Maximum Shelf: WHITE HORSE (7/28/22)

Yesterday’s Shelf Awareness Maximum Shelf pick was Erika T. Wurth’s WHITE HORSE, a gritty, vibrant debut about an Indigenous woman who must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.

Heavy metal, ripped jeans, Stephen King novels, and the occasional beer at the White Horse have defined urban Indian Kari James’s life so far. But when her cousin Debby finds an old family bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, it inadvertently calls up both her mother’s ghost and a monstrous entity, and her willful ignorance about her past is no longer sustainable…

Haunted by visions of her mother and hunted by this mysterious creature, Kari must search for what happened to her mother all those years ago. Her father, permanently disabled from a car crash, can’t help her. Her Auntie Squeaker seems to know something but isn’t eager to give it all up at once. Debby’s anxious to help, but her controlling husband keeps getting in the way. Kari’s journey toward a truth long denied by both her family and law enforcement forces her to confront her dysfunctional relationships, thoughts about a friend she lost in childhood, and her desire for the one thing she’s always wanted but could never have.

“Erika T. Wurth’s WHITE HORSE is a raw and evocative piece of literary horror about a Native woman’s descent into her own and her mother’s past. With its stark settings, bone-chilling revelations and blood-soaked images, this is a modern-day ghost story that takes its hauntings and its monsters seriously… While WHITE HORSE’s settings alone tend to give the novel a great deal of atmospheric and thematic appeal, it’s Wurth’s invigorating blend of genres—from literary horror to classic ghost stories to neo-noir pulp mysteries—that truly creates its distinctive mood.”–Shelf Awareness

SEE THE FULL SUMMARY, REVIEW, AND INTERVIEW WITH ERIKA T. WURTH ON SHELF-AWARENESS.COM. AND ENTER TO WIN AN ARC!