Marcie R. Rendon's Where They Last Saw Her is a pulse-pounding thriller that grabs you from the first scream and refuses to let go. This isn't just a mystery; it's a raw, unflinching exploration of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis, wrapped in a narrative that's as suspenseful as it is heart-wrenching.

Quill, a woman forged in the crucible of the Red Pine reservation, is training for the Boston Marathon when a chilling scream shatters the morning stillness. This single, haunting sound becomes the catalyst for a relentless quest for justice. Rendon paints a vivid picture of Quill's world – a world where the bonds of community are fierce, and the threat of violence is ever-present.

The author's мастерful storytelling weaves together the personal and the political. As Quill digs deeper into the disappearances, she confronts not only the perpetrators but also the systemic injustices that allow these crimes to flourish. The introduction of the pipeline construction and the "man camps" adds a layer of contemporary relevance and menace, highlighting the exploitation of vulnerable communities.

Rendon's prose is both lyrical and visceral. She captures the stark beauty of the Minnesota landscape while exposing the ugliness that lurks beneath the surface. The pacing is relentless, with each twist and turn ratcheting up the tension. Just when you think you have a handle on things, another layer of deception is revealed.

Where They Last Saw Her is more than just a thriller; it's a story about resilience, community, and the unwavering strength of women who refuse to be silenced. Quill's determination in the face of overwhelming odds is both inspiring and terrifying. Rendon forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about bystander culture and the long-lasting trauma of being rendered invisible.

This book will stay with you long after you turn the final page. It's a must-read for anyone who cares about justice, community, and the power of a single voice to ignite change.

I am basically of the belief that Marcie Rendon can do no wrong at this point. I’ve been a huge fan of the Cash series, and Where They Last Saw Her was every bit as riveting, honest, and masterful as I was hoping it would be. Rendon frames her books around the enormous issue of MMIW facing all of our communities, and her characters are raw and full of depth and I will read anything that she writes. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for sharing this e-arc with me!

Rating: 4 ⭐️

Synopsis
Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. Shes out running in the woods one morning, training for the Boston Marathon, when she hears a scream. She tries to find the woman who was screaming, but all she finds are tire tracks and a beaded earring.

Quill asks her friends Punk and Gaylyn to help her find the woman. When they find out a second woman has been stolen, they starting investigating the men working the pipeline construction near their homes.

My Thoughts
Missing native women and issues plaguing reservations is a topic many may not know about, but TV shows like Longmire and Yellowstone have brought the topic to light in recent years. I saw the cover of this book and read the synopsis and knew I wanted to read this story. Quill is a determined, strong woman, but I think at parts, she let that take over, making her forget she has a family that needed her too. We see the struggle between her and her husband because of this, and while he loves her, he realizes what she doesn’t, that she needs to focus on her family and let the tribal police do their job. The problem was, she didn’t trust that the tribal police were capable of doing that. There’s a lot of culture mixed in with this mystery, which I really liked.

Final Thoughts
I did figure out the ending to this book early on, but there is a little twist thrown in there that made the ending suspenseful and exciting. The book had a pretty good pace and kept me wanting to read more. The end of the book had statistics on missing native women, and they are eye-opening and heartbreaking. If you’re interested in this topic, I think it’s definitely worth a read.

Themes:
🖊️ Missing women
🖊️Native American Reservations

Ratings
Characters: 4⭐️
Pace: 3.5 ⭐️
Enjoyability: 4 ⭐️

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!

This story is heartbreaking, especially since it's based on a real crisis in the Native American community.

Quill has a relatively simple life on her reservation in northern Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and two young children. She is training to run the Boston marathon and one day when she's running in the woods she hears a woman screaming. Quill refuses to give in to fear and decides to investigate on her own, but she realizes there is more and more women disappearing each day. The pipeline construction nearby has brought a lot of out of town men with nasty habits: heavy drinking, drug using, gambling and sadly, women abusing.

I admired Quill's determination to find and rescue this stolen women, even putting herself at risk to bring these women home. It really broke my heart to read what these nasty men took from women that led calm lives in their ancestral land. This is an important book on American issues that should be widely known and advocated for.

I have tried and tried to get into this book, which sounds so interesting. Ultimately it’s not for me- but it may be for you:

-dialogue heavy, accessible language
-messy family relationships
-features indigenous people living on a reservation

DNF

I really wanted to like this book more since it is about an important yet less talked about problem of indigenous women going missing. Quill, the main character, I could not relate to or even like. I found myself bored with so much fluff information that meant nothing to the book. The writing style was pretty simplistic. I found the ending to be predictible and figured it out early on. However, I think we need more books or information published about this topic because I wanted to read this book simply because of the subject and I knew next to nothing about it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.

Loved this book! The cultural aspect combined with the mystery was amazing.
It had me on the edge of my seat until the end.

A young indigenous couple with two small children live on a reservation not far from Duluth, MN. He is a self employed mechanic and she is a stay at home Mother and runs in long distance races and practices (with two close friends accompanying her) daily. One winter afternoon while running in the woods she hears a woman screaming and begins to investigate. The story is fascinating and well written enough to keep me coming back daily. I also liked and emphasized the young couple enough to hope this will be the start of a series. Thanks to Net Galley and Bantam for an ARC for an honest review.

