CBR18 Bingo – Or: I can read about violence against women or… violence against women. I started The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie when I decided I wasn’t up for a mystery so dependent on real world violence against indigenous women and people. Then I jumped into this book like an idiot because I liked the cover.
It was too late to go back by the time I realized Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters was inspired by the unsolved West Mesa Murders. I was hooked by page 14 of ~400 and have no one to blame but myself, the author, and cover artist Rafael Silveria.
The book is about women and girls losing their heads. Some get beheaded, others dissociate, and some dissociate so hard that they can’t remember if they’re the one cutting teenage girls’ heads off.
Jeanette’s beloved cousins were killed by a serial killer and even though someone was convicted, Jeanette was never convinced they had the right guy. She’s now a detective on the case when the murders start again.
Fortuna has a library of issues that are made worse when she wins millions in the lotto. With the money, she moves her family to a safe neighborhood and it doesn’t take long for a teenage girl’s dead body to show up in her yard.
Both women are mentally unstable. Jeanette is haunted by ghosts or hallucinations. Fortuna’s trauma makes her doubt everything and anything, including her beloved family and memories.
The story goes between the two women’s perspectives, which makes everyone look insane and suspicious. Is it the creepy teacher who people say slept with the victim? Is it Blessica, who is so annoying you want it to be her? Or Fortuna herself, whose history with the murders goes way back to the beginning?
Or maybe it’s the guy from the fairy tale who nags at his wife about her ribbon choker and eventually topples her head off.
I should also mention that Vanessa Lillie wrote a blurb for this book’s jacket and I’ll get back to her. That’s not a threat.
