This was excellent and heartbreaking and infuriating as you might expect from the subject. It does get very detailed into both the assault and the trauma so it’s not one to pick up lightly. Vermette does a great job of navigating this topic and providing a realistic depiction of how an assault and the aftermath can impact the victim, family, and community, and the ways that social services help or harm all those involved.

I love that Vermette describes the inclusion of so many perspectives (10!) as embodying a restorative justice circle because that’s exactly what it felt like. This entire book is focused more on this healing than the case itself, though we still follow the typical police process. It’s a hint of what could be offered through the system if some level of care and accountability were offered at all stages.

There were a couple things that held this back for me, mainly the fatphobic comments. These are all directed towards the same character, sometimes by the character themselves, and felt at times like it was used as the one and only point of interest for the character. In the end, these comments do have a purpose but I feel there’s a much better way to arrive at the end result without the constant fatphobic language. I also felt confused by the timeline, though this was less of a concern. Each chapter is a different character but sometimes those chapters would be happening simultaneously and sometimes they would continue in time so it was difficult to keep on top of how time was moving. 

I know there’s a recent release in this series and I’m curious where the story will pick up, whether we see the return of any of these characters or simply a new story in this same world.