Genre:
Suspense/ Mystery/ Adventure/ Native American
Description:
“When her
lifelong best friend, Maggie, entrusts a USB drive into Tashina’s
care, she tells the rookie FBI agent to give it to an unknown David
if anything happens to her. He’ll find her, Maggie assures her.
Hours later, Maggie is dead, and Tashina’s family and friends are
under surveillance. She has nowhere to run but to the home of her
mother’s people, the Lakota Sioux on Pine Ridge Reservation. In her
journey from California to South Dakota and back again, the
half-Lakota Tashina learns not only what is on the USB drive but also
what it means to be half-Indian and half-white in a world where both
sides still nurse old grievances. A mission to honor a friend’s
request becomes a period of discovery for the woman disparagingly
called ‘white-girl.’”
Author:
“Grace
Jelsnik lives in North Dakota with her husband of fifteen years,
their three children, two dogs, and three cats. Her romances
emphasize the give-and-take emotional interaction between two
characters, addressing the sparks that lead to heat, not the heat
itself. She takes pride in writing clean romances for both young and
old readers, novels her daughter can one day read without
embarrassment, and enjoys inserting comic elements into both plot and
dialogue.”
Appraisal:
I like to
read stories that include Native American elements, more often than
not mysticism is brought into play. That is not what you will find in
this novel though. What you will get is a solid view of Sioux culture
and history. Tashina’s parents recognized her warrior spirit at a
young age and sent her to spend summers with her grandfather on the
Pine Ridge Reservation so she could have
a solid foundation in her Native American heritage. However, her
cousins never let her forget they considered her a white girl because
she wasn’t a full-blood Sioux. The story is told through Tashina’s
point-of-view so we are given insight into her inner thoughts as she
works through her inner dilemmas; justifying her FBI identity, her
somewhat privileged white upbringing, and her Sioux heritage. I found
these story arcs particularly engaging and fascinating.
Ms.
Jelsnik has woven Tashina’s journey with a powerful story arc about
a homeland terror plot that could have a global impact. This includes
corporate espionage on the highest level as well as potential
corruption in other federal agencies. Tashina’s only ally is a man
named David she had never met. David is an unusual, interesting
character. He was raised by a man who was not his father and who
instilled discipline and loyalty to mold him into an ideal agent.
Tashina has her suspicions as to which agency, she has good instincts
that serve her well throughout the story. David was secretive and
detached; he also had good instincts as well as survival training. He
was quick to observe that Tashina was trapped between two cultures,
being an Indian at heart but white in practice. Their relationship
was guarded and felt realistic. Their dialogue was comical at times
as they played off each other like an old married couple.
I don’t
usually read political intrigue type novels full of espionage, but
this one seemed well researched, plausible, and frightening. I
wouldn’t call White Girl
a relaxing read, but I did enjoy it and wouldn’t hesitate to
recommend it if this is a genre you enjoy.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues were noted.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 65-70,000 words
