Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

I had read about the scandal of disappearances of native girls in Canada, and this book tackles the subject in greater depth. A heartbreaking study of how the roles of race, class and sex are crucial in these investigations. A very interesting read.

Thanks to Little Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand the past few years, you’ve probably heard about the rampant abuse and murder of indigenous Canadian women and girls, if you’re interested in true crime at least. Despite the media focus, it is clear that the violence persists, and this book focuses particularly on the death of one young girl, Tina Fontaine.

The format of the book will not be new to anyone who reads a lot of true crime. We have a profile of the victim, input from the investigating detectives and wider background context of the area and local culture of where the crime took place. The journalist who authored the book is clearly passionate about telling Tina’s story and I felt that it was written more sensitively than the blood and gore type approach taken by other books. Rather than reducing Tina down to a faceless victim and concentrating on the crime and perpetrator, we are given an insight into her life, family and the institutional failings that led her into danger.

The author explores the prejudice against the indigenous community, focusing particularly on Winnipeg and the surrounding area. The book looks unflinchingly at the dark underbelly of a society that often touts itself as a haven for equality and women’s rights. It is difficult not to become frustrated at the actions of various institutions including social work, education, health services and the police, and with the benefit of hindsight we can see where things went wrong for Tina and how she left to slip through the net. I think perhaps the author could have gone further in exploring the institutional failings that have caused some of the deep-rooted issues still faced by the indigenous community.

This is a tragic tale and the investigation is covered in detail with all it’s frustrating ins and outs. Sadly, to this day there has still been no justice for Tina.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book for review.

'The Red is an unforgiving river.'

I'm a fan of true crime so was interested to read this insight into the investigation of the murder of Tina Fontaine, a fifteen year old Indigenous girl who was murdered in Canada.
I hadn't heard anything about the case and didn't know about the high numbers of Indigenous girls and women who were subjected to sexual exploitation, drugs and often murdered.

After being reported missing, Tina's body is pulled from the Red River in Winnipeg in 2015.

John O'Donovan is the lead Homicide Detective and is determined to convict Tina's killer and get justice for her.

The main suspect is Raymond Cormier, a meth addict with a liking for teenage girls.

The police execute a huge undercover operation and put so much effort into getting a confession but ultimately Raymond is found not guilty by a jury.

Despite the sad subject matter, this is a readable book which explores Tina's childhood and life before she was murdered.

I feel sorry for her family and hope that they can find comfort in helping other youths in Tina's memory.

I would recommend also reading the BBC article 'Red River Women' which is by the journalist who wrote the book.

Red River Girl details the murder of Tina Fontaine, an indiginous teenager in Canada, and attempts of the Winnipeg police to bring her killer to justice. It is written by Joanna Jolly, a journalist. It felt different to a lot of the other true crime books that I've read; I think the female perspective here helps a lot. Often true crime books can feel clinical at best, voyeuristic at worst. This book feels more sensitive, especially in the first half which focuses on Tina's life in the weeks before her murder.

The book has brilliantly descriptive writing, giving it a strong sense of place.I have never been to Canade but I but can see/feel it. And it really evokes the darker side of Winnipeg. Canada in the mainstream media is often shown as somewhere wonderful and enlightened (often by people comparing it to the US), but, as books like this show, Canada has its own problems with racism and the effects of a history of colonialism (the same can be said of the UK, somewhere else that has often been held up as being 'better' than the US). The book focuses on the plight of Indiginous women in canada. This is Tina's story but not just Tina's story. It is the story of systematic racism against the Indiginous community. In the last few years, the media has finally been talking about the missing and murdered Indiginous women, and the systemic racism that's swept under the rug.
Tina's case was unusual in regards to the amount of press coverage that these cases usually get. The women usually get forgotten. There is a quote from the book that I felt really summed up the attitudes. 'We really feel like because we're Indigenous people in Canada, we're not taken seriously. They just think that no one is waiting for us, that nobody cares about us, that we're disposable'. Bernadette Smith, sister to Claudette who disappeared in Winnipeg in 2008. Although Tina's case is the one the book follows, Jolly mentions other cases as comparisons.

