First and foremost, "Where They Last Saw Her" effectively sheds light on the issue of missing and exploited indigenous women. The author adeptly weaves the challenges faced by these women into the storyline's mystery elements. The realistic portrayal of First Nations people and reservation life adds depth to the narrative.

Nevertheless, there are instances where the plot seems to slow down, particularly due to excessive dialogue from the main character, Quill. This detracts from the focus on the central missing woman.

Overall, "Where They Last Saw Her" is a worthwhile read. It offers an insightful exploration of the struggles of First Nations people. If you're interested in delving into this topic, I would recommend giving this book a read.

I received a digital advance copy of Where They Last Saw Her by Marci R. Rendon via NetGalley. Where They Last Saw Her is scheduled for release on September 3, 2024.

Where They Last Saw Her follows Quill, a woman living on the Red Pine Reservation in Minnesota. Quill is alone in the woods on a training run for the Boston Marathon when she hears a scream. Once she flees to safety, she reports the scream to tribal police, who sort of investigate. Unsatisfied, Quill heads out with her husband Crow and finds the site of a struggle and a single beaded earring. Convinced that another woman has been disappeared, Quill investigates the men working the pipeline construction with the help of two friends.

This novel deals with a lot of heavy topics: bystander culture, “invisible” women who go missing, the ripples that spread out from violence and crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking. Rendon manages to weave them together in a story that feels as if it could happen at any moment. The result is a novel that feels like a reflection of a slice of our world. Like Quill, the reader gathers clues to the layers of what is happening in and around this community. While there were not huge surprises or big plot twists, there was a definite sense of tension and danger throughout the story.

We spend all of the novel in Quill’s point of view, which means we get to know her best. I did feel a bit of distance from Quill, which might be the result of the writing style and the focus of the story. Quill spends the story in action, constantly moving forward in her mission to find the missing woman. This means we don’t get to know much about her outside of her quest. The writing style throughout the novel was very fact based, almost as if the narrator was reporting only what they could see. This also contributed to the sense of distance, as we didn’t get deep into Quill’s thoughts.

What was present and deeply developed in this novel was the setting and sense of culture. The story is primarily set on a reservation, giving us a peek into the culture of Quill’s tribe. We see the variety of lifestyles in the tribal members, from those who hold tightly to tradition to those who embrace modern culture. Strong throughout is the interaction of the tribe with those who are not members, and who may mean them harm.

Overall, Where They Last Saw Her is a mystery that delivers important insight and focus on women who are sometimes considered “invisible.”

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc of this novel! Where They Last Saw Her comes out September 3, 2024.

Where They Last Saw Her follows Quill, who, on a run one afternoon, hears a woman scream. From there, she and her friends try to find out what happened to that woman and what is happening to the women on their reservation and the surrounding area.

For some context: I love the Cash Blackbear series by Rendon. I think Cash is such an interesting and complex main character. I was so excited to see Rendon come out with a novel separate from that series and, as a whole, it didn't disappoint. Quill's relationship to her family, friends, and her community are beautifully rendered. This novel is very much centered on the MMIW crisis (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), which means that it can be extremely hard to read. There is a decent amount of tension as we have the folks on the reservation living in fear and anxiety of the men working on the pipelines and the danger that they bring with them into the community (both environmentally and in terms of gendered and racial violence). This is an important read and I hope it's one that inspires non-Native audiences to learn more about how they can help and support Native peoples -- especially Native women and children.

I would also encourage non-Native readers and reviewers to resist the urge to complain about the use of Anishinaabemowin in the novel -- specifically the fact that there are no translations. Context clues can allow you to gauge what is being said. I would encourage you to think about the fact that maybe that's not for you. Plus, google is free if you really want to know.

I do have some critiques about the pacing of the novel and its inconsistencies. There will be instances where a character leaves a place and then re-leaves that place like two sentences later. Very small details that are out of place or repetitive or inconsistent. I also think that Rendon's writing and storytelling is really conducive to slightly shorter length novels or novellas. This felt a bit too long and we probably could have done without a couple of instances of running or Quill wondering the same thing over and over again.

I also had a hard time with the repeated info dumps on MMIW and other issues affecting Native communities. I understood having some information once but that same information would be repeated multiple times in a way that felt didactic and unnecessary. The characters would also say things that clearly felt like they were for an audience that did not understand what was happening and that didn't feel authentic to the characters themselves.

