3.5 arrow-sharp STARS ★★★✬✩
This book is for you if… you seek insights into the issues Tohono O’odham people and the Native people of the American continent as a whole encounter. It will be atmospheric but not quite as mysterious as promised.

⤐ Overall.
I was oddly intruiged reading the synopsis of this short novel. I expeted a twisted crime that would be solved over the course of 60+ exciting pages.

What I got was the incredible atmosphere of the Mexican and South-US American prairie.



I've never really busied myself with what it means to be a detective of Native origin. But as soon as I was getting into this story, I realised it must be constant conflict. You enforce a system that has been discriminating and criminalising Native people from day one on. What does that mean for your identity as a detective?

Mystery and crime? meh.

Characters with grip, I think? I mean, I couldn't tell from that book alone. Some might be able to paint a vivid picture of a character within a very short time frame but that was not the case here.

The arch of suspense? Very meh. The only reason this went by so quickly is the few pages this book covers. I sincerely believe this could have been a longer book with more insight into every piece of the puzzle/crime.

⤐ What’s happening.
‘We can adjust our senses to the darkness when we have to. We’re animals too.’

And the darkness is especially daunting when you're investigating a crime case that hits just a little too close to home.
_____________________
writing quality + easy of reading = 3*

pace = 3*

plot/story in general = 4*

plot development = 3*

characters = 4*

enjoyability = 3*

insightfulness = 4*

Solving two murders with old technology in the desert southwest is not easy. The native people in this area have lived here for centuries. There were no borders that defined their nation until recently. Jennifer pulls together the problem of drug running across native ancestral lands with no regard for the culture and the people who live there.

Frank Silva is a half-breed who is charged with protecting the land and solving a double murder.

A defunct “Indian Casino” is a beacon for the transfer of illegal drugs. The drug runners are ruthless.
In a land of cacti and wildflowers where does the detective begin? Jennifer pulls the narrative together in a very exciting way. Even footprints do not show up in this desolate landscape. And yet the crime has to be solved.

The result is a masterfully devised series of steps taken to finally find the killer. The narrative is fast-moving and never drags. It is a mystery lovers' handbook for solving crime in the most desolate areas in the Southwest United States.

We received this digital download from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I can heartily recommend.

This short story tells the story of two murders that occur on a reservation in Arizona, USA. The cast list is small and so it's clear that one of the few people met or referenced has committed the deed.

The author skillfully reveals the mystery in an unembellished manner. Resulting in the feeling that I knew the people, their environment and cared about their concerns. The turn of phrases were apt, bareboned and evocative.

I enjoyed the restrained, dogged police work to uncover alibis and motivations. And whilst it was a short story I felt it covered everything; it has the depth and breadth of a full length novel.

The Poison of War is as much about the murders, as it is about reservation life and the threat of Mexican cartels. The impact of change, circumstance, and this age of distractions and competing priorities are starkly shown on the Tohono O'odham Nation way of life.


My thanks to Netgalley and Presna Press for providing a copy post publication date in return for a candid review.

The Poison of War opens on two drug traffickers murdered with poisoned arrows. The search for the killer seems erratic and leaves you with an unsatisfying ending. Overall, so much more could have been done with this if it didn't feel so rushed and the author took the time to create more well rounded characters. I had a hard time keeping everyone straight because there was little difference to the characters.

Two killings near the border where Frank and Arturo have to break the silence surrounding the Indian Reservation to understand what provoked this crime and just who is being protected.
An interesting style by Jennifer Leeper with the crime being front and centre while we have back stories concerning the losing of ones culture, dispossession, tradition, and a gap fermenting between young and old.
Well written novella.
An independent review for NetGalley and Pensa Press

This is why I love the opportunity of receiving an ARC, advanced reading copy in general and NetGalley in particular.
It elevates your reading from tried and tested authors, leaving aside briefly the comfortable books to the more challenging. The familiar genres to the most fanciable and leaving writing of similar styles to embrace new cultures and customs.
I was intrigued to look at the lack of border security between the USA and Mexico. How an ancient people viewed their lands when an artificial boundary was created. How traditional ways may resurface to deal with a contemporary problems of drug trafficking.
Two local detectives are assigned to a case then two smugglers from a Mexican cartel are killed close to the border. It has all the hallmarks of a ritual killing to send a message; but what has brought matters to such a confrontation and can the cops be accepted among their own to unravel the truth and head off potential border disputes at the pass.
I loved this cultural police procedural where customs and traditions propelled the characters as much as motive and where greed is not an issue.
The detectives with their own roots and common ancestors blurring their own motivation at times was a difficult path for the author to plot as much as for the cops to follow. I loved the tension; the submission to the law. I loved the sense of values and the spoiled future of these proud indigenous people.
Although just a novella it is a rich tapestry of language, values and a broken community. I enjoyed spending time in this milieu and unlike some deeper moral novels found it hard to condemn or feel sympathy for the initial murdered men.
Seek out this author and try to read this book for yourself. You will be pleased you made the effort.

The Poison of War by Jennifer Leeper is a short but excellent book about the discovery of the bodies of 2 Mexican drug smugglers on an Native American reservation on the Mexican border. As a pair of local detectives investigate the case the lives, culture and history of the Tohono O'odham people all play apart in a very accomplished piece of writing. The setting is quite unique and is drawn with flair by Ms Leeper, the few people living the traditional way and trying to preserve their culture, the young people angry at the incursion of the drug cartels while seeing the border controls being beefed up while relatives live on the other side, all come alive. This reminded me very much of Cormac McCarthy's books, a great story with strong characters and a great sense of place. I'll certainly be looking out for more books by Jennifer Leeper.

Big thanks to Jennifer Leeper, Prensa Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.