White Horse

DEBUTPast demons beget present terrors in this chilling, well-paced debut that’s perfect for fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Catriona Ward. Abandoned by her mother when she was just two days old, Kari James is a tough-talking, rough-around-the-edges Indigenous woman who loves cigarettes and heavy metal and has more questions about her past than she cares to acknowledge. She is, however, unable to avoid the mystery of her childhood when her cousin and confidant, Debby, presents her with a bracelet of her mother’s, hoping to facilitate a connection that Kari has for so long been without. Decorated with unfamiliar symbols, the bracelet soon conjures not only the ghost of Kari’s mother but a beast reeking of death. Readers will be enthralled and as desperate as Kari for answers, as Wurth’s story continues at a steady, bone-chilling pace and as Kari faces not only her mother’s demons but her own as well.