Looking for Smoke by K A Cobell

Looking for Smoke by K A Cobell

Looking for Smoke is K A Cobell's debut novel, but it has come out of the gate blazing. One of Barnes & Noble's and !ndigo's Best Books of 2024, an Amazon Editor's Pick for best Young Adult, and it was chosen as Reese's Book Club's Young Adult Pick for the Fall of 2024. It deals with addiction, bullying, death, drug abuse, gun violence, toxic relationships, grief, murder, blood, violence, abandonment, injury, and animal death.

Rayanne Arnoux has been missing for months and the cops can't seem to figure out what happened to her. So when Rayanne's grandfather dies and her family performs a Giveaway to honor his memory, the feeling in the air is extra emotional. Soon after the Giveaway, one of the recipients, Samantha White Tail, is found murdered and it appears to be tied to Rayanne's disappearance in some way. The cops question the other Giveaway participants, including four teenagers who each had a complicated relationship with Samantha and Rayanne. Mara, who is new to the reservation and who Samantha made sure felt like an outsider; Brody, who was jealous that Samantha seemed to be interested in any one but him; Eli, who Samantha has known since they were kids but who has become quieter, angrier, and harder lately; and Loren, who used to be Samantha's best friend before they started growing apart, when Loren's older sister Rayanne went missing. The four of them realize that if anyone is going to find out what happened to Rayanne and to Samantha, it is going to have to be them.

I had really high hopes for this book and it fell flat. It is trying to shine a light on a very important topic that is not discussed nearly enough: the rate in which indigenous women are murdered or go missing and the apathetic way those cases are handled. However, I did not feel connected to any of these characters or the story. It didn't garner any sort of emotion for me at all. I did not feel for the characters when a litany of terrible things happened to them that should have evoked a response. I felt like the author leaned too heavily on the "young adult" genre, these teenagers were the most teenagery teenagers that I can remember reading about. In addition, I did not like the ending. I thought that it was completely unrealistic and a bit convoluted.

I'm giving Looking for Smoke by K A Cobell 2.5 stars out of 5. A disappointing read for me, I was hoping for more but I felt that the writing and the narration of the story both left a lot to be desired.

For more from the author, visit her website at https://kacobell.com/

For more information on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis, click here to see the Department of Indian Affairs statistics page or click here to see how you can help.

Pairs well with fry bread, which you can top with taco fixings for an Indian taco, and experiencing jingle dancing performed first hand.