Oline Cogdill’s review of Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters appeared originally in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. I’m happy to share that review here, especially since Givhan will make a virtual appearance for The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 5 PM MST. Givhan will be hosted by award-winning author David Heska Wanbli Weiden. You’ll be able to watch the event on the Pen’s Facebook or YouTube page. In the meantime, you can order a signed copy of the book through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/pRlpw
Here’s Cogdill’s review of The Sleeping Sisters.
Book review: Gripping ‘Sleeping Sisters’ mixes magical realism with crime fiction
‘The Sleeping Sisters’ by Jennifer Givhan; Little, Brown; 416 pages; $30
Magical realism meets crime fiction with a soupçon of horror in Jennifer Givhan’s gripping “The Sleeping Sisters.”
Givhan’s strong storytelling delves into parental bonds, dealing with the past, mental and physical abuse, and Mexican legend. As she did in her 2025 novel “Salt Bones,” Givhan creates an entire world, this time in the area around Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Fortuna Miércoles has long wanted a better life for her family, which includes her two children and her husband who cleans crime scenes for a living. Salvation may come in the form of a $2.5 million lottery ticket. This unbelievable windfall allows her to move the family into a new house in a better neighborhood, enroll her children in private schools, and put money away for college.
She also hopes this new life lets the family escape the trail of violence that has followed her ancestors for generations. But the family has hardly settled down when the body of a teenage girl is found in their backyard.
The killing echoes that of other murders of indigenous girls committed decades ago by a man nicknamed the Reaper. Fortuna narrowly escaped being one of his victims about 20 years ago, a circumstance that has haunted her and affected her memories ever since.
Detective Jeanette Palacio desperately wants to find the killer because two of her young cousins were the Reaper’s early victims.
Each of Givhan’s characters is connected by legend and violence, which the author realistically incorporates into the plot. The area is vividly depicted, with “The Sleeping Sisters” serving as a stand-in for the nickname of the Three Sisters, the southern group of Albuquerque volcanoes.
Givhan’s plot insightfully centers on a complete community shaped by the past, present and the hint of the future. “The Sleeping Sisters” continues the high standards Givhan established with the enthralling “Salt Bones.”