Teenager Jade wishes her life was a slasher movie, because horror movies make sense and bring her comfort. So much better than fearing what her father and his sleazy best friend will do to her. Better than dealing with a mother who abandoned her. Better than being the weirdo high school outcast. But when all the elements of a slasher film become realized, Jade does her best to convince the best option for a final girl of the danger before the killer strikes again.

I adored Jade’s character. She assigns the final girl role to another character because she simply doesn’t think she’s final girl material. My heart ached for her sad family situation and how she never seemed to fit in. I cheered when other characters were kind to her and tried to be there for her, but whose efforts are nevertheless woefully inadequate. Jade, however, is the kind of girl who has the intestinal fortitude to save herself.

Jones takes his time to lovely create Jade’s character, doling out carnage slowly, which makes the grand finale even more spectacularly gruesome.

MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW is Stephen Graham Jones’s blood-soaked love letter to the slasher genre. Jade’s Slasher 101 essays, submitted as history assignments, serve to highlight her horror expertise and act as both a Greek chorus and letters of appreciation to her favorite teacher.

In the acknowledgements section Jones writes about his personal journey with the slasher genre and this book, which originally was titled “Lake Access Only.” He also includes a sweet call out to his beloved wife.

As a writer, I appreciated Jones, a award winning, best selling, and vastly prolific author, sharing that the book took him over ten years to complete in its current incarnation. His breakthrough came after finding an article that served to unlock a key component of Jade’s backstory. I love that the acknowledgments acts as a treasure travel of bonus material.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

Jade Daniels is a slasher movie fanatic. In "My Heart is a Chainsaw '' she clearly sees life in her hometown of Proofrock morphing into a slasher movie situation.  Jade is both thrilled and horrified at all the signs, all the prerequisites shared by her bloody films playing out in front of her. Of course, no one believes this troubled girl even as the body count begins to rise. She is seen as an unstable teenager, a product of poor upbringing, a girl who recently attempted suicide. Jade even begins to doubt herself-- who's to say this horror is going to follow her guidelines? This is not a script, this is real life... probably.

Stephen Graham Jones fills this novel with wonderfully gory twists. And be forewarned, there is a lot of gore. It starts off with an innocent Norwegian tourist couple getting naked and canoeing at night in spooky old Indian Lake...what could go wrong? Jade fills us in on the sordid history of the area, the legends and brutal murders, all the local lore. She writes essays to her English teacher spelling out what we are to expect in these doomed circumstances. Jade determines who the killer is and identifies the "final girl", the heroine needing preparation in order to triumph over the slasher at the finale.

Unfortunately all this takes time. There are definite lulls between the opening action and final showdowns. Keep the faith when things seem like they have bogged down, the payoff is well worth it. Like the very best thrill rides the final punch packs a wallop-- one we do not see coming.

4 stars for the magnificent Jade Daniels character! I am grateful to Stephen Graham Jones, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for providing the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. #MyHeartIsAChainsaw #NetGalley

"My Heart is a Chainsaw" is to be published on August 31, 2021 and this review will be posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BookBub, Facebook and Twitter on that day.

3.5 stars

I was really excited to start reading this book as I loved The Only Good Indians (it was one of my favorite reads from last year). I read a few other things from the author since then and enjoyed them all so I was ready to dive in and see where this story would take me. The first chapter, the two kids from the Netherlands, hooked me right from the first words. I just wanted to read all day. Only...after that first chapter, the story went downhill for me. I loved the idea of Jade, this girl who is obsessed with slashers and always tries to make her life fit a slasher film. She is always thinking through what is happening to different people, or what various people are actually up to and stuff. And that was fun. I did really enjoy that. But the first half of this book was bogged down in way too many details about various slasher movies for me. And I love horror, love slashers, have seen most of the movies referenced, but it was too much for me. It slowed the story down to a near stop too many times and I considered just giving up. Even though I loved the premise.

Then I went and read some of the negative reviews of the book and those that made it the whole way through the book said it did pick up after the halfway mark. So I kept coming back to it and reading a few pages and decided if I got to 50% and it was still dragging too much for me I would give up. Then somewhere between 40%-50% it clicked for me. There wasn't so much detail about different slashers. Yes, there were still references but in a way that worked way better for me. And I really enjoyed the rest of the story. I do really love the way Jade thinks. And the more you learn about Jade, the better it got and the more I loved her. It was fun because since she saw her world as a slasher film she had to constantly figure out why x or y happened and how that would make sense. She was a very unique character and so much fun to read. How everything works out, that big end scene, was just so great. It ended on a high and I really enjoyed it in the end.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

Chainsaw:

My heart is not a chainsaw, but it definitely feels like it’s been torn apart by one. This is a homage to all the slasher of slashers, but wow, can Stephen Graham Jones’s storytelling get anymore amazing? Not only did I love the story, the horror, the blood, but I loved Jade, her coming of age, her story.

We go on this journey of Jade’s wildest fantasies of slasher knowledge to where she knows there’s a Final Girl amongst them, and that means, there’s a slasher killer about to do their damage. No one believes her, and her manifesto is all the extra credit she can get for History to pass. They entertain her creative writing, but no one cares. Except, Letha. Jade uses her horror as a crutch to escape her so called life, and no one has understood that, except Letha. Maybe that’s why she’s the Final Girl. She gets it.

