Jessica McDiarmid | HIGHWAY OF TEARS

Plot (via Goodreads):

For decades, Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been found murdered along an isolated stretch of highway in northwestern British Columbia. The highway is known as the Highway of Tears, and it has come to symbolize a national crisis.

Journalist Jessica McDiarmid meticulously investigates the devastating effect these tragedies have had on the families of the victims and their communities, and how systemic racism and indifference has created a climate where Indigenous women and girls are over-policed, yet under-protected. Through interviews with those closest to the victims--mothers and fathers, siblings and friends--McDiarmid provides an intimate, first-hand account of their loss and unflagging fight for justice. Examining the historically fraught social and cultural tensions between settlers and Indigenous peoples in the region, McDiarmid links these cases to others across Canada--now estimated to number up to 4,000--contextualizing them within a broader examination of the undervaluing of Indigenous lives in the country.

Highway of Tears is a piercing exploration of our ongoing failure to provide justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and testament to their families and communities' unwavering determination to find it.

Review:

I am a true crime junkie and I had heard about the Highway of Tears through my favorite podcast My Favorite Murder and when I heard that a lot of the victims were indigenous women, I was immediately focused in on this case. I am Native American and I live by the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation along the border of Canada where a lot of women have also gone missing without any resolution or much done regarding finding out what happened. 

Highway of Tears is a harrowing look into the missing women along the Highway of Tears that are indigenous, the racism that is lurking along this area, and the disheartening ignorance when it comes to the justice system. McDiarmid wastes no time diving into this story, painting a realistic and deep look into the area that these women have gone missing; making this story equally as interesting as McDiarmid gives a brief and effective history lesson on not only aboriginal women, but the land that lies along this highway and what has been haunting these families in the shadows. 

Compared to a lot of other true crime television shows and books I've read, what I love that Jessica McDiarmid did was not just focus on so much who the killers could be or necessarily the gory details of the crimes committed, but really focused on the victims and made their lives so vivid for the short time they were alive. It was emotionally heavy and at times really emotional to read as McDiarmid really focused on who they were as people rather than making them out to be just victims including interviews with their families and friends and focusing on not only the lives lost, but how these people coped by losing someone and the shattering of those around the missing and presumed dead.

This is a beautifully written and really informative look into some of the social issues that we deal with today as a society regarding racial injustice, but the true crime aspect of this one was sensationally written as well and it is definitely the kind of book that will leave you emotionally hungover. Congratulations to Jessica McDiarmid for such a great book that brings light to an issue that has been going on for far too long. 

Special thanks to Atria Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5