Exposure
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
In the follow-up to the National Book Award–longlisted Shutter, Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind.
A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims.
In Gallup, New Mexico, where violent crime is five times the national average, a serial killer is operating unchecked, his targets indigent Native people whose murders are easily disguised as death by exposure on the frigid winter streets. He slips unnoticed through town, hidden in plain sight by his unassuming nature, while the voices in his head guide him toward a terrifying vision of glory. As the Gallup detectives struggle to put the pieces together, they consider calling in a controversial specialist to help.
Rita Todacheene, Albuquerque PD forensic photographer, is at a crisis point in her career. Her colleagues are watching her with suspicion after the recent revelation that she can see the ghosts of murder victims. Her unmanageable caseload is further complicated by the fact that half the department has blacklisted her for ratting out a corrupt fellow cop. And back home in Tohatchi on the Navajo reservation, Rita’s grandma is getting older. Maybe it’s time for her to leave policework behind entirely—if only the ghosts will let her . . .
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Even the ability to speak to the dead may not be enough to catch the killer in this taut crime thriller. Forensic photographer Rita Todacheene knows something nefarious is going on when Albuquerque police take her off an assignment that happens to implicate one of their own in a brutal massacre. So the Navajo photographer starts investigating on her own with clues she gleaned herself…supernaturally. Ramona Emerson’s second Todacheene book had us absolutely riveted. The masterstroke arrives when Emerson begins alternating chapters between Rita’s point of view and that of the deranged serial killer, increasing our fear for the scrappy photographer’s safety as she inches closer to cracking the case. Don’t be surprised if you start thinking the deep, dark horrors of humanity are as grisly as any of Rita’s otherworldly encounters. Exposure is a pitch-perfect read for fans of horror and crime fiction alike.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Emerson's riveting second paranormal thriller featuring Rita Todacheene (after Shutter) finds the Navajo forensic photographer laying low following the traumatic events of the previous novel. Long viewed with suspicion because of her ability to see ghosts, Rita has become a pariah among her law enforcement colleagues after exposing corruption in the department. Her medical leave ends early when she's called to a gruesome crime scene where teenager Jude Montaño—the eldest son of a retired Albuquerque detective—appears to have killed his entire family. At the scene, the ghosts of Jude's young siblings appear to Rita. One of them leads her to evidence suggesting that their father was sexually abusing them, and that Jude is innocent. Unable to toe the thin blue line of silence, Rita resigns and returns to her family on the reservation near Gallup, N.Mex. Her peace is short-lived, however, as the ghosts of indigent Native people who died at the hands of a clergy-affiliated serial killer begin to haunt her, and she's forced to launch an under-the-radar investigation that she suspects could connect to the Montaño case. Visceral prose (a young ghost's breath "smelled of blood and gunpowder") elevates Emerson's impressive blend of crime fiction and supernatural horror. This series deserves a long life.
