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Four Blackfeet teens work desperately to clear their own names and find the person who is murdering girls from the reservation in this intense and gripping YA thriller that deftly centers the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis.
Loren Arnoux's older sister, Rayanne, went missing three months ago--no media coverage, a bare few weeks of police support, and no leads. Now, Loren's best friend, Samantha White Tail, has been murdered in the middle of a powwow. Authorities, "grasping at straws," focus on those who were last with Samantha: Loren and friends Eli First Kill, Brody Clark, and Mara Racette. Wondering how the real killer will ever be found if the police home in on them as main suspects, the teens launch their own investigation. Then, damning details about each teen surface and the foursome's loyalties are split.
K.A. Cobell's debut, told through the four teens' alternating points of view, is an open portrayal of Indigenous teens rallying together and raging against each other. Cobell includes alarming statistics about MMIW through brief true crime podcast transcripts and tactfully discusses issues around poverty, alcohol, and drug abuse ("addiction rearranges all your priorities without your permission"). The author also shares moments of joy between friends and immerses readers in her tribe--her characters speak naturally using slang and take part in their annual Indian Days celebration. The missing girls, however, are never forgotten. Looking for Smoke movingly brings attention to--and demands awareness and justice for--stolen Indigenous girls. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer