Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
Publication Date: October 31st 2023 by Berkley
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher
Rating: ★★★½
My
Thoughts:
Syd, an archaeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
is sent to her hometown to investigate after a scull is found at the site where
she and her sister were nearly killed. Returning
home stirs up all kinds of emotions for Syd, still being haunted by the events of
the past. It’s also difficult since she hasn’t
kept close ties with her family.
When Syd arrives, she discovers her sister, Emmy Lou, is missing,
and her investigation into the scull gets put on the back burner as she races
to find her.
Blood Sisters was an engrossing thriller with some
twists and action, but I struggled with Syd and her TSTL decisions. Constantly going off half-cocked into
dangerous situations with no plan, backup, or weapons was frustrating.
I did appreciate how the author featured real-life struggles
and injustices affecting Native people, both currently and throughout history.
Excerpt:
Book Description:
A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is called back to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them is her sister…
There are secrets in the land.
As an archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land's Indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.
While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Even though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.
What happens to the land happens to the women.
When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, disappears, Syd knows she must return to Oklahoma. She refuses to let her sister, or the remains, go ignored as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.
But not everyone is glad to have Syd home. The search for Emma Lou puts Syd in the crosshairs of local drug dealers looking to build an empire and vengeful vigilantes policing the abandoned mines, while government officials silence tribal rights.
The truth will be unearthed.
The deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing Indigenous women cases trailing back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.