Like any true crime book, the story of events up to the murder are detailed, followed by investigation and trial. However, this is interspersed with commentary on the political and social climate, including the activism undertake by members of the Indiginous community. There is a heavy focus on the family and Tina, and the book really dives deep into socio ploitical reasons why Tina, and other indiginous women, are vulnerable. How the effects of colonialism, which is often seen as ancient history by white people, still show as scars on the Indiginous community, with a lack of family support and children being bounced around foster homes, families in poverty, and the drugs, drink, and sex trade that comes with poverty and racism.

The second half of the book talks in detail about Raymond Cormier, the man who was tried for Tina's murder, but not convicted. There is a lot of detail into the actions of the police, and the intricacies of the investigation. I would have liked more exploration into the police that found Tina shortly before her body was discovered, but let her go despite her missing person status, because this was such a major failure of the system.

All in all, this is a moving and insightful book about both Tina's case and the wider issues. I will definitely be doing some wider reading on the subject as it would be good to hear Indigenous voices as well.

I just finished Red River Girl, the Life and Death of Tina Fontaine by Joanna Jolly and I am not sure what I think of it. It may have been better subtitled 'the Death, Investigation, and Trial for Tina Fontaine' as very little of the book was dedicated to her life. We are briefly given a look into her her childhood that is completely overshadowed by the generational trauma which led to a mother who was not in the picture for most of her life and a father who was himself murdered. When an author does not give proper explanation about things like generational trauma, it really does not do justice to the reality Tina and others like her have come from. Things like Residential schools and racism in Canada towards the Indigenous population are given very little page space. I felt like this was missing in the discussion of her life but also I would have liked to know more about her as a person, before her final days.
~~~
The parts of this book I really thought were well done were about the different parts of the investigation and trial. Most of the book was from Seargant John O'Donovan's point of view. He was in charge of the investigation, and you could tell how important finding the murderer was to him. The Mr Big operation to try to get a confession out of Robert Cormier, the main suspect, was really wild. The book was full of dialogue so it read like a novel in many ways. So many transcripts of recorded conversations between Cormier, undercover detectives, and others in Cormier's circle were available and were incredibly difficult to hear sometimes. The trial was very frustrating to read about as well as the outcome, but those chapters were well researched too.
~~~
I just keep coming back to Tina's life. How can one give a full account of Tina Fontaine's life and death when it feels too separated from Canada's systemic problems with racism against indigenous populations, failures of the child welfare system, and the failure of the police to protect the vulnerable? Reading this so soon after Free Cyntoia I saw a lot of similarities between the systemic issuses in the US and Canada when dealing with at risk youths. Overall it was a good read, but I wanted more of Tina's narrative.
~~~
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Racism is pervasive. It bleeds and it spreads and it infects all that lays around it. It moves through walls and across rivers and into people’s minds. It permeates.
It is an inescapable fact that it marred the investigation into the death of Tina Fontaine, into those of all of the other indigenous women who go missing and are murdered in Canada every single year. It is also true that it marred her life, too: her education, her home, her extended family. It put her, and so many other women, on a crash-course with murder at its near-inevitable conclusion.
And, in what world can murder be considered to be an inevitable conclusion?
People should not have to live like this; they should not have to mourn for multiple women in their own families and communities; they should not have to worry if they are going to be next.
How can governments and law enforcement and all of those other services that were put in place to make Tina Fontaine’s life better, look at the statistics and not recoil in horror? Not look at the statistics and realise all of the things that they did wrong?
How can they read that, from 1997 to 2000, indigenous women were seven times more likely to be murdered than other females, and not declare it a national emergency? Or, know that in Saskatchewan, out of all of the missing women in the province, 60% are indigenous (despite them only making up 6% of the population as a whole), and not rise up in outrage?
Well, at last, people did.
The author of Red River Girl and former-BBC journalist, Joanna Jolly introduces Tina Fontaine as the face of the genocide: a girl with hopes, dreams, wishes, just like all of the others. To you, to me, before reading this - before opening our ears and eyes to reality - she is just a face and a name. But no human is just that: we all contain multitudes.