There was also one moment where the novel likens having piercings to self harm (specifically cutting oneself) which was so unnecessary and almost offensive. I hope that is taken out of the final copy because it reads like such an outdated thought on piercings and other bodily ornamentation. Very harmful!

Critiques aside, I do think this is an important novel and one I would recommend. I would also recommend being mindful of the content, specifically if sexual violence and harm is a trigger for you.

📚 Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie Rendon 📚

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early. Pub date September 3rd!

This is a standalone novel/thriller about MMIW in Minnesota. It's not a Cash Blackbear novel and I found myself thinking about similarities and differences between Quinn, the main character in this, and Cash, the very beloved amateur sleuth from the series.

Quinn is a little bit older than Cash, is a mother, and is in a good relationship with her husband. She grew up in her tribe and on the reservation, unlike Cash who was in several foster homes before ICWA. Quinn is also living in present day Minnesota whereas Cash is in the early 70s. As I read further into the book, I discovered some of their similarities - especially the tendency to make rash decisions that place themselves in clear danger, and their lack of trust in authority figures like police to make a difference when it gets down to it. Needless to say, I loved this book even though it didn't feature Cash, and she was still in my thoughts a lot while reading it.

Quinn navigates fear, trauma, parenting through trauma, trust issues, while investigating a disappeared woman whose scream she heard while she was out running. Though some of her decisions confused me, I came to realize that they were about doing what she only trusted herself to do, no one else, when it came to protecting women from the man-camps and other places and people who were preying on them. I loved how she used running and the community uplifted her with that and it helped with some healing. The book is thought-provoking and brought up the sense of horror that families of MMIW are feeling all the time. It's an unputdownable thriller and also a book that brings this issue to the forefront, everyone should read it.

Quill is a Native American woman who is tired of seeing women go missing on and around the reservation. She is scared for her life and her friends and family. She’s not a person to take it lying down. She starts investigating the missing women and discovers shocking things.
This was an interesting story and had me quickly flipping the pages. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this eARC that will be released September 3, 2024!

Where They Last Saw Her covers some very hard but very real issues for Indigenous Women and children. This book is a fictional story of Native American women living on a reservation in northern Minnesota. The women have to do things in a group in order to be safe. The reservation law enforcement is overworked and often can’t spend enough time on each case.
Marcie R. Rendon does a good job with informing us of some of the statistics for Native American women’s abductions, murders and trafficking. There are over 4,000 unsolved murders and missing Native American/Indigenous women.

The book is definitely a hard to read book, but I really enjoyed reading about the women who helped each other. The elders and families were respected. Altogether, the members of the reservation were a cohesive group.

This review has been hard to write, I wanted to tell of the issues that are happening and yet also state how much I loved this book. Something must be done to help the Native American women who have been abducted, raped, trafficked, and abused.

This book would be a great for a book club, I would love to be a part of the discussion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. The review is entirely my opinion.

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Okay so let me get my peeves out of the way so I can tell you what an incredible read this was! (and I read an advanced reader copy so maybe hopefully someone else pointed this out and fixed it)
Marathons are 26.2 miles. It is a defined distance, not 27 miles, and there are no "long marathons" unless the race director screwed up the route or you got lost. Or, you are referring to an ultramarathon, which wasn't the case. Later I tripped over another inconsistency regarding dinner prep but that was (embarrassingly) because I was drooling over the thought of a nice thick stew for dinner even though it was 100+ degrees here. It sounded so good!

And, now on to my glowing review.
OMG!! This book! The female friendships! The relationship between Quill and Crow! And the heartbreaking all too true to real life story of the attacks on indigenous women and children! This book was fiction but these horrors are continually happening. While Crow was getting angry at Quill, I could understand her need to do something and to stop feeling helpless. I loved how the community gathered frequently to support each other and how the elders in the community were respected and honored. I wish that for the rest of us. The writing was wonderful and descriptive. My heart twisted over and over again following along. I am not sure I was supposed to figure out the twist at the point I did or not, but it didn't detract from how everything went down for me. I know books like this won't create safe spaces for indigenous women and children, but bringing awareness of the issue to more people certainly can help create a foundation of support! I will be reading more from this author!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. I have mixed feelings about this book. The subject matter was timely and something I was interested in reading about, but the execution was off. I liked the view into life on the rez, but there was so much repetition. I didn’t necessarily need to know every time Quill made a stew or went for a run. Also, it was obvious who the villain was pretty much the moment he was introduced to the story, which definitely ruined any suspense/thriller aspects of the book. Overall, this was a simple, slow burn type of drama, so if that is what you are looking for, you will enjoy it.

