The first chapter of Shutter is tough to read. Main character Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer for the Albuquerque police department, and she is on assignment. A young woman named Erma Singleton has either jumped or been pushed to her death from an overpass over an interstate highway, and now Rita must photograph all the remains at the scene. Being a forensic photographer, seeing the aftermath of such violence on a daily basis and taking hundreds of detailed shots of it, would take an emotional and psychological toll on anyone, but in Rita’s case, it gets more difficult and strange. Rita, a Navajo/Dine woman, has had a special talent since she was a baby: she can see and communicate with the spirits of the dead. In her first novel, writer/filmmaker Ramona Emerson draws on her own life experience as Dine and as a former forensic photographer to spin a tail of murder, drug cartels, and life growing up Dine on a Reservation in New Mexico. This is a crime thriller with a supernatural element and history woven in, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat from beginning to end.
Rita has been working long hours and gets little sleep. Not only is she one of the only photographers available to the police department, she is known for being very good at her job and therefore in great demand. Rita’s photos often include details that had been missed at the scene of the crime, details that can help break a case. In the past, she has had the experience of seeing the spirits of victims at the scene, but she learned in her childhood how to block them out, to prevent the spirits from recognizing her gift and harassing her. In alternating chapters, Emerson provides Rita’s backstory: her life on the reservation being raised by a loving grandmother, never knowing her father, her mother leaving her behind for years until her own life became more settled in the city. Rita’s ability to see and communicate with the dead is terrifying to most other Dine, whose relationship with death is uneasy. Rita’s grandmother and the medicine man Mr. Bitsilly are constantly urging Rita to avoid the spirits, to never ever speak to them because they can put her in danger. Just like living people, a spirit can have good or evil intent. In her childhood, Rita discovers this on her own, and she tries very hard to limit contact with the dead, but it is not easy. Hospitals and graveyards are overwhelming for her, and when spirits are around, the light becomes intense. Rita often ends up with headaches and nosebleeds. The fact is, she cannot always keep the spirits away, and there are times she does not want to.
As she grows older, Rita develops an interest in photography, an interest that both her mother and grandmother share. Rita’s grandmother’s story is the unsurprising but familiar story of being taken from home and forced into a school where the government attempted to erase native culture. It was at the school, however, that she learned photography. Photography will help Rita reconnect with her mother and will get her into college. The job with forensics upsets her mother and Mr. Bitsilly deeply, and they constantly are checking on Rita to make sure she is safe, knowing full well that she is not.
Erma Singleton is a spirit who realizes that Rita, a living person, can see and hear her, and Erma is furious. She is furious that she is dead, that her young daughter now has no mother, and that the police are calling her death a suicide when it was murder. The problem is that Erma cannot remember all the details of her death. She harasses Rita night and day, and when Rita has to photograph the suspicious murder/suicide of a prominent judge and his family, Erma starts enlisting their ghosts to join her in hectoring Rita to get them justice.
Emerson does a superb job of showing how Rita’s life is spiraling downward. The pressures of her job are wearing her down physically, and the ghosts of the dead are wearing her down psychologically. Erma’s anger is understandable and the reader certainly wants justice for her, but at the same time, Erma is a real danger to Rita. She can and will haunt Rita, making her life hell and bringing along reinforcements to help. The resolution to Erma’s and Rita’s story will have you on the edge of your seat and includes some great moments from supporting characters (two friends, grandmother, medicine man and an elderly neighbor). If crime thrillers are your thing and/or if you are interested in Navajo/Dine culture, then Shutter is a great pick. Shutter was long listed for the National Book Award this year.