Winter Counts
Author: David Heska Wanbli Weiden
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 325
Format: Hardback
My Rating: ★★★★
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 325
Format: Hardback
My Rating: ★★★★
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, there's one person you can turn to.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Native American Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way onto the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realises that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, there's one person you can turn to.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Native American Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way onto the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realises that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Native American Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way onto the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realises that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, there's one person you can turn to.
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Native American Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way onto the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.
They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realises that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
My thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed this new crime novel set on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Lakota nation. Winter Counts tells the tale of a community fighting drug use in their reservation. The story is a fast-paced thriller that centres around the main character, Virgil Wounded Horse.
Virgil Wounded Horse is a Native American vigilante for hire: when people can't get justice through the reservation's official channels, they turn to him to enact their own.
When Virgil's nephew gets entrapped in a fake drug bust, Virgil agrees to partner with another community member to figure out where it's coming from. authorities more or less force his nephew to take a dangerous undercover assignment so they can nail the men who are trafficking heroin on the reservation. While the story is interesting, I feel this book shines for its setting, and its powerful exploration of identity.
Weaved through the narrative are lots of depictions of life on reservations in America and the treatment of the people living there, much of it distressing and controversial. The book explores the horrifying history that speaks of stolen land, broken promises, brutality, and violence.
Weiden's greatest skill in constructing this novel definitely lies within his ability to make you feel a part of the story. It is hard to put down and I was surprised at how quickly I finished the book. This an absorbing, rich novel that moves with pace and power, while giving readers insight into a variety of issues, from historic injustices to ongoing questions of indigenous identity.
Though this reads as a standalone, Weiden has left the door wide open for a sequel, and I'm certainly interested in reading more.
Winter Counts is a compelling and highly addictive thriller read with an insightful view on power and identity in America. This was an excellent debut!
Thanks again to the publisher, author, and Tandem Collective for providing me with a copy of this hardback in exchange for an honest review.
Overall reaction: