I have always pursued good character-driven crime fiction. Yes, plotting is important and necessary to a good story but as I’ve said many times, I need a reason to care about what’s going on. The less I care about the characters, the less I’ll care about what’s going down. This is why whodunits rarely do it for me: they’re too focused on the mystery to make me care about who killed who.
Shutter is not a tightly-plotted novel and that might bother some readers but I was so invested in Rita Todacheene’s journey, the diné mythology Emerson drew from, the bleak but sometimes beautiful southwestern imagery, and the relationship between Rita and her grandmother that I didn’t care. When it was resolved, I didn’t feel much towards the crime being solved but I felt somewhat sad that I’d be stepping out of Rita’s headspace.
And so for this one, I was happy to be along for the ride. The alternating chapters where she talked about her growth as a young person, understanding her gift, really moved me, even more so than what was happening present day. Though I did enjoy the ghost of the overarching mystery being a thorn in Rita’s side and not in a comedic relief kind-of-way. It added an emotional depth to the story Emerson wanted to tell that this person needed the help of the living in order to find peace with the dead.
Good stuff for a first novel and a promising start to the series.