Quill did not quit - and I loved her for it.
She showed up. For the women who needed her. Those missing, those lost.
Her daughter bears witness- does she even have the luxury of innocence? No. It terrifies her. But this is her mother's, the women's legacy- bear witness for the lost women.
So well written.

Quill has a passion for running. One day while she is out running she hears a scream that sounds like it belongs to a women. Quill later becomes determined to find this missing women and unravel the myster of the mmiw.

I throughly enjoyed this book. Quill was a relatable character. At times she could be reckless and impulsive, but given her circumstances you understand. I enjoyed that this book touched on many subjects including generational trauma, MMIW, and addiction. I enjoyed seeing how different characters reacted to the women going missing in their area, it was realistic. Some were fearful others angry. Sisterhood had a strong presence in this book. I would have rated 5 stars however, I felt the last few chapters were a little rushed. I would enjoyed it more if they were much longer.
Overall I recommend this book and can't wait to check out the author's other works.
Thank you publishers and netgalley for this review opportunity.

An intense slow burn mystery/thriller that shines a necessary light on the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Girls Two Spirit movement. I really like how this was a female centric story and the main cast of female characters came together and were determined to solve a crime that would otherwise be neglected and unsolved. The author identifies some of the issues that the tribal nation faces but also showcases their power of community, support, and resilience. A great pick if you enjoyed "True Detective: Night Country".

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for an early review copy of the book.

SYNOPSIS
- On the Red Pine Reservation in Minnesota, Quill is training for the Boston Marathon & she is out for a run on an early, cold morning. She hears a scream.
- Quill investigates in her own, as she remains frustrated by the fruitless efforts by law enforcement. She discovers a lot, and we get to see her friends (Punk and Gaylyn) and her family (her husband Crow & her two kids).

MY THOUGHTS
- Such a timely, devastating topic - Missing Indigenous women. Beautifully written by a Native woman.
- I loved watching it all unfold, and the author does an amazing job unpacking the harsh realities impacting the Indigenous women every single day. The book does a great job discussing generational trauma as well.
- The author beautifully illustrates tight-knit communities & strong women. Loved getting to see their friendships.
- The book is painful to read at times, but it is a necessary read.
- Quill is a very likable main character. Although she makes rash decisions at times, she is a strong woman fighting for the truth, and she is exhausted by the epidemic going on that impacts the fellow women in her community.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️amazing story about the epidemic of missing Indigenous women. Beautifully written by a Native woman.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchanges for an honest review. This book will be published on September 3, 2024.

I know this review may seem like I didn’t enjoy the book, but it is the exact opposite. I had so many conflicting emotions when reading, but I think that is a sign of a great story. MMIW needs to have more of a spotlight and Marcie Rendon did an amazing job creating a story that is all too real.

Now to the review, Quill has to be one of the most frustrating characters I have ever read. Her heart is in the right place and I loved her tenacity, but she did not think things through at all. She was constantly putting herself and others in danger. She should have gone into law enforcement, she would have made a great detective, but it seemed she was hell bent on self destruction when it came to her family.

At the same time, her feeling of powerlessness when it came authorities finding the missing women is all too familiar. Too often crimes against indigenous people are caught in red tape over whose jurisdiction it is, and the actual people are lost in the bureaucracy.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I hope you read it and it starts a discussion with people that do not know about this very real plight.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House-Ballantine for the ARC of Where They Last Saw Her.

4.25 🌟

This book does such a good job bringing to light the struggles of indigenous women and the communities they live in.

This book deals with a lot of hard struggles - drug and gambling addictions, r@pe, child abduction etc. So know you are picking up a heavy book when you pick this book up. The mystery drew me in and I think it's so important to understand the struggles of others.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

Utterly heartbreaking. Where They Last Saw Her is such a powerful story. A fictionalized version of an all too common tale of kidnapped and missing indigenous women and children.

