WHITE HORSE by Erika T. Wurth – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth
Published by Flatiron Books on November 1 2022
Genres: Adult, ghost story
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Complex relationships and a ghostly mystery make Erika T. Wurth’s debut novel a winner. 

White Horse really surprised me. The story is tagged as “horror” on Goodreads but I’m calling it a “ghost story” because there’s nothing really horrific or scary about it, although the overall mood is dark and eerie. I really enjoyed the mix of Native American lore and history and a good dollop of family drama, as well as Kari’s ghostly encounters and visions. White Horse is a slow burn mystery that really grew on me, and the ending was fantastic.

The story is told from Kari James’s point of view. Kari is a thirty-five year old Native American (or urban Indian, as she calls herself) living in Idaho Springs, Colorado. She left a life of hard drugs and alcohol behind after her best friend Jaime died of an overdose. Now she spends her evenings at the White Horse, the local Indian bar and the one place in town she can be herself. Between bartending and waitressing, Kari’s mostly content with her life, and she even has aspirations of buying the White Horse some day.

But when her cousin Debby gives Kari an old family bracelet that used to belong to her mother Cecelia, Kari is plunged into a dangerous mystery. Whenever Kari touches the bracelet, she sees the ghost of her mother, who is clearly trying to communicate with her. With the help of Auntie Squeaker, a local medicine woman, and a retired cop, Kari decides to dig deeper into her mother’s disappearance, which was never solved. She hopes that by uncovering the truth, she can put her mother’s spirit to rest. Now everywhere she goes, Kari sees visions of her mother giving her clues that point to what really happened the day she disappeared.

I loved the setting and the feeling of place and nostalgia that Wurth evokes in her story. Kari has spent her entire life in the Idaho Springs area, and the reader gets to relive her rather unconventional youth. Music plays an important part in Kari’s life, especially heavy metal. She practically worships Megadeth and other heavy metal bands, music that shaped her teen years and became a symbol for the pain of losing Jaime. Kari was swept up into the drug scene at an early age, experimenting with sex and alcohol as well, and this background information is conveyed through occasional flashbacks that felt seamlessly integrated into the story. I also loved that Stephen King is important to Kari, and her favorite book is The Shining, which she reads over and over. There’s even a scene set at the Stanley Hotel, the setting that inspired King’s Overlook, and I loved the way that scene ties in with the ghosts who are haunting Kari.

There is quite a bit of family drama in the story, which some readers are going to like and others aren’t. Like many reviewers, I wasn’t as thrilled with the drama surrounding Debby, her husband Jack and Kari. Jack is a controlling jerk and doesn’t like Debby spending time with Kari, which forces Debby to sneak around in order to spend time with her friend. I didn’t like the way Debby sided with Jack and just accepted his behavior, while Kari was pushed aside. Luckily the author resolves this weird dynamic at the end, although I’m not sure how believable it was.

What I did love was the relationship between Kari and her father, who suffers from brain damage from a car accident. Kari spends hours with him, watching old shows on TV, and she stands up for him even after another family member tries to pin a terrible crime on him. I also loved the flashbacks with Jaime and the tender relationship between the two girls. Kari still mourns the loss of her friend and the emotions are palpable.

The scenes with Cecelia’s ghost were very well done. Eventually Kari is transported into visions where she’s seeing things through her mother’s eyes, which gives the story a sort of dreamy vibe. Wurth uses Apache mythology and symbols, like Geronimo’s war club, a weapon that has the power to protect the owner from a horrible monster called the Lofa. There are some subtle speculative moments that involve the Lofa, and it was sometimes hard to tell whether Kari was actually seeing the monster, or whether it was part of her dreams and visions. Some readers might think these scenes are too vague, but for me they worked. And I loved reading about the American Indian Movement protests (which I’m sad to say I knew nothing about), and how Cecelia became involved with the group. The author herself is of Apache, Chickasaw and Cherokee descent, and I loved the way she incorporates her own experiences into the story.

Eventually Kari figures out what really happened to Cecelia, and it’s heartbreaking. But along the way she’s introduced to a couple of long lost family members, some who are good and some who aren’t. I was surprised how emotionally satisfying the ending was. Despite the sadness of Kari’s past, it was nice to have a feel-good ending that gave me hope for these characters.

This is Erika T. Wurth’s debut novel, and I do hope she’s working on another one. I’m very excited to see what she does next.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.