Exposure

Description

Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind—in this spectacular follow-up to National Book Award–longlisted Shutter

A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims

In Gallup, New Mexico, where violent crime is five times the national average, a serial killer is operating unchecked, his targets indigent Natives whose murders are easily disguised as death by exposure on the frigid winter streets. He slips unnoticed through town, hidden in plain sight by his unassuming nature, while the voices in his head guide him toward a terrifying vision of glory. As the Gallup detectives struggle to put together pieces, they consider calling in a controversial specialist to help.

Meanwhile Albuquerque PD forensic photographer Rita Todacheene is at a crisis point in her career. Her colleagues are watching her with suspicion after the recent revelation that she can see the ghosts of murder victims. Her unmanageable caseload is further complicated by the fact that half the department has blacklisted her for ratting out a corrupt fellow cop. And back home in Tohatchi on the Navajo reservation, Rita’s grandma is getting frail. Maybe it’s time for her to leave policework behind entirely—if the ghosts will let her…Praise for Shutter

A Barnes & Noble Monthly Pick
Longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award
Finalist for the 2023 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Finalist for the 2023 PEN Open Book Award
Finalist for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best First Novel
Finalist for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel
Winner of the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel
Nominated for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel
Nominated for the 2023 Strand Magazine Award for Best Debut
Nominated for the Barry Award for Best Debut Mystery or Crime Novel
The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
CrimeReads Best Horror Novels of the Year
A South Florida Sun-Sentinel Best Mystery Books of the Year
An Orange County Register Best Mystery Books of the Year
Outside magazine 10 Best Books of the Year
Book & Film Globe Best Books of the Year
A Summer 2023 Indie Next Pick for Reading Groups
An ABA Indie Next Selection
An ABA Indie Next Gift Guide Selection
An ABA Summer 2023 Indie Next List for Reading Groups
A PLA LibraryReads Selection
A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Book of Summer

“A perfect blend of thriller, horror, and coming-of-age story.”
—The Boston Globe

“Haunting.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“This story is way more than a thriller, more than a ghost story. It is one of family and history, of culture, of past and present, of walking set boundaries and of discovering oneself.”
—USA Today

“This paranormal police procedural is unusual and multilayered, but what stands out is the gorgeously expressive and propulsive first-person storytelling, which is split between Rita’s present and her past. A former forensic photographer herself, the pictures Emerson paints with words are as vivid as they are brutal.”
—Oprah Daily

“Shutter is utterly unputdownable. It is a haunting thriller, written with exquisite suspense, and filled to the brim with beautiful writing, through the lens of cameras and memory—an ode to photography, written across the landscapes of the Navajo Nation and cityscapes of New Mexico, about what it means to witness and capture death, be captured by it, told unflinchingly by an author who knows what she is doing on every page. It is fun, and funny, and chilling. This is a story that won’t let you go long after you finish, and you won’t want it to end even as you can’t stop reading to find out how it does.”
—Tommy Orange, author of There There

“A unique perspective on New Mexico and native culture.”
—New Mexico PBS

“Shutter defies easy genre classification . . . Yes, this is a mystery with elements of horror, but the novel also plumbs Rita’s relationship with her grandmother, who raised her on the Navajo reservation hours from the city where she now works. The result, featuring one of the best first chapters I’ve ever read (admittedly, not for the faint of heart), leaves us with so much more than phantasmagoric thrills.”
—Book & Film Globe

“This mystery-crime-thriller is beautifully and chillingly rendered.”
—Ms. Magazine

“Emerson touches upon subjects that Diné often are reluctant to raise or discuss in intimate circles, and does so in ways that allows for conversation about death, the possibilities of a spirit world, gifts of second sight, and witchery and evil . . . Yet, we must acknowledge and work through because it is reality, it is more so a coming-of-age story.”
—Jennifer Dez Dennetdale, Navajo Times

“Emerson immediately establishes herself as a new talent with her engrossing debut Shutter, which combines a story of Navajo culture, coming of age, mysticism, family ties and crime detection . . . Emerson is definitely an author to watch.”
—South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“The thriller read of the summer—Dark Winds meets The Sixth Sense.”
—Indian Country Today

“Gritty.”
—Outside Magazine

“Emerson creates a powerful tension between Rita’s photographic documentation of dead bodies at crime scenes and the spiritual desperation of their souls . . . The title of the novel captures photography’s fluidity, at once referring to the blink of a cold, mechanical eye and suggesting the near homonym, shudder, the visceral chill when in the presence of the supernatural.”
—Ploughshares

“[Emerson] navigates family and crime to create a captivating mystery and page-turner.”
—Deschutes Bulletin

“Get ready for the next wave of Indigenous thrillers! Shutter is a soulful and mesmerizing exploration of the paranormal, set against the backdrop of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. Written in tough, edgy prose, this book grabs you by the shoulders and refuses to let you leave. Ramona Emerson is a welcome new voice in Native literature.”  
—David Heska Wanbli Weiden, author of Winter Counts

“Beautiful, imaginative prose with a sharp edge. Shutter is a powerful and supernatural debut. I’ve never seen a better rendering of gifts and power. This work understands the spirit world and how it does not relent until we bear witness. Ramona Emerson is a badass, propulsive, exacting and true storyteller.”
—Terese Mailhot, author of Heart Berries

“This debut, spellbinding, gritty and beautiful, laced with body parts, hauntings, humor, residential school trauma and a lot of bloody noses, is, in the end, the story of a young girl who fell in love with a camera, and followed that camera into a life. Layered, depth-plumbing, radically suspenseful, deeply felt, Shutter moves between making your blood run cold and warming your heart, so quickly, smoothly and stealthily you won’t know what hit you.”
—Pam Houston, author of Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country

“In her thrilling debut, Shutter, Ramona Emerson allows us a glance into not just one world, but many. Bridging the divide between a grounded procedural mystery and a paranormal thriller, this novel is a feast for fans of both genres and brings us a protagonist we’ll want to visit again and again.”
—Stuart Neville, author of The Ghosts of Belfast

“The mysterious, the paranormal, and the historical come together in Romona Emerson’s riveting debut . . . Emerson’s powerful new voice brings a breath of fresh air to the crime fiction genre.”
—Cowboys & Indians

“Chilling.”
—Arizona Daily StarRamona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. Her debut novel, Shutter, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Award, nominated for the Edgar for Best First Novel, a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel, and winner of the Lefty Award for Best First Novel. She has a bachelor’s in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures.US

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