I'd hand this to readers who enjoyed Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley and William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series.

This is an incredibly important read on MMIW (often neglected in conversations) I did struggle with how reckless the main character was in her decisions on how to navigate the missing woman they were trying to find

Do not sleep on this Marcie Rendon book, just because it strays from the Cash Blackbear series! Such a great stand-alone read. MMIW/P issues are always so nuanced it can be hard to quantify and generalize, but reading books like this and “Looking for Smoke” can really help readers gain a fuller understanding of how these issues present themselves in real life. A great future book club pick, in my opinion!

Marcie R. Rendon's "Where They Last Saw Her" takes off strong with a gripping premise: Quill, a Native woman from the Red Pine reservation, has spent her whole life running from the pain in her community. But when she hears a scream during her marathon training and finds evidence of another disappearance, she decides it's time to stop running.

The story really nails the small details — Quill's fierce determination, her ride-or-die friends Punk and Gaylyn, and her loving family, who keeps her grounded. You can feel Rendon's care for the community she's writing about, which adds a lot of depth to the book. Plus, the cultural elements sprinkled throughout give it a genuine, lived-in feel that makes the story real.

But let's be honest — the pacing could use some work. The mystery is there, but it's often overshadowed by Quill's personal reflections, and I wished the plot could pick up the pace and match her energy.

All that said, "Where They Last Saw Her" is a good story with a lead you can't help but root for, even if the journey gets a little long at times. It's not a sprint, but if you're into character-driven stories with a side of mystery, it's a book worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced readers copy. My thoughts and opinions are all my own.

This was a very powerful story! The main character Quill is a Native American woman who is determined to track down a missing woman from her community. To add to this, there have been other Indigenous women who have gone missing due to being kidnapped or trafficked. Quill isn't just curious about what's going on in her small community, she's downright angry and determined to get to the bottom of it by any means necessary.

This book had me on the edge of my seat! It was so suspenseful, and I was completely captivated by Quill and the other people in her life as she and her friends went on the hunt for the missing woman. The plot is full of Native American history, and the descriptive writing made me feel as though I was in the setting right along with the characters. I love the woman and Person that Quill was! She was such a strong and fierce lead character. It made me sad knowing that this happens in this community in real life. Kudos to the author for writing a book that shines a light on these issues in our country. This was a great book that I highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quill didn’t have a lot of sense or empathy or curiosity for someone who’s the main character in a thriller charged with the task of finding missing women. Crow was the thinker but also wanted to follow rules, so where Quill was randomly impulsive but also apathetic, Crow was sequential and also apathetic. It was aggravating all around, which I imagine is close to how anyone feels when their women goes missing and no one does anything that makes any sense to find them.

A must read that I had to buy a physical copy of when it published. This story dives into the ongoing plague that is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (and Men, etc). Sometimes the women are found, be it dead or alive, but often times they never are. It's sad and makes me angry, but people need to be aware this is going on in Indigenous communities everywhere,

The author’s series has been on my list for a while and I think I need to bump it up now.

The story is fictionalized but it touches on real issues that are happening, that I admittedly up until now have been ignorant of, at least to the scale. What a f-ing world we live in.

This book will make you sad and angry but there’s a hope in it too. The narrator, the community, you can feel the power there. I think I’d like to read more about Quill and her life and her friends.

It's so prevalent, it even has a hashtag..#mmiw murdered missing indigenous women. Out for a run, Quill is certain she hears a woman's scream. That opens the book. After that, Quill, married with two children, agrees to no longer run by herself even in broad daylight. As the pipeline comes to Minnesota, so do the men. And women start going missing. Quill is a true heroine and refuses to stop looking for these women, at a peril to herself. Truly immersive and harrowing. This is one you won't easily forget with characters you won't forget.

This was so good. Ok the history, the suspense, the details. Wow the author wrote these characters like they are people that I’ve known for a while. I think this is a very important read and I highly recommend

This book is a beautiful exploration of loss and resilience on the Red Pine reservation. Quill, is shaped by her past traumas and the stark realities of life for Indigenous women. As she trains for the Boston Marathon, her routine shatters with the haunting scream she hears in the woods—a moment that propels her into action when she discovers a beaded earring, a symbol of a missing woman.

Quill, along with her friends Punk and Gaylyn, is determined to do something, as she confronts the pipeline workers, embodying the struggle against systemic neglect and violence. The narrative raises critical questions about bystander mentality and the invisibility of marginalized voices.

Thank you Random House Publishing, NetGalley and Marcie Rendon for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you PRH Audio for my gifted review copy.

An amateur sleuth at their best. It is sad when one has to take finding out who is murdering within their community into their own hands. This is a story about an indigenous community, and the epidemic that is enslaving them all - drugs, disappearing women, sex trafficking. When Quill hears a scream on one of her runs, and no one is really taking it serious, she goes on a journey to find out what has happened to the one who's scream she heard. And Quill uncovers more than she bargained. Especially, when you finally have to take off the blinders and figure out how to fix a situation that has grown into something scary in one's community.

