetGalley

Book review 😊: 4⭐️ ...... this book is all about courage and not stopping no matter what to help solve the issue with woman going missing. Even though this book is fiction it still holds so much truth in what goes on and happens to Native American woman and children. I liked the mystery and determination that the main character Quill had for wanting to help. This book had me hooked from the beginning. I just wish we had found some answers for one of the main happenings in the book. It left me still wondering and hoping.

A gripping and poignant tale set on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota, revolving around the life of Quill, a determined woman who refuses to remain silent in the face of injustice. From the moment she hears a blood chilling scream on a run in the woods, the story unfolds into a powerful exploration of resilience, community, and the fight for justice for Native American women.

Quill, the main character, is beautifully crafted. Her struggle to connect with her Anishinabee heritage while feeling apprehensive about how to do so is relatable and deeply moving. A woman determined to seek justice (regardless of the consequences) is inspiring and resonates on many levels. Quill’s husband, Crow, is another standout character. His love and adoration for Quill, along with his dedication to their children, is heartwarming and adds depth to the narrative.

The book's impact is profound, particularly because I am from the same area it depicts. Reading about the harsh realities faced by Native American women, knowing it happens so close to home, made it even more real and heartbreaking. The author does a remarkable job of bringing these issues to light, making the story both educational and emotionally stirring.

I highly recommend this book to feminists and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People/Women/Relatives (MMIP/W/R) movement. It provides a powerful and necessary perspective on what it means to be a Native woman in America, wrapped in a compelling and unforgettable narrative.

Another hit from Marcie Rendon! This is a stand alone (not part of the Cash Blackbear series) and set in northern Minnesota. Native women who are taking back their power to stop missing, murdered Indigenous women. Good character development. Recommended.

A heartfelt novel about a family and community affected by the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women that also manages to be a page-turner and a psychologically probing exploration of the long-terms effects of trauma.

Quill has found that the best way to cope with her anxiety is to run. She's training for the Boston Marathon when, on a remote Northern Minnesota road, she hears a harrowing scream. It's the first of several instances of indigenous women from her community and nearby Duluth who are abducted and trafficked or murdered. Though her patient and loving husband wants her to leave it to the tribal police, she feels compelled to get to the bottom of it, even if it puts her and her friends in jeopardy, a trauma-driven (and, while frustrating, well motivated) obsession that threatens to destroy her family.

Rendon has brought a real issue to life in a story that centers indigenous perspectives as man-camps spring up along pipeline routes. It's quite a tour de force. I hope it gets a strong publicity effort.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Where They Last Saw Her.

I've never read any books by this author before so I was pleased my request was approved.

Readers need to be aware there are TW and CW including sexual violence, domestic and drug abuse, and child abuse.

Where They Last Saw Her is less a thriller, and more of a narrative that spotlights the injustices Native women, children, and men face.

Native women, children, and men are kidnapped, trafficked and murdered at disproportionate levels, and the perpetrators and murderers rarely brought to justice.

When Quill, a non-traditional Native woman and mom, hears a scream in the woods as she's training for the Boston marathon, it sets her on a path to discover what happened to the woman behind that scream.

I loved learning about Quill and her family, her community, their culture and rituals.

I also loved Crow; he's a good man, loyal, a good husband, and provider, and naturally concerned when Quill playing detective jeopardizes the safety of their young family.

I wasn't a fan of the writing style; the narrative is written almost like a summary, recapping what everyone is doing and saying.

This wasn't an easy read due to the subject matter and content but it's necessary to know and be aware of.

Thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review 'Where They Last Saw Her' by Marcie R. Rendon.

It's a reflection on the importance society places on the abused, disappeared, and murdered indigenous women in the US that I've learned most of what I know about the crisis from fiction - both written and televisual. I was very glad to have received 'Where They Last Saw Her'
by Marcie R. Rendon and am glad to have read and enjoyed it (maybe that's the wrong word in these circumstances) and learned yet more about the thousands of women who have gone missing and the hundreds and hundreds that are abused, take, and/or killed on an ongoing basis.

Set in northern Minnesota the main character in this novel is Quill who lives on the reservation with her husband and two children. Running is her escape - figuratively and literally - and she runs (in spite of the danger) with her friends Punk and Gaylyn and tries to inspire others to do the same. Women and girls begin to disappear with the arrival of a man camp set up for the nomadic pipeline workers who crowd the local towns, villages, and the casino and bring terror and death. Quill tries to beat back the violence and death but for a long time succeeds only in disrupting her marriage to Crow and the lives of her children. Crow is presented as a decent man who wants to protect her and their children and who finds her activism and actions difficult to absorb. It felt like a positive and realistic depiction of a native American man.

This novel is laced through with a familiar (and necessary) strain of generational trauma suffered by indigenous North Americans but by women and girls especially. It's a hard read but very well written and paced. The characters felt real - complex and interesting.

I'm hoping Ms Rendon revisits them at some point in the future.

5 stars

All too real and important. It’s a tough read but incredibly important. It was hard remembering that it was fiction.

The writing was exquisite, and the story was intense and well done with love and respect.

This read was something else. It made me uncomfortable with how easy and crazy kidnapping and disappearances happen so often. Violence with women are still happening and this book depicts it well. Some warning before reading it. Short read but had so much to it.

Compelling, propulsively written, and extremely important. I couldn't put this book down. It's certainly not light reading, so content warnings for violence against women, but it's handled with respect and doesn't feel exploitative in the way some other books in this genre might. I'm glad I received an advance copy of this book and highly recommend it.

This was a really good book that brought me to tears a couple of times. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is that I guessed pretty much exactly what was going to happen extremely early on. Still, it was definitely a worthwhile read.

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At first, I thought that Quill had a great husband in Crow. And I can understand why he was so worried about her. At the same time, if she hadn’t done the things she’d done, then no one would have found her friend. Instead, she would have been used until she died. The police certainly didn’t care—after all, an officer was behind some of the disappearances. And regardless of what the one good cop said, there is no guarantee that Quill would have been taken seriously if she’d told them where to look. She had been downplayed and/or flat out ignored before, after all.

I think it was a bit messed up that Crow kept telling Quill that her job was to be with her family, instead of supporting her. In fact, his lack of support is what caused her to go look for her friend without anyone knowing about it. Let’s face it—he messed up. Badly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This is a beguiling story of the Navajo people as it focusses on how the pipeline workers in Minnesota were able to abduct and engage in sex trafficking of the native women under everyone's noses! Quill and Crow have two young children and when Quill finds an earring in the snow and then a young woman goes missing, she is sure the two are related. Her friend Punk is dating Cliff, the new cop in town but she becomes very secretive and stops running with Quill and their friend, Gaylyn so Quill worries when odd things begin happening around the casino as well. It's a fascinating look at this tight-knit community and how they are protective of their customs and their people and will do whatever it takes to ensure safety for all!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!