David Heska Wanbli Weiden | WINTER COUNTS

 Plot (via Goodreads):

Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.


They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.

Review:

Winter Counts is a sensational crime fiction story with a plethora of phenomenal characters and a plot that is relentless, chilling, and emotionally driven. Being indigenous myself, I absolutely loved how the author wrote about life on the reservation and well he did captivating that setting. It was not only realistic, but gritty and heartfelt. The plot is definitely fast-paced and moves in different directions that were not only unique and original but devoid of your typical cookie-cutter crime fiction story.

Virgil is not only a lovable and enjoyable protagonist, but he is badass and one of my favorite characters that I've read about thus far. His storyline was emotional and captivating and I loved seeing so many different sides of his personalities with all of the different characters. It was hard to not immediately love this man. As for all of the secondary characters, I thought they were captured brilliantly and I loved all of the different personalities that the author was able to capture in these pages. For a 300 page book, there was so much packed into this story that not one word goes to waste when it comes to the characters, the plot, and the prose. David Heska Wanbli Weiden is a brilliant crime fiction author who I am already eager to read more of. 

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

Rating: 5/5