Looking for Smoke

Gr 9 Up--Cobell's debut thriller addresses injustice and homicide within the Montana Blackfeet community. Teenager Rayanne Arnoux has been missing for months, and when her friend Samantha White Tail is murdered at the North American Indian Days festival, fears mount that the two incidents are somehow connected. The story cycles among the four teens (Mara, Loren, Eli, and Brody) who last saw Samantha alive as they come under police scrutiny. Mara, ostracized for returning to reservation life after years spent away, worries that her fights with Samantha and Rayanne will make her a suspect. Loren aggressively searches for answers in the wake of having lost both her sister and her friend. Eli is stigmatized and shunned due to his father's meth addiction, but he is devoted to protecting and raising his younger sister. And Brody's loyalty to his older brother, while an admirable family bond, often works against the group's quest to gather information. The book shines in its character development; there are a lot of initial details to sort through, but each narrator comes into their own after the festival. The thriller elements are more slow-burn than explosive, but Cobell's focus on missing and murdered Indigenous women raises awareness of the grim statistics present in Native American communities. There is some drug and alcohol use, and most characters are members of the Blackfeet Nation. VERDICT Mystery veterans will find familiar tropes leading to the reveal, but the windows into contemporary Native American culture make this a compelling read. Recommended.--Michael Van Wambeke

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Not seen for months, Blackfeet teen Rayanne "Charging at Night" Arnoux seems to be another missing Indigenous girl amid a series of disappeared teens gone uninvestigated. Rayanne leaves behind her Blackfeet Reservation peer group, including her young sister Loren "Different Black Bird," Eli First Kill, Samantha White Tail, Brody Clark, and Mara Racette (who is of white and Blackfeet ancestry). But when Samantha is murdered during a celebration, and the group are the last to see her, they each become suspects. The teens soon realize, however, that there's something worse than being under suspicion; as the case progresses, connections to Rayanne's disappearance become apparent, prompting fear that Samantha's death will become another instance of unsolved crimes against Indigenous girls. Her killer must be apprehended, even if it means they're forced to solve the case themselves, and even if it means condemning one of their own. Via four alternating POVs informed by the intricacies of reservation life, Cobell highlights the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis and delivers a gut-punch of an ending in this timely debut thriller that is by turns spine-tingling and emotionally raw. Ages 13-up. Agent: Peter Knapp, Park & Fine Literary. (June)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

This thriller grounded in very real problems doesn’t disappoint.

The result is a story that is gritty and tense but also showcases the deep-rooted strength Native American communities have to summon hope in challenging times.