Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes

TL;DR: A deeply unsettling horror about history and memory.
Source: Netgalley, thank you to the publisher!

Plot: The cost of ignoring the past, and what it does to those that do remember.
Characters: Very flawed, but fascinating primary PoVs, a hair weaker on side characters
Setting: An utopia of a 1920s town, this was felt more than seen.
Horror: Much more on the side of humanity’s horrors against one another than supernatural.

Summary:

No town is perfect, but East Cobb comes close. It’s a wealthy all-Black Free Town—untouched by white oppression—where ambitious Thea Elliot and her husband plan to make good on their big dreams. Little do they know that the idyllic town teems with ghoulish, walking nightmares . . . that only the women can see.

Marah knows the groanings well. She is one of the carriers—women with the ability to pull traumatic memories from men. Populated by men entirely freed of their pain, East Cobb has flourished, even as the remnants of their memories haunt the town’s women. When an unexpected death drives Marah to discover more about her own power, Thea’s and Marah’s worlds collide. The sisters must confront the rotten core at the heart of East Cobb’s prosperity and choose what—and who—will survive the reckoning.

Thoughts:

I’m a bit conflicted on this one. On one hand I really enjoyed parts of this, and the idea here had a lot of cool potential. But execution was not my favorite. The pitch of this hints a supernatural/horror aspect, but for me the bulk of this was the horror of what mankind can do to each other. From racism and racist violence to the violence of men against women and women against women. The true horror of this story is not the supernatural element, it’s in the people and apathy negligence.

My big issue is how rushed this was. I believe this clocks in at just under 300 pages (depending on format). With everything it’s trying to do, multiple PoVs and attempting to sell us on the place and horror this needed more building and fleshing out. The story is violence (mental, physical, verbal) every chapter, so be aware going in it does not stop for anything at any point. The ending especially confused me as it was constant time jumps, and while a few of the chapters did say ‘5 years prior’ or ‘present day’ some did not. This also had a distinctly modern feel for a story set in the late 1920s. Nothing felt unique to that time or period.

Ultimately I like the premise here, the idea, and sections but this needed 100 more pages. We need more exploration of the town, what was happening, and why. I don’t know that it’s anything new as far as messaging or a critique, and it is relentless. I’d recommend it for sure, but with all the trigger warnings, and with the full knowledge that this is not going to stop till it ends. Be aware and be kind to yourself.