Shutter by Ramona Emerson 🔖🔖🔖

First published August 2, 2022

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Literary awards: National Book Award Nominee for Fiction 2022, Barry Award Nominee for Best First Novel 2023, Anthony Award Nominee for Best First Novel 2023, Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel 2023, PEN Open Book Award Nominee for Shortlist 2023, PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Nominee for Shortlist 2023

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Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook.

As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother. It has isolated her from friends and gotten her in trouble with the law.

And now it might be what gets her killed.

When Rita is sent to photograph the scene of a supposed suicide on a highway overpass, the furious, discombobulated ghost of the victim—who insists she was murdered—latches onto Rita, forcing her on a quest for revenge against her killers, and Rita finds herself in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque’s most dangerous cartels. (Source: goodreads)

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I enjoyed this book for the most part. It wasn't as suspenseful and exciting as I was hoping. I read the whole thing, and wanted to finish, wanted to know how it would all play out. I think overall, the premise of the book was much better than the final product. And what was the purpose of Chris? Seems an odd, brief, totally unnecessary insert.