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cait808's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
my mom picked this as our first family book club read! twas short and sweet and tasty, with a few things that disappointed me.
Rita is a sendup to haggard, perpetually tired girlies everywhere, and her commitment to doing the right thing is admirable. Every time she propitiated the phantoms in a long-suffering tone, I liked our everywoman heroine more, and the descriptions of her actual family and the family she found outside the reservation warmed my heart. I fw the final line of the book v much and it feels like a love letter to both the kind of child Rita was and the woman Rita has become.
I am tepid about the chapter shift between past and present day. Once it was used to great effect—a question coming up in a present chapter was immediately answered by the following past chapter—but otherwise I kind of felt like it was relying on cliffhangers to get me to keep reading.
Also as an aside, I wish I knew more about cameras—each chapter has a subscript of a make/model of a camera of importance to the focal point (hehe) of the chapter. The climactic chapters are simply labelled with an f-stop setting indicating an ever-widening aperture, ending in “wide open.” Neat!
I felt the ending was very rushed. The book needed more chapters to flesh out SEVERAL interesting character skeletons; but unfortunately we are left with:
- Garcia, whois a mustache-twirling villain with barely a motive beyond “greed” and “impatience” driving this maelstrom of events serendipitously happening right as Rita is at her tiredest. (I hate how two of the most plot-impactful moments were just… chance encounters? ie the party, the wake.)
- Armenta, whobarely serves a purpose beyond an exposition dump, when he deserves so much more (his old partner used dirty money to buy a cabin for his wife who has already forgotten who he is, and is living in fear? resignation? of his own death by the hands of the cartel or his partner, who knows which? what a crazy emotional millieu).
- Erma! Would’ve loved moreflashbacks or dream sequences or investigations highlighting Erma’s force of will and relationships to Mathias and her family (cannot forgive that wake scene with Erma seeing her mom and daughter being cut short, acab baby).
- Always need more on Shanice—what did that reunion look like? how have the two found each other again? has Rita come to see Shanice as her own person or is she yet another foil for Gloria? for the mom she never really had?
no notes on Grandma though. now THAT’S what I call a grandma. the idyllic yet grounded description ofa day with grandma picking, drying, and brewing tea? one of my fav chapters fr. 🤌🏼🤌🏼 (just a day after, I watched the MV for the sigur ros song HOPPÍPOLA and had a nice good cry)
Solid book overall, would def read from this author again, especially bc of how she writes both old people and body parts strewn across an Albuquerque highway with such care.
Rita is a sendup to haggard, perpetually tired girlies everywhere, and her commitment to doing the right thing is admirable. Every time she propitiated the phantoms in a long-suffering tone, I liked our everywoman heroine more, and the descriptions of her actual family and the family she found outside the reservation warmed my heart. I fw the final line of the book v much and it feels like a love letter to both the kind of child Rita was and the woman Rita has become.
I am tepid about the chapter shift between past and present day. Once it was used to great effect—a question coming up in a present chapter was immediately answered by the following past chapter—but otherwise I kind of felt like it was relying on cliffhangers to get me to keep reading.
Also as an aside, I wish I knew more about cameras—each chapter has a subscript of a make/model of a camera of importance to the focal point (hehe) of the chapter. The climactic chapters are simply labelled with an f-stop setting indicating an ever-widening aperture, ending in “wide open.” Neat!
I felt the ending was very rushed. The book needed more chapters to flesh out SEVERAL interesting character skeletons; but unfortunately we are left with:
- Garcia, who
- Armenta, who
- Erma! Would’ve loved more
- Always need more on Shanice—
no notes on Grandma though. now THAT’S what I call a grandma. the idyllic yet grounded description of
Solid book overall, would def read from this author again, especially bc of how she writes both old people and body parts strewn across an Albuquerque highway with such care.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
eicart_reads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Grief, Car accident, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
butilikeit's review against another edition
dark
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use
awebofstories's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
mmccombs's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.0
I’m really sad I didn’t like this one more! I enjoyed the premise and was interested by Rita’s relationship with death, complicated by seeing ghosts and her cultural understanding of it. However, I just don’t think the structure or pacing worked. I think switching between the present and the past makes sense for a novel like this, but I don’t think they worked together well in this case. The flashbacks didn’t reach a climax that related to or expanded on what was happening in the present, in fact I feel like it dampened the impact of the action occurring in the present. Things kind of just dragged along until suddenly tons of plot was happening all at once, it didn’t really make sense to me. It was still generally fun to read, but I leave it feeling disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
irenemarie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence
hayleemarie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
mayhem9683's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Alcohol
reading_and_roaming20's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
“I see dead people” but for a forensic photographer so sometimes the dead people want their murders solved. That’s Rita’s life plus outrageously long work hours and grizzly crime scenes.
I had such a good time reading SHUTTER. The story flips back and forth between Rita’s past and present to give the reader a full picture of her life from childhood on a Navajo reservation to her adult life in Albuquerque.
I enjoyed that Navajo beliefs and customs were seamlessly woven into a ghost story / mystery. I also really loved Rita’s journey with photography that led to her current predicament of a real unhappy ghost who vows to ruin her life if she doesn’t figure out whodunit.
The crime scenes held nothing back (dude…that first one for real) and there were a few extra fun ghost-related moments. We also get to see a beautiful bond between Rita and her grandmother that is a consistent thread through the past and present narratives.
There is so much more to this book than simply a murder mystery unraveling. It’s a bit of a slow burn on that front so if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller with multiple big twists, this isn’t it. But it is a well told story of corruption, survival and culture with a supernatural twist that I’d highly recommend it any of that sounds like your thing.
I had such a good time reading SHUTTER. The story flips back and forth between Rita’s past and present to give the reader a full picture of her life from childhood on a Navajo reservation to her adult life in Albuquerque.
I enjoyed that Navajo beliefs and customs were seamlessly woven into a ghost story / mystery. I also really loved Rita’s journey with photography that led to her current predicament of a real unhappy ghost who vows to ruin her life if she doesn’t figure out whodunit.
The crime scenes held nothing back (dude…that first one for real) and there were a few extra fun ghost-related moments. We also get to see a beautiful bond between Rita and her grandmother that is a consistent thread through the past and present narratives.
There is so much more to this book than simply a murder mystery unraveling. It’s a bit of a slow burn on that front so if you’re looking for a fast-paced thriller with multiple big twists, this isn’t it. But it is a well told story of corruption, survival and culture with a supernatural twist that I’d highly recommend it any of that sounds like your thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
jourdanicus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I was so into this book I bought a copy of it on audio to supplement my library ebook copy. I wanted to get through it. It hooked me from the premise when I saw a hard copy in a book store, I knew I had to read it, and I'm glad I got to.
The story was propulsive, with believable (if not overly deep) characters and a fairly tight plot. I enjoyed the back and forth timeline. Aspects of Navajo beliefs, culture, and family history/life were woven in to a crime drama which didn't rely too heavily on trope.
I'd recommend to anyone who has a strong stomach for gore, appreciates a "gritty," dry female protagonist, and/or whose guilty pleasure is police procedurals but agrees with ACAB.
Edit/note: read ebook + listened to audiobook
The story was propulsive, with believable (if not overly deep) characters and a fairly tight plot. I enjoyed the back and forth timeline. Aspects of Navajo beliefs, culture, and family history/life were woven in to a crime drama which didn't rely too heavily on trope.
I'd recommend to anyone who has a strong stomach for gore, appreciates a "gritty," dry female protagonist, and/or whose guilty pleasure is police procedurals but agrees with ACAB.
Edit/note: read ebook + listened to audiobook
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, and Colonisation
Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Alcohol