Nick Medina’s debut novel is as emotional as it is genre-defying. SISTERS OF THE LOST NATION takes readers on a brief trip behind the curtain of Native American life and lore. Anna Horn lives on a reservation and is full of questions. She will get some of the answers during the course of this book, many of which are disturbing.

Anna is still in school but old enough to work at the nearby casino that is just a short walk from the reservation. She is in the very far minority as a Native American student and is forced to endure abuse at the hands of bullies and tormentors on a daily basis. However, none of this will compare to the horrors to which she will become accustomed in her own community.

"I thank Mr. Medina for putting the spotlight on this real-world horror through the lens of a novel, and I hope he takes us on more journeys that allow us to become aware of modern and mythological Native American life."

In the book’s prologue, a five-year-old Anna listens to her wise old uncle Ray speak. He tells her the story of three Native American graves that had been dug up. It turns out that the skulls of the bodies in those graves were not there. They reanimated themselves into new heads with eyes like fish and went after people and things to eat. This tale will resonate with Anna as a metaphor for the rest of her life, one that has her constantly looking over shoulder.

The primary action of the novel happens over 37 days and starts on Day 36. On that day, Anna stumbles upon the lifeless body of a Native American girl. What will continue to transpire throughout the book is the buried plight of these young women and the epidemic loss that never seems to get any news coverage. This becomes a reality for Anna when her little sister, Grace, goes missing. At first, Anna thinks she may have run away because of the cruel rumors about something sexual she was supposedly involved with following a school dance. But she soon begins to realize that there is something far more horrific at play here.

Anna notices a number of odd and curious incidents taking place at the casino. It’s enough to force her to conduct her own investigation into Grace’s disappearance, as well as the bizarre sights she has been witnessing. Like most people on her reservation, she has no faith in the local police and believes they simply do not care about crimes against indigenous people.

The resulting dark journey Anna goes on is filled with characters, mostly Native American, and the stories they spin to explain what happens in the natural world. Is there some sort of human monster capable of taking all of these young girls away, or have they been victimized by the demons her uncle described to her? As Anna will learn, sometimes the stories that never get told are the most important.

Nick Medina has produced a fascinating read, and his Author’s Note shows how grounded in fact the story is. He shares that there were more than 5,203 missing indigenous women in 2021 alone, and that number may be much higher as it merely reflects what has been reported. I thank Mr. Medina for putting the spotlight on this real-world horror through the lens of a novel, and I hope he takes us on more journeys that allow us to become aware of modern and mythological Native American life.