White Horse

Fans of supernatural thrillers and classic Stephen King will devour this tale of ghosts, heavy metal, and an urban Indigenous woman reckoning with the tragedies of the past from Wurth (Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend). Kari James’s mother disappeared just two days after Kari was born, and Kari, of Apache and Chickasaw decent, has lived her life angry as a result, believing her mother abandoned her. Having left hard drugs behind after another tragic loss, Kari now just wants to be left alone to enjoy her music and a drink at the White Horse bar in peace. As her aunt Squeaker says, she was “never good at facing up to things.” Which makes it all the harder when Kari’s cousin Debby presents her with a bracelet that belonged to Kari’s mother—and that brims with violent energy. The bracelet causes Kari to see the ghost of her mother—screaming, bloody, and crying for help—and she wonders for the first time if her mother’s disappearance wasn’t all it appeared to be. Soon, Kari’s on a quest to uncover what really happened. This atmospheric tale brims with monsters and the ghosts of both past and present—from supernatural visions to everyday racist microaggressions. Wurth’s decadently blunt prose makes it easy to smell the smoke in the air and hear the heavy metal lyrics about memory and identity. This fresh take on the ghost story is sure to wow. (Nov.)