Though the prose is beautiful and haunting at times, most of the time I kept asking - what is this book about? The reader meets several women who recount their days and feelings but many times the plot (if there is one?) meandered for no purpose. It is a sad statement that it is set in the 70s and there is still the same amount of racism and violence against women today. In the end, the book just left me feeling hollow.

The beginning of this book grabbed me by the throat, stopped my breath, and made my heart race, and then it quickly fell flat, losing focus and strength as Wetmore almost painstakingly proceeded detailing ancillary characters and aspects of Odessa, TX. I wondered what I may have missed, regularly rewinding and re-listening to portions of the audiobook, but alas, nothing. The meat of the story was monotonous and repetitive and I had to push myself to continue. Thankfully, the last third of the read did make some good connections and realizations of "justice" in small town America and ignited some moments of internal fury within me, here and there. Wetmore was excellent with her characterizations and I felt the main characters' pain, struggle, and frustration. That descriptiveness was wonderful but there was so many additional details that just seemed unnecessary and detracted from the punch of the story. I believe the author was working to paint a vivid picture of this community and its citizens yet feel this could have been achieved without spending so much time introducing and describing irrelevant characters as the story unfolded. The narration was wonderful; the story, not so much.

I was amazed and horrified by the horrific crime it depicts as well as the myriad of responses to it and life, in general, in the West Texas oil field in the 1970s.
The role of women and their fortunes in this desolate place reminded me of Austen tales of females caught in difficult circumstances and their resilience to overcome obstacles.
I will not forget this haunting tale.

A beautifully-written debut novel. Set in west Texas in 1976, it is the story of women who must fight and scrape for what little bit of dignity they can find in a time and place that has little use for them and no respect for who they are and what they do.