Really excellent read - amazingly well researched and utterly compelling, yet awful as it's such a horrendous tale of failings at many levels for the poor victim. But really a great read - surprised me!

A brilliant work of non-fiction true crime.
This complicated meandering case was told in such an easy to read way.
It was told with outrage and compassion.
Brilliant read

I had no idea about there was issue of indigenous people (particularly women) going missing in Canada. Even less did I understand that the authorities cared little and did less. I wax shocked to the core by this book and it has changed my rose tinted view of Canada as a nation.

This is a really important book for the world and especially Canadians to read and digest

I remember watching a documentary a few years back about the shocking tragedy of Indigenous women in Canada and being so genuinely surprised that I had heard nothing about it before then. I wanted to read Red River Girl to find out how the situation had progressed and sadly it seems to still be a very distressing reality. Red River Girl is an in-depth look at the life and search for justice for murdered Indigenous teenager Tina Fontaine. The author pulls together all the different aspects involved and does so in an even handed and compassionate manner.

This book is about Tina and the combining factors that led to her life being tragically cut short but it also uses Tina’s story to demonstrate the very real problem Canada is facing. It’s a difficult issue to understand, in large part due to the reputation for fairness and equality that Canada maintains in the eyes of the world. It is jarring to reconcile that forward-thinking attitude with the brutal murders of these Indigenous women but it is vital that we do so because reading this book and specifically the shocking statistics surrounding the subject will make you want something to change very fast. The book doesn’t pretend that there aren’t people who are trying to make a difference within systems like the police. In fact, the lead investigator in Tina’s case has an admirable dogged determination to get Tina the justice she deserves. However as we move through what the author has been able to discover about Tina’s final weeks, there are just too many missed opportunities in which she could have been saved and more needs to be done to ensure this pattern stops.

Red River Girl is a sad but crucial book. It gives the reader an understanding of the difficulties faced by the police and government as well as a fully fledged picture of a girl who deserved better. It dives deeply into the pursuit of suspects without losing sight of the fact that Tina was a very real person which I think is so important in the true crime genre. Highly recommend for anyone interested in true crime and current affairs.

Incredibly sad and heartbreaking read. I did not see the BBC television programme that this was based on, but the book itself was very interesting, and held my interest for the 2 days it took me to read this. Tina Fontaine was a tragic indigenous child, let down by society. I was encouraged by the dedication and humanity of the lead detective, and maybe there is hope for the future for some of these children.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of Red River Girl: The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine by Joanna Jolly in exchange for my honest review. I’ve rated this title 3 stars!

BBC journalist Joanna Jolly’s debut book is a devastating and detailed account of the investigation of the death of Tina Fontaine, an Indigenous teenager.

Tina was a vivacious and happy child, raised by her loving great-aunt and uncle, Thelma and Joseph Favel, on the Sagkeeng First Nation and later in Powerview-Pine Falls, Manitoba. Joanna notes that Thelma, a foster mother to many children in her lifetime, refers to Tina as her ‘baby’.

After the death of her biological father, Eugene, Tina was reunited with Valentina, her biological mother, and in early 2014 she visited her for the first time in Winnipeg, after Thelma was assured by Valentina’s case workers that it was safe for he to do so. Valentina struggled with addiction and had been involved in sex work. It was a good visit and Thelma agreed that Tina, who had started to struggle emotionally and academically, could visit again in June if she kept her grades up.

Unbeknownst to Thelma, Valentina’s life had spiralled once more. She had lost custody of her other children and was once again on the streets. When Tina arrived in Winnipeg at the end of June, it was to a vacant house. She was found dead, wrapped in a duvet cover, in the Red River on the 17th August. She was just fifteen years old.

Before I go on, I want to emphasise that Joanna tells Tina’s story and the investigation of her death with sensitivity and care and the encouragement of her family – it’s an important story to tell. It is undeniable that Joanna cares for this young girl she never met and for her grieving family. However, considering the book is subtitled ‘The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine’, I agree with another reviewer here (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/97027921), that Tina’s story ends up a little lost.

Firstly, I’d say that the majority of the book details the investigation, through the eyes of Sergeant Joseph O’Donovan. I certainly enjoyed reading this, as I love learning about the methods undertaken to solve a mystery. I found it fascinating how, in the face of a lack of evidence, especially scientific, the police and adjacent forces will work with what they have in every way possible to unearth new clues (the duvet cover investigation). And, of course, insight to an undercover ‘Mr. Big’ operation was incredibly interesting.