I loved how brave Quill was, Even if her husband kept trying to stop her from bringing danger to her family, she knew she had to see this to the end. If everyone turns a blind eye, how will someone stop something big? I loved all the nods to a very big and real problem - the use of drugs to control and kill off a community, the highway of tears. It felt personal. And you could feel the pain this author has in her own heart for what is happening in the real world.

A great listen. A lot of action, a lot of pain, a lot of bad things to talk about and discuss.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this ebook. I like reading Indigenous authors and about the community and culture of like on reservations. This book reminded me of Looking for Smoke, though that was a YA novel and this one is adult fiction and heavier. Both highlight #MMIW (missing and murdered indigenous women), a topic I feel strongly more people should learn about and care about. If fiction provides an opportunity for readers to better understand what is happening in the lives of people they may not otherwise have exposure to, excellent.
This story has a main protagonist with two close friends who all run together. I loved that they were training for the Boston marathon since it’s a race I watch each year. While out on a run, Quinn, our lead, hears a scream. This starts her journey of trying to learn who screamed, which leads to a lot of personal detective work, especially when she feels like the police aren’t doing enough. Needless to say, taking matters into her own hands leads to problems of all sorts. Interwoven are details about how the community cares for one another, prayer gatherings, casino workers, meth use on the reservation, and the influence of white men coming to work pipeline projects and exploit Native women. It’s heavy but it’s real. That being said, Quinn makes a bunch of decisions that are not relatable and are too risky to feel realistic.
The writing style did not flow easily for me. It was not a book I could sit and devour, not only due to the content, but because the writing felt a bit clunky at times. New characters were sometimes thrown in with proper nouns and little context so it was hard to know if they were someone to remember in the long term. Some of the descriptions, too, especially when it came to their running outfits, were just like why this level of detail for something that doesn’t enhance the story?
Overall this was between a 3-4/5 for me. I liked the overall point but not always the finer points or the journey to get to the bigger picture.

This book covers a epidemic that needs more exposure and talk. Every day indigenous women disappear or worse and the news never covers it! This book had me from the first page and I am so glad I read it. I'll be reading more by this author and I hope she gets all the press and exposure so she can bring to light this problem in both here and Canada.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Where They Lost Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon in exchange for an honest review. What an insightful book. I am so glad that we are getting more books, movies and TV shows that are shining a light on the Murdered & Missing Indigenous People. Laws really need to be fixed so that there are better investigations and that those responsible are held accountable. I grew very attached to Quill, family and her strength.

First of all thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Bantam for letting me read and eARC of Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon. Where They Last Saw Her was an excellent mystery with a fantastic plot that kept me intrigued throughout its duration. More importantly, however, is the commentary and light it shines on missing and murdered indigenous women.

Don’t miss this one. I thought I was picking up a mystery based in the Native American Community but finished with new knowledge about the violence against women and children surrounding the pipeline workers and the man camps. I had no idea. This book is a good mystery but also immerses you in life on the reservation as a woman and living with the fear that you and your children are not safe. Quill is running on the reservation when she hears a scream and finds an earring and knows another Native American woman has gone missing and she’s not going to let this one go. You get to know Quill’s friends, husband and children and more women and children go missing. Not to be missed, important work by an Indigenous Female author

Excellent read and very important story to be told. The missing Native American women is something that needs to be addressed more.

Marcie R. Tendon I cannot thank you enough for opening my eyes to the plight of American Indian and Alaska Natives. The statistics in your Author’s Notes share that “…there are approximately 4,200 missing and murdered cases that have gone unsolved.”
Quill was such a strong, persistent woman, always putting others first. Her relationships with her husband, children, and friends rang so very true. I was hooked instantly when Quill heard a chilling scream as she was running and was intent on pursuing finding out what happened. The symbolism of the earring was very clever. Her own background as a child set the stage for her future.
As I intently read I realized that Marcie R. Rendon had a powerful message for the reader. Awareness of the dangers of camps of men working in close proximity to so many Native women and girls will bother me for many years. The thought never crossed my mind that they would treat women like they were disposable…so easily kidnapped, used, and disposed of. So very chilling and heartbreaking. Although this story is fiction I have no doubt it is a true depiction of reality.
Quill’s investigative skills were truly inspiring, as was her commitment to her friends as well as women she had never met. She risked her marriage and her life to help these poor women. So loved the comradery of the women in her village, supporting each other. Loved the was Quill used running to keep herself in check and the way she inspired so many others to run as well.
My only question was why her son was always referred to as Baby Boy throughout the book.
My sincere appreciation to Marcie R. Rendon for bringing awareness to the horrific situations they are placed in, Bantam, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this thought provoking book,

This is a work of fiction with a nonfiction background.
Human trafficking and the kidnapping and murder of Indigenous women and children are very real and very heartbreaking, terrifying, and anger inducing.

In this story, the Indigenous women rise up and fight for one another in solidarity. While inspirational, it still brings to life that heartbreak, fear and anger because the reader, upon doing any research of this topic, will find that those horrible things happen every year(and many cases go unreported).

This diverse read is well worth your time and attention. It truly makes the reader think about what is happening around us. A work of fiction that can not only be entertaining but also informative is very much worth the read.

4⭐️

As always, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to have an advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.