Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ashedpotato 's review for:
Where They Last Saw Her
by Marcie R. Rendon
There were some good things in this book … but most if it mostly felt like a developmental editor’s job to fix that inevitably failed at their job
I think the good part was the heart of the novel and the story of Native people. I learned a lot about reservation life and I think that’s the true essence of this book
but… important representation cant be the entire book. Especially if you’re writing a thriller, because this thriller wasnt very … thrilling.
In part because the prose was just … uninteresting. I think had it been written either in first person OR present tense, it would have done so much service to a feeling of tension, because most of the novel is just “she — then she — and she —“
Most of the time the main character was just meandering around, sticking her nose in things she doesn’t really have any business getting into. I understand the message of police not doing anything, but it doesn’t really land when Quill NEVER TRIES SPEAKING TO THE POLICE. Where in good girls guide to murder and other such novels, the mc first tries the police, and is then forced to take it into their own hands.
It paints Crow to be the villain for trying to keep his wife out of danger, but he’s right !! Quill has NO business throwing herself into dangerous situations with no semblance of a plan at all.
Further, there were SO many missed opportunities to make this book more interesting and higher stakes. Her kids are the most important thing in her life ?? MAKE CLIFF KIDNAP THE KIDS ! It would add so many stakes and there was even a perfect opportunity for it to happen IN THE NOVEL? Instead of the other girl being kidnapped from the grocery store … kidnap Baby Boy! Or Niswi! It would be that easy to make this novel more interesting and get you more invested in Quill as a character once she has to deal with her missing child. It also makes it more personal to her, instead of the first 4/5 of the novel being ‘I’m finding Justice for this woman I don’t know and putting myself in dangerous situations because I feel like it’
And even once stuff happened(mind you at the 80% mark for about three (3) scenes), it was so predictable ! I had guessed probably by the 30% mark thatCliff was going to kidnap Punk eventually and the payoff wasn’t even that good
Finally … there was little to no explanation for what River Lone Eagle OR Mabel had to do with ANYTHING AT ALL PLOTWISE. We get no explanation for what the ‘murderer’ had to do with either of them, or whether they were even relevant at all ! We don’t know what happened to Mabel, even at the end, despite being supposedly invested in what happened to her for at least the first half of the novel
Overall, I don’t think it’s a fault of the author. I think whoever was supposed to make developmental edits on this book did a great disservice to what this could have been because nothing that happens makes any impact, and had things been shifted I truly think this could have been far better
I think the good part was the heart of the novel and the story of Native people. I learned a lot about reservation life and I think that’s the true essence of this book
but… important representation cant be the entire book. Especially if you’re writing a thriller, because this thriller wasnt very … thrilling.
In part because the prose was just … uninteresting. I think had it been written either in first person OR present tense, it would have done so much service to a feeling of tension, because most of the novel is just “she — then she — and she —“
Most of the time the main character was just meandering around, sticking her nose in things she doesn’t really have any business getting into. I understand the message of police not doing anything, but it doesn’t really land when Quill NEVER TRIES SPEAKING TO THE POLICE. Where in good girls guide to murder and other such novels, the mc first tries the police, and is then forced to take it into their own hands.
It paints Crow to be the villain for trying to keep his wife out of danger, but he’s right !! Quill has NO business throwing herself into dangerous situations with no semblance of a plan at all.
And even once stuff happened(mind you at the 80% mark for about three (3) scenes), it was so predictable ! I had guessed probably by the 30% mark that
Finally … there was little to no explanation for what River Lone Eagle OR Mabel had to do with ANYTHING AT ALL PLOTWISE. We get no explanation for what the ‘murderer’ had to do with either of them, or whether they were even relevant at all ! We don’t know what happened to Mabel, even at the end, despite being supposedly invested in what happened to her for at least the first half of the novel
Overall, I don’t think it’s a fault of the author. I think whoever was supposed to make developmental edits on this book did a great disservice to what this could have been because nothing that happens makes any impact, and had things been shifted I truly think this could have been far better