This story is centered around Quill, a native woman who has lived on Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life, as well as her friends and family, as they navigate a tragedy shaking their community to its core.

I couldn’t stop reading once I started. I was so consumed by needing to know that Quill and all those she loved were alright. Thank you NetGalley and Bantam for my copy.

This is a very important--but heartbreaking--book about MMIW.

One of my favorite "small" things in the book was hearing about what an Indigenous person of this tribal group might have as part of their daily diet. I appreciated Quill's strong feeling and need to try and help these women, but putting herself in danger when she has a family at home who needs her, became frustrating. I'm so happy she wanted to advocate for these women, but alongside her husband Crow, it led me to constantly worry about her. (I adore him, by the way.) Overall a good and worthwhile read, that also reminds us we can all do better.

3 stars!

This book is really hard for me to rate and review because I think the issue it covers - indigenous women being kidnapped, assaulted, and abused often without care from government and law enforcement agencies - is extremely important, but unfortunately something about this book just didn't work that well for me.

What I Liked:
- I think that the three main female characters were very established and definitely felt like real people. I also liked the relationship between the three of them and thought they really complimented each other
- I enjoyed learning more about the indigenous culture, and as I said before, I appreciated reading more about this difficult but poignant topic

What Didn't Work for Me:
- I understand how running and races became a theme of community for the women on the reservation, but there was just so much talk about running
- The writing style was a little too simple for me. I found that I really couldn't connect to the writing, and it felt like many parts (setting, a coffee cup, other small almost unimportant details) were overexplained
- This book was also very slow paced. This is definitely more of a literary mystery (think along the veins of I Have Some Questions For You) instead of a more fast paced twisty investigative process.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Training for the Boston Marathon is not an easy task. Where can you find a long path that is safe and free of obstacles?

Quill was living on a reservation in the northern area of Minnesota near Duluth. She was three miles on her run in a wooded area when she heard a woman’s scream. This set the pace for the book where Quill was now obsessed to find out what happened to this person. Was she alive or dead?

The statistics were familiar: over 5,000 Native women have been documented as missing or murdered with trafficking as a huge problem. Women have been drugged, raped and taken to the Duluth harbor ships never to be seen again.

Quill was happily married to Crow with two adoring children. Her husband wanted her to stay safe at home but she needed to help her women friends and she couldn’t stop trying to search for those that were missing. Plus, she had to keep training for the big race.

The pace is quick and the plot is dark and tense. There were enough hints in the story to predict the outcome. However, the message was clear: something must be done to help the Native women that are missing and this book is thought-provoking and stays in your head. Running long distances helped Quill and her friends with the anxiety they faced. This would be an excellent topic for book clubs.

My thanks to Bantam and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of September 3, 2024.

When Quill is out for a run on the Minnesota's Red Pine reservation, she hears a scream in the middle of the forest. She's unnerved and convinces her husband Crow to go back out with her, where they find signs of a scuffle. But when the tribal police investigate and comb the forest, they don't find anything. Quill is spooked, but this is just the beginning--soon, another woman is kidnapped from a local casino, and a second woman is drugged and barely escapes kidnapping herself. Quill is convinced everything is connected and, along with her friends Punk and Gaylyn, is determined to investigate the escalating violence against these indigenous women that no one else seems to care about.

This was a fairly intense and heart wrenching book, but I couldn't put it down. Quill is a really strong, fierce main character who doesn't always make the best decisions but who clearly has her heart in the right place, and you can't help but root for her. Her love for her husband, children, and community shines through and she's willing to put herself at risk to protect those she loves. Despite the intense subject matter, the book also lifts up female friendship and community, and it's nice to see Quill's interactions with her friends and how those relationships grow over the course of the book. Really well written, powerful book from an award-winning author (of the Cash Blackbear series, just a note that this is a standalone and not part of that series).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming title.

Mysteries are something I have always gravitated towards, but in the world of tropes and what sells, i feel like I have read the same story. Could their be something new in this genre? I always hope so.

This isnt to say I disliked this, but this didn't keep the same beats. I kept a certain tone which I did appreciate. However, in the end, this was nothing new.