Blood Sisters

By: Vanessa Lillie

Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos, Erin Tripp

A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

There are secrets in the land.

As an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land's indigenous past, even as she’s escaping her own.

While Syd is dedicated to her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Though she swore she’d never go back, the past comes calling.

When a skull is found near the crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes, Syd knows she must return home. She refuses to let her sister's disappearance, or the remains, go ignored—as so often happens in cases of missing Native women.

But not everyone is glad to have Syd home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her. Still, the deeper Syd digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in the town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.

The truth will be unearthed.

The author did Oklahoma proud.

I can't tell you how many stories I've read over the years that were set in Oklahoma but didn't feel like oklahoma at all. This book, felt like Oklahoma. It's hard to explain Oklahoma's unique history with the various tribes forced to relocate to the area along with the non-native aspect, but the author did a good job of balancing history and fiction.

The story itself is captivating and kept me saying "one more chapter. " I will admit that I don't fully understand the side story with the wife and pregnancy in Rhode Island. I'm not entirely sure how it fits with abduction story in Oklahoma other than to give the character a present and to show the reader how the past has affected Syd.

I really enjoyed the book.

A great page turner with a social message

I appreciate how the themes of MMIW, illegal land seizure, meth crisis and the bond of family and friendship was seamlessly integrated.

Heart wrenching

I saw the author on GMA last week. The subject interested me. The book was all and more than I could have been imagined. It kept me engaged and excited. MMIW is finally being brought to the attention of the public. The narration was done to perfection. Thanks to Vanessa Lillie for writing this story.

Secrets and lies

Still reeling from this harrowing adventure. Top 10 best books for me. Full review to follow...

Horrifyingly true tobuistory

I loved learning more about the atrocities done to native women which are horrifying. At times, the novel a bit over the top, which why the 4 stars rather than 5, but it’s possible the chases and events are the truth and my white mind can’t grasp it.