Cara Gee is the narrator and OMG, she’s phenomenal. I could listen all day to her voice. I found another book she narrates that I already have in my Libro library, so I’m starting it. I felt she truly captured Jade as her true self, and I think she was perfect for the part. There are also little pieces of homage to Queen Agatha Christie AND Alex Trebeck, and I just couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, I like you Jade.

This is storytelling at its finest. If you’re looking for some wild fast paced slasher horror flick, don’t read this and try to give it a negative review. If you love and can appreciate the smallest intricacies being woven into a grand story, pick this up and marvel at Stephen Graham Jones. It’s slower, it’s gory, but damn, is it good. Thank you so much @scout for the gifted copy. My Heart is a Chainsaw is out Tuesday, August 31st.

Not your typical horror/slasher novel. And it’s not common that I novels are set in Idaho and have indigenous characters. I’m not going to give this story away but I will share what I liked and disliked about it. I loved the opening scenes of Dutch travelers and the thing in the lake abducts them. The Dutch travelers efforts to record what’s happening as all hell breaks loose. I love the story of this depressed town rebelling against gentrification and displacement. Mr. Holmes graduation speech was powerful in his admonishment to the wealthy residents of Terra Nova “…not cast the working classes into penury.”
I’m a fan of Jade, the anti hero who does her own thing, marches to her own beat.
If you are a horror movie fan you will love the endless references. Jade is a walking encyclopedia of horror movie trivia. She sees scenes playing out in the town’s daily activity with a grand finally destined to changed the lives of everyone.

I found this an entertaining read with social commentary. I like that combination and for that reason I would recommend this book.

I so wanted to like this novel...
This is the second novel by Stephen Graham Jones that I have read and the second time I have been disappointed.
The premise is excellent, the writing has good style, but the story itself is just so-so.
The build-up is slow. More than slow. Ok, Jade is a horror/slasher movie stan. But good Lord do we need every movie in the genre explained in detail?
No surprise what her addiction to these movies and her desire to educate every creature with ears about any film she has seen, hides a different set of problems.
By the time Mr. Jones got to the point, I no longer cared. And it started so well! The first chapter was the horror book joy! And that was it.
I don't understand why Stephen Graham Jones is lauded as the biggest new thing in the horror genre. The Stephen King for the Millenial/X generation! He is a strong writer who could use a few pointers from the "Boomer" writers of gore.
Probably my last attempt to make Mr. Jones a must-read author on my list.
Thanks to @Netgalley and Saga Press for the chance to read this in exchange for my honest opinion

Definitely out of my lane - I am not a fan of horror flicks or gore - but the writing was pretty good.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting read and so much happened at the very end, I'm still making sense of all that happened at the end. For a slashing good time, read this.

4.5: truly, a love letter to slasher films <3

this was so fun! there are a few things that keep it from fully being a 5 star rating for me: it's slow to start for about the first quarter, it assumes A Lot of knowledge about slasher films and while i could mostly keep up and there was a fair bit of explanation alongside the references i could def see where that could lose some people, and i thought the end was a little abrupt i was hoping for like 5 more pages to finish wrapping everything up.

regardless, though, what a blast. the perfect summer read, if horror is what you're looking for as a summer read. jade was a phenomenal protag, i loved her so much. and it was almost philosophical about the horror genre, which i appreciate. it's so obvious how much SGJ LOVES horror; it comes across plain as day in all the stuff by him i've read and it makes it that much better imo.

A new book from Stephen Graham Jones is always a joy, as far as I'm concerned. Luckily for me, his imagination never seems to slow down for too long, so those new books tend to arrive frequently. The Only Good Indians was the best horror work of 2020 for many, myself very much included. It was terrifying and heartbreaking and unlike anything else the genre had offered up in quite some time.

His newest, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, is equally as strong. It's the story of Jade, a horror slasher fan stuck living with a deadbeat dad as she goes through the motions to graduate from a high school she hates in a town, Proofrock, that she hates even more. When a fascinating new girl named Letha shows up and corpses start to be discovered, Jade realizes that she might be living through one of the slashers she loves so much... and that Letha might be the final girl such a story requires.

Of course, it's all delightfully more complex than that. Letha's father is part of a group of fellow rich men building themselves a fancy new housing development out across the water, and the townspeople aren't all fans of the situation. As for Jade, she might want to be done with school once and for all, but she might be more attached to Proofrock than she lets on. She's particularly fond of her history teacher, Mr. Holmes, and Jones cleverly weaves in some of the papers Jade is writing for this history teacher throughout the novel. Each one of her papers is about slasher movies, of course, and while they might not be exactly what her teacher wants from her, they give us as readers great insight into Jade's life -- her expectations, fears for the future (and from the past), and hints of the carnage to come if she really has found herself smack-dab in the middle of her own slasher flick.

Letha seems to know there's some hidden complexity driving Jade's actions, but can Jade manage to convince Letha of her own important role to play in the unfolding horror? The town sheriff, Hardy, also dedicates himself to trying to steer Jade right... when he's not actively getting in the way, of course. I have no interest in spoiling the ways that the stories of the new housing development, the aging sheriff, Jade's father, and a major trauma hiding in Proofrock's past begin to intersect, but I will say that Jones doesn't skimp on the one element of the slasher that we've all come to expect: Violence. The final third of this book is impossible to step away from. It is page after page of chaos and gore working to bring some