Daughter of the Morning Star

[cornerofmadness]

Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I almost tagged this paranormal because there is a definite Cheyenne faith related theme going through it and it entails a supernatural belief (that seems very real in this. Henry certainly believes it and Walt starts to)

This novel is Johnson's vehicle for shining a spotlight on the complex and horrifying issue of how many Native women go missing (if you haven't heard of this, it's worth investigating). Walt and Henry are in Montana at the behest of Chief Lolo Long because the local high school girl's basketball star, Jaya Long (One Moon, Lolo's niece) is receiving threatening letters and she wants an outside point of view.

Jaya has a tragic upbringing that includes the fact her older sister Jeanie went missing a year before. The fear is Jaya is next. Walt and Henry start poking around this case and immediately run into the idea that the Wandering Without, the Eveohtse-Heomese, “a spiritual hole that devours souls,” is the reason Jeanie is gone. It took her. And the idea of this supernatural thing being involved dogs the entire the story to the point that Henry believes it has set this case in Walt’s way for the purpose of claiming Walt.

It is an interesting idea. I loved that Walt is gentle in his disbelief. He does not mock any of the Cheyenne for their spiritual beliefs. There are a plethora of suspects including Jaya’s dysfunctional parents, white supremacists, the Eveohtse-Heomese, people at the party Jeanie disappeared from, a Native cult planning for the end of the world. Walt and Henry’s friendship is still the crux and delight of this series.

I very much enjoyed this though without spoilers, there are threads that aren’t completely tied up, including a tie to the horrors of the Indian Boarding Schools (which have been much in the news and rightfully so. I had patients when I worked on a Lakota rez who had been in those terrible places and told me stories). The one thing that did annoy me is Johnson’s complete and utter over use of epithets. Unless Walt is actually addressing Henry, he thinks of him as The Cheyenne Nation or The Bear. The latter I can see since his name is Standing Bear but 300+ pages of this? Yeah it gets annoying.




View all my reviews