Iron Canuck Reviews & More: Review Tour: Kill Pocahontas by Ray Anthony Morris with an excerpt, a giveaway, and my review

KILL POCAHONTAS

by Ray Anthony Morris

GENRE: Thriller

BLURB:

Hallee Landry is a promising young Tsawwassen First Nations attorney and litigator with an enviable résumé and a bright future. At only twenty-seven years old, she is not a residential school survivor. Or is she? Everything she has understood to be true about her origins is challenged when she is kidnapped while in Kamloops to attend the annual Pow Wow. Now somebody wants her dead. But why? The perpetrators seem to be a confounding mix of low-level criminals and a sophisticated cadre of malefactors backed by someone high up at the Vatican. Hallee is bewildered to learn that her only allies are an elderly nun, a venerable old Catholic priest, and an Indigenous midwife. This motley crew of improbables faces long odds in unravelling a 50-year-old mystery before the opposing menacing forces erase history for good. Lurking in the shadows is a long-standing conspiracy of extortion, child abuse, kidnapping, and murder. The only clues on offer are an old drawing, a scratchy cassette tape, and a majestic totem pole. First-time novelist Ray Anthony Morris beckons us into the classroom and dares us to slip behind the curtain of an Indian residential school. Much like the backdrop of the mighty Fraser River, serpentining through the Canadian Rockies, this heroic story lifts our spirits on the wings of heart-choking tales of uncommon valour and then plunges us straight into the rollicking, white-water rush-ride of a sensational suspense thriller.

EXCERPT:

Rosie managed to grab hold of her mom’s arm and was kicking and writhing, feverishly trying to escape the clutches of the agent. Every kid in the truck was completely transfixed by the bizarre spectacle. She actually squirted loose momentarily, scrabbling in the dirt, kicking up gravel and bloodying her hands and both bare knees before the agent was able to subdue her again and wrestle her to the truck.

The screeching was relentless. Ethan had never before witnessed such a vehement backlash against authority. He was both deeply sorrowful for Rosie’s misfortune and profoundly impressed with the strength and determination displayed by that seventy-pound little girl-warrior.

With one final sob that seemed to deflate her, Mrs. Sanovie at last slumped into the RCMP officer’s arms, giving up, at least for the moment, any further effort to physically regain her daughter. He gently moved away from the truck as the agent got Rosie deposited in the back. The girl was bending to and fro, barely able to contain the convulsions from her distress nor the blazing hatred for her oppressors, all too evident in her eyes.

The big tailgate was eventually closed, and the driver was now settled in up front. With renewed vigour, Mrs. Sanovie burst from the RCMP officer’s arms, certifiably enraged… She resumed her cursing and screaming while flailing her fists through the closing driver’s side window at Mr. Indian Agent.

Rosie tried to scramble over the kids to get to the tailgate but, not wanting the little girl to hurt herself, some older girls held her wrists and tried to calm her, telling her it was all right, they were going to school to play games and learn new things.

Exhausted and defeated at last, little Rosie dissolved into tears on the floor of the truck amid the hugs and sympathetic back pats of her “sisters.”

The truck hastily pulled away from the yard, the kids ducking for cover as Rosie’s mom let loose with some rocks in a final, futile protest.

And it was off to “school” they went.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Ray Anthony Morris was raised in the small town of Oromocto, New Brunswick. He was not raised to look the other way, not take a side, or not get involved. His friends know him as champion of fair play and an advocate for social justice and racial equality. He currently lives alone in Alberta, Canada.

This novel is a work of fiction but based on a true story that the author was simply compelled to tell.

Website: https://rayanthonymorris.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55008628.Ray_Anthony_Morris

Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/1779622139

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY

Ray Anthony Morris will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5166/

My Review - 4 1/2 of 5 stars -

4 1/2 stars. I want to say I enjoyed this book, but the subject was quite a complex and biased one. Out of horror came a close family with their friends to acknowledge that horror. Surrounded by danger, death threats, and more, the First Nations solved a mystery and brought justice to those who committed the horrors. I loved the details and history of the tragic events being included in the telling to fully understand. The relationships interconnecting brought a family feel to the story. Worth the read.