But the investigation also revealed the failings of the Child Welfare services and the police themselves to effectively safeguard Tina and I felt that the consequences, and how these failings tied in to the larger, overarching issue of institutionalised racism in Canada, were somewhat skated over. It distressed me to read that officers pulled over a black car that picked Tina up, most likely soliciting her for sex, and took the driver in to the drunk tank but let Tina walk away, alone, in a dangerous part of town, despite the fact that she was marked as missing and at high risk of sexual exploitation. Joanna presents the officer's excuses but doesn't spend much time questioning them or explaining why there would be such apathy shown by those who are literally employed to serve and protect to safeguarding a missing Indigenous child.

Joanna peppers information about the long history of the appalling treatment of the Indigenous population of Canada throughout the book but, again, I think that more time could have been spent on this and how this played into Tina’s story. I don’t claim to have a great deal of knowledge on this topic but I can recommend CBC’s Missing and Murdered podcast as an excellent example of how you can shed light on these atrocities and weave it into a narrative dealing with an individual case.

Overall though, this was a well written account of a tragic case and interesting investigation. A good read to raise the issue of Canada’s racism but for further information and a deeper delve, seek out other media!

Although this book concentrates on the case of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in Winnipeg, it is an indictment of the lack of justice that the Indigenous people of Canada have received from the justice system, especially Indigenous women and girls. Misogyny and racism have combined to create something truly appalling, when you read about the number of women and girls who have either disappeared or been murdered, and no-one has been arrested or they have received ridiculously light sentences.

Tina was let down by many people in her short life and the detective in charge of her case was determined to see justice done. Unfortunately a lack of compelling forensic evidence hampered his investigation and it was going to be a tough fight to convict the accused. It was also an interesting look at how another country's legal system differs from what one is used to, with the use of "Mr Big" to try to get a confession - something that I doubt would fly here in the UK. Overall, it was an informative if grim read. 3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers Little, Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity to read an ARC.

A gripping recap and in-depth look at the murder of an indigenous girl, Tina, found in a river near Winnipeg called Red River.
I found that the discussion of this case and the broader issues it was trying to address were a bit lost in the tangible feeling of helplessness that the case wasn't solved and that a lot of indigenous women and girls go missing in Canada, It's palpable and the frustration of the people involved in the case was heart-rending.
An interesting and honest look at the handling of an as yet unsolved case.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book to review.

Red River Girl follows the tragic case of Tina Fontaine, a 15 year old indigenous girl, who’s body is found in Winnipeg’s Red River in 2014. The book primarily focuses on the murder investigation but it also tells us about Tina’s short life.
This case shocked and appalled Canadians, especially those from the indigenous communities throughout Canada and was the turning point that resulted in campaigns and calls to action for murdered and missing indigenous women/girls.
Although the subject is tragic and the case is frustrating, I thought Red River Girl was a compelling, well researched and well written book. Hopefully it brings more awareness to the issues faced by the indigenous people. I would highly recommend.

This is a true crime story. We learn of the murder of fifteen year old indigenous schoolgirl Tina Fontaine. This is mostly a police procedural that's trying to determine who killed the young schoolgirl. Vulnerable indigenous girls have been murdered with their cases bring unsolved. Tina had been a victim and was not to be blamed for any off the violence she had inflicted on her. The man behind the investigation, Detective Sergeant O'Donoghue did a sterling job. Raymond Cromier was arrested for the murder but the court found him not guilty. Cromier always denied that he was responsible for Tina's murder. This case still remains unsolved.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and the author Joanna Jolly for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Red River Girl by Joanna Jolly is a true crime book that examines the death of a young Indigenous girl, Tina Fontaine, whose body was pulled from Red River, Winnipeg in August 2014. Although the focus is clearly on this one case, the author also looks at the broader problem of the sheer numbers of Indigenous women and girls who die or disappear each year in Canada, with little to no success in identifying their killers or what happened to them.