Quill, a young Ojibwe mother hears a scream in the woods while she is out running, in training for the Boston Marathon. With help from two of her friends, women who run with her on the Northern Minnesota reservation where they live, Quill investigates the disappearance of two Indigenous women. This is a slow-burn mystery that brings attention to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (#MMIW) crisis in the US and Canada.
[Thanks to Bantam Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

This was such a nice story where I learn a lot about culture and relationships. Trying to figure out the truth can be a hard uphill battle but worth it in the end. I really enjoyed this story and the journey that was taken. I enjoyed the ending and I highly recommend.

I can’t believe I haven’t seen this book around more! I really enjoyed the story and I feel it will open a lot of eye. I feel the subject matter is important.

Quill is a young Native American wife and mother whose training to run the Boston Marathon. She and her family live on the Red Pine Reservation near Duluth MN. While running in the woods a few miles from home , she hears a young woman's ear piercing scream that immediately scares her. When she brings her husband Crow to the area where she heard the scream , all she finds is an earring. Quill then takes matters into her own hands when she uncovers that a young Native American woman has gone missing. She begins to suspect the woman was taken by the white men from mine camps that have popped up in the area to house pipeline workers. Along with her two friends Punk and Gaylin they have gone tired of the kidnapped and trafficked, the missing and murdered Indigenous women who never get the attention the white woman get and are determined to find the truth. When someone else disappears. In her quest to find justice for the women of the reservation, she is confronted with the hard truths of their home and the people who purport to serve them. When will she stop losing neighbors, friends, family? The novel asks searing questions about bystander culture, the reverberations of even one act of crime, and the long-lasting trauma of being invisible.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this read. It was unsettling and harrowing and told such an important story about the need to call attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women. The novel also highlights so many aspects (both positive and negative) of Indigenous culture in Minnesota and life on/near a reservation. Although the protagonist (Quill)'s choices were sometimes a bit extreme, I felt that they added to the stressful nature of the story. I commend the author for this work and look forward to diving into her catalog further!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a readers copy of this title. My reviews never contain spoilers and are freely given.
What a compelling story that calls attention to the issue of murdered and missing indigenous women (MMIW). Thousands of cases have never been solved. The tangled web of police, tribal police, and federal law enforcement makes investigation of these crimes more complicated.
Using fiction, and a woman who refuses to accept women on her reservation going missing, the author creates a narrative that could be happening anywhere across the US and Canada on native lands.

I gave this 3.5 stars.
It was a good read and very interesting story. Native American women are disappearing and it seems that no one cares except for the women living on the reservation. Until one of them goes missing, quill is determined to find her friend.

Quill tries to figure out why women on her reservation keep disappearing. Lots of twists and turns, but a fun ride!

This was a harrowing one. I seek voices like Rendon's, and these are stories that need to be told, but it lost something in the storytelling style for me. The prose is choppy an d

Quill was, perhaps intentionally, hard to really like. I grew up in Minnesota, so it was fun to see references to some familiar places and events (like the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth). BUT that also made the story heavier and more real for me.

I think this would have been a 3.5 star book for me, but it lost me at the way such a heavy story felt tied up with a pretty bow like a movie.

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

4.5 stars--This was such a powerful and compelling story that reflects the lived reality of many indigenous people. I was drawn into the story right away with the beautifully descriptive writing and the tension and mystery created. Though I was stressed throughout, and questioned the choices of the main character, I couldn't put it down. This is my first book from this author, and I will definitely be reading more. Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this arc.

Marcie Rendon has written a disturbing but important story that centers on the disappearance of Native American women from a reservation in Minnesota. Quill has lived on the reservation her entire life. She is a runner in training for the Boston Marathon. On one of her runs she hears a scream. By the time she returns to the area with her husband she only finds tracks and an earring. The incident is reported to the tribal police but Quill is dissatisfied by their response. This is not the first woman to go missing and Quill begins to investigate on her own. Quill trains with her friends Punk and Gaylyn. When Punk becomes one of the missing, Quill is even more determined to find out what has happened to these women. She makes some questionable decisions that put both her and Punk in danger.

Rendon’s story addresses the problems of drugs and domestic violence. It is also filled with the culture and traditions of the indigenous population. What Quill discovers is a case of human trafficking to supply entertainment for workers brought to the area by the pipeline. It is heartbreaking to realize the number of women who have disappeared and an important story to tell. With a strong main character and the community’s support, the story moves quickly. Quill is a character that I would love to see more of in the future. I thank NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for providing this book.

Marcie Rendon’s Where They Last Saw Her is a gripping novel about the MMIW crisis. It follows Quill, a young mother living on the reservation who hears a scream one day when she is out running. No one seems to care that a woman has disappeared, but Quill makes it her mission to solve the crime with the help of her family and friends. Rendon’s novel is fast-paced and tense and I was frequently worried for the safety of Quill and her loved ones. I thought this was a great thriller with a strong social conscience.

However, there were some issues with pacing and info-dumps. I think the book could have benefitted from stronger editing (there were repetitive issues) as well as having her characters pull back from over-explaining their culture and lives to the reader. That said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. I am eager to read Rendon’s other series as well.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for a copy of the book.

When Quill hears a woman’s scream when she’s out running, she can’t shake it. She’s haunted by another missing woman, another forgotten indigenous woman whom she refuses to forget.

Where They Last Saw Her is an important story and brings light to such a crucial issue. It’s compelling in so many ways. I wish the editing had been a little tighter to strengthen the writing, and I wish a critical look had been taken at Quill’s choices. They felt too far fetched and became a means to drive the plot, despite understanding some of her desperation, they were really foolish choices that took me out of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam.