The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan
Little, Brown and Company (August 18th, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen
The story “The Green Ribbon” is one of those formative, vaguely traumatizing stories that seems to have always been part of my consciousness and was one of the first moments where I realized I kind of liked being shocked and scared. Jennifer Givhan has given all of us who grew up with that story an enormous gift with The Sleeping Sisters. This extremely complex and creepy novel that takes that story and ties it to a real-life string of murders and Chicana-Indigenous folklore to create one of the best books of the year.
Fortuna is a wife and mother of two. For reasons that are initially withheld, Fortuna lives her life mostly off the grid. But when some good fortune comes in the form of a lottery win, allowing her family to upgrade their home and education for the children, she jumps at the chance to make life better for them. However, not long after moving in, tragedy strikes when a teenage girl’s body turns up on their property. A body that shows the same M.O. as the Reaper, a killer who targeted girls and women many years before.
On the scene to investigate is Detective Jeanette, who has two distinct ties to this case. One, she knows Fortuna’s husband, a crime scene cleaner, perhaps a little too intimately. Two, her cousins were two of the victims of that first string of murders, and they happen to be around still, haunting Jeanette as she continues to seek justice for their unsolved case.
The collision course of these two characters is absolutely fascinating to read, and Givhan has made both women full-on, living, breathing people you wouldn’t be surprised to encounter in real life. They are complex, sometimes at odds with each other, sometimes working together, but always written empathetically and realistically. Both women are on a mission: Fortuna to keep her children safe, and Jeanette to get justice, no matter the cost. This dynamic is absolutely electric throughout the novel, and keeps the reader flipping those pages fast enough to create a breeze.
The central mystery, of course, is whether the Reaper is back, or if someone is copying those horrific crimes from decades ago. And if someone is, who and why? There are questions raised of how far one will go to protect their family, even if they believe someone has committed a terrible crime. How can you trust anyone when everyone is hiding something?
The Sleeping Sisters combines magical realism, folklore, police procedural, social commentary, and thrilling mystery into an enthralling tapestry that consistently surprises. There are multiple scenes in this book that I have not stopped thinking about since my eyes took them in. Givhan does not shy away from the horror, either, with some truly shocking and unforgettable scenes readers will buzz about.
Overall, Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters is a powerful, important book for our current climate that works fully as a thrilling horror novel, while also investigating the treatment of crimes involving women of color in a meaningful and thought-provoking way. It’s a must-read that will grip you from the first page to the last.
