Virgil Wounded Horse straddles two worlds. The vigilante-style hired muscle is half white and half Lakota, and he stopped believing in Native rituals and ceremonies when they failed to save his dad from cancer years ago. But now, as the threat of heroin creeps closer to the reservation and his loved ones, he finds himself reclaiming his identity. Virgil and an unlikely ally, his ex-girlfriend Marie Short Bear, set out to get to the bottom of the drug supply infiltrating their community.
More from TIME
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, knows the setting of his 2020 novel: he spent summers on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota when he was growing up. Winter Counts is crime fiction at its core, wrapped in tendrils of reservation politics, family relations, and personal reckoning with identity. It was a 2021 Edgar Award nominee for Best First Novel and won a 2021 Anthony Award. —Laura Zornosa
Buy Now: Winter Counts on Bookshop | Amazon
- Who Will Be TIME's Person of the Year 2023?
- Why Cell Phone Reception Is Getting Worse
- The Dirty Secrets of Alternative Plastics
- Column: It's Time to Scrap the Abraham Accords
- Israeli Family Celebrates Release of Hostage Grandmother
- In a New Movie, Beyoncé Finds Freedom
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time