Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Blackwater Falls in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: November 8, 2022
Summary:
From critically acclaimed author Ausma Zehanat Khan, Blackwater Falls is the first in a timely and powerful crime series, introducing Detective Inaya Rahman.
Girls from immigrant communities have been disappearing for months in the Colorado town of Blackwater Falls, but the local sheriff is slow to act and the fates of the missing girls largely ignored. At last, the calls for justice become too loud to ignore when the body of a star student and refugee–the Syrian teenager Razan Elkader–is positioned deliberately in a mosque.
Detective Inaya Rahman and Lieutenant Waqas Seif of the Denver Police are recruited to solve Razan’s murder, and quickly uncover a link to other missing and murdered girls. But as Inaya gets closer to the truth, Seif finds ways to obstruct the investigation. Inaya may be drawn to him, but she is wary of his motives: he may be covering up the crimes of their boss, whose connections in Blackwater run deep.
Inaya turns to her female colleagues, attorney Areesha Adams and Detective Catalina Hernandez, for help in finding the truth. The three have bonded through their experiences as members of vulnerable groups and now they must work together to expose the conspiracy behind the murders before another girl disappears.
Delving deep into racial tensions, and police corruption and violence, Blackwater Falls examines a series of crimes within the context of contemporary American politics with compassion and searing insight.
My thoughts:
This is the first time I’ve read anything by Ausma Zehanat Khan and it definitely will not be the last. While this particular book is the first in her new series, she also has other series that I will now be checking out. I love her writing style!
I love how this new series is not only a police procedural but also tackles timely social, racial and small-town political issues. The book focuses on the hate crimes, specifically targeted against minorities, immigrants and Muslims and who is perpetrating those crimes – some of them surprising and some of them not. It at times is an uncomfortable read – but these crimes should make everyone reading them feel uncomfortable.
There are strong females leads that I am looking forward to diving deeper as the series progresses – I feel that we have just scratched the surface as to who they really are in this first book. Having the story told from multiple points of view allows us to not only get better insight into all the characters through their own thoughts and feelings, but also see each character through the eyes of others.
I was completely invested in this story right from the start. The mystery of what happened to the young girl pulled me in immediately but I also found the tension between the different characters to be just as appealing. I was intrigued by what was going on between Inaya and Seif – his agenda definitely left me wondering about him and I loved how it was slowly teased out. I also loved the strong friendship between Inaya and Cat. I love seeing strong, female friendships have their moments.
I really enjoyed this book. The twists and turns kept me engaged throughout, keeping me guessing as to who was ultimately responsible. There are a lot of moving parts to this story, but I had no issues keeping it all straight and that’s a testament to the author’s skill as a writer. I am quite eager to continue reading the next book in this series and in the meantime will certainly be checking out her other series.
