Thank you Libro.fm / Recorded Books for the ALC and Soho Crime #partner, for the advanced copy of Shutter in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: SoHo Crime / Recorded Books
Published: August 2, 2022
Summary:
This blood-chilling debut set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation is equal parts gripping crime thriller, supernatural horror, and poignant portrayal of coming of age on the reservation
Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook.
As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law.
And now it might be what gets her killed.
When Rita is sent to photograph the scene of a supposed suicide on a highway overpass, the furious, discombobulated ghost of the victim—who insists she was murdered—latches onto Rita, forcing her on a quest for revenge against her killers, and Rita finds herself in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque’s most dangerous cartels. Written in sparkling, gruesome prose, Shutter is an explosive debut from one of crime fiction’s most powerful new voices.
My thoughts:
I’ve been on a roll with debut novels this year and am so glad I was able to add this one to the list. When I first heard about this one, I just knew I had to read it and I’m so glad I did.
I’m not usually one that goes for books with paranormal elements, but there was something about this one that just called to me. A main character that is a forensic crime scene photographer for the Albuquerque Police Department and can communicate with ghosts – it just sounded so good and it worked for me!
This is when I’m glad I took a chance on something that I wouldn’t normally read. This is listed as supernatural horror and that isn’t what I typically gravitate towards, but it also has elements of crime fiction and that is a genre I love. I found myself really captivated by the way the story was told. The flashbacks to Rita’s time on the reservation with her grandmother were really compelling but I especially loved the current day sections with the cases she was trying to solve and how she would look at the photographs and see the ghosts – so unique and at times quite gruesome.
I quite enjoyed this book and would love to see this be the start of a series. I know it’s probably not for everyone, but I’m so glad I took a chance on this one.
Audio thoughts:
This story translated very well onto audio and I had a hard time putting it down once I started it. The narrator, Charley Flyte, did a great job bringing this story to life. The pacing and intonation was spot on. I loved listening to it!
