In the 1920s, a spree of mysterious deaths began to plague the Osage Indians, whose oil wealth had made others resentful of them. But the conspiracy of the murders was darker and deeper than anyone could have suspected.

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, but finally took the plunge in light of the upcoming movie. This is a fascinating, depressing story about how a people were systematically subjected to great violence for their great wealth, and how the control that the US government exerted over them only made them more vulnerable to exploitation. I found myself shocked by the various twists and turns in the case – the last section of the book, “The Journalist,” especially boggled the mind.

However, my attention did lag at times during the second part of the book, and in a strange was felt emotionally distant from the various personages that populated the story, even though we get plenty of time to get to know them and understand what they went through. I wonder if this is some particular disconnect between Grann’s style of writing and my brain – I’ve noticed this in his other books I’ve read, and most other readers don’t seem to have this issue.