The book opens with the discovery of the body, and the difficulty of identifying the young runaway, before going on to spend some time discussing Tina's childhood, family and upbringing, as well as how she ended up in the care of Child and Family services before becoming a runaway and heading for the big city. The investigation into her death was run by a Sgt O'Donovan and his homicide squad , and they struggled to pin down her last few days in the city, and who were the last people to see her alive. The investigation uncovered some disturbing and truly shocking information about police procedures. most notably that she was picked up by police in the hours before she died, and let go again despite being listed on their system as a minor and a runaway.
Eventually the police were able to narrow their investigation down to a single suspect, and set out to elicit a confession using an unorthodox sting type operation . We follow the behind the scenes details of the investigation ,from Tina's identification to the arrest and trial of the suspect for her killing, and the shock and disappointment , especially among the Indigenous community when he walked free. This in depth look made for a fascinating ,and at times upsetting read, and kept me hooked as I followed the efforts to find and then convict her killer. I also thought the author did a good job of bringing Tina to life on the page, her story was treated with respect and compassion. Since this young woman's unfortunate demise, the Canadian government has run a national inquiry into the deaths of Indigenous women, and earlier this year described it as a genocide, and given some of the examples in this book, am not surprised at that description.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This is a true crime story set in Winnipeg, Canada. A debut novel by Joanna Jolly and its a hard hitting, thought provoking read. Why do the police not take it more seriously when an indigenous female goes missing in Winnipeg. Surely any young girl or woman no matter what colour, race, religion should matter. But it seems that Indigenous Women/girls do not get the same investigation that other Canadians would get.

This tells the gripping account of Tina Fontaine an Indigenous girl that went missing, but on the 17th August 2014 her body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River, her body had been wrapped in material and weighted down with rocks. But the book is more than that. It looks at the injustices that native Indigenous people, mainly women, have suffered.

This is a distressing and sad story, a true crime. The focus is primarily on the murder investigation conducted by the Winnipeg Police Homicide Unit, led by Sgt John O’Donovan, he had emigrated from Ireland at the age of 28, he hadn’t really planned on becoming a police officer, but he did. Previous to this case there had been a lot of deaths of native people, particularly young females, which the police had done little about. This case bothered O’Donovan and it raised awareness of the topic in the eyes of the general public at large.

When looking at the treatment of Indigenous people mainly females it becomes clearly apparent that there is a long history of ignoring crimes against native women in general. The blame is put down to their choice of lifestyle, so doesn’t get investigated. Even though many of the crimes involve rape and murder, as if these people don’t count in society.

The author looks back on Tina’s life from when she was a baby being raised on the Sagkeeng First Nation Reserve which is around 100km from Winnipeg, leading up to her last known movements before her death. What had caused this young girl who was being raised by a loving family to run away? To end up on drugs, sexually exploited, and then murdered.

There is a lot of research gone into the book, following the police investigation, to the arresting and charging of the prime suspect Raymond Cormier, and the trial in December 2015 which led to his acquittal, which shocked many people.

Tina’s death and case shocked and outraged a lot of people across Canada, especially the Indigenous communities, it was the breaking point which resulted in increased activism and called for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Despite this being a sad story, and at times hard to read, the death of a young girl who had her whole life ahead, but had that life ripped out from under her. Maybe her death won’t be in vain if it has highlighted the problem of racism, and the lack of caring about indigenous people.

Maybe Tina will be remembered as the person whose death changed things for Indigenous people, who helped change the attitudes of the Canadian people. Hopefully this book will also be recognised as not letting Tina be forgotten, or the plight of these people.

This is a complex in depth book covering so much, it is greatly researched, and is certainly an eye opening read. I for one hope it does some good. A great debut novel.

For the first two chapters I felt this non-fiction book was too simplistic; it read like a magazine article, particularly when it described the detective stopping at a Tim Horton's for a coffee - it felt like a clunky way to place the book in Canada. I knew that this originally had been a programme for the BBC so I worried that the whole book would be like this. However I soon became engrossed in the minutiae of the search for the killer, and the methodical research carried out by the police team.

The author uses the murder of one Indigenous Canadian, 15 year old Tina Fontaine, to highlight the history of violence against all Indigenous females, many of whom have simply disappeared.

The ending wasn't what I expected at all, spoilers!