The Barnes & Noble Review
Bestselling author Margaret Coel offers readers another fascinating glimpse into life on and around the Wind River Reservation. Opening the Great Plains Casino was a controversial issue on the reservation: On the one hand, it provided much-needed job opportunities; on the other, some people saw it as a departure from traditional tribal life and an added threat in the form of opportunities to indulge dangerous gambling addictions. Both sides had valid points, and Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden had mixed feelings about accepting the contract work the casino had recently thrown her way. Life is always a gamble, but when a body is found in a shallow grave on the reservation, it becomes clear that someone is raising the stakes. The first step has to be finding out why this man was killed, but the cops aren't having much luck with that. Despite help from Father John O'Malley, they're even having trouble finding the teenage girl who reported discovering the body. To add to the confusion, a white activist calling himself Captain Jack Monroe has set himself up as a self-appointed savior of the Indian People, recruiting "Rangers" to cause trouble for the casino and put an end to its evil influence. Killing Raven weaves a fascinating tapestry of tribal tensions, commercial controversies, ethical dilemmas, and unexpected dangers, where the stakes are literally life and death. Sue Stone