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A woman on the run is attracted to a Navajo man and wishes she
could make a new life for herself in Unforgiven, New Mexico.
Nevada Sweet has been plagued by bad luck and bad decisions. A few
years earlier in Houston, she crossed a cartoonishly evil cartel leader and has
been on the run ever since. After a hint that he’s on her trail, she runs away
to New Mexico hoping to find work at a diner owned by an old friend. Nevada
plans to stay under the radar and save up some money before moving on. She
believes she’s in mortal danger, but as the details of her story unfold, the
plot becomes nonsensical and melodramatic. The urgency of her initial escape
turns into inexplicable inaction. Determined to pay her own way, she refuses
her friend’s offer of a free room, instead choosing to rent an RV from the
diner’s short-order cook, Joseph “Fishing Eagle” King. Joseph (everyone else
calls him “Fish”) is impressed by her determination and respects her
independence. The two strike up a delicate friendship but are wary of their
mutual attraction. Joseph is Navajo and doesn’t date white women because he’s
committed to preserving his culture and heritage; Nevada fears being found by
the cartel, causing her to be distrustful and suspicious of making long-term
connections. Although Drake (The Last True Cowboy, 2018, etc.) seems to
have carefully researched the Navajo culture, it’s uncomfortable to read
first-person narration of a Navajo character written by a white author. The
depiction of the Latinx villains as stereotypical bad guys is especially
problematic; they are all violence and machismo and plan to sell “little
blonde” Nevada into sexual slavery in Central America once they capture her.
Troubling in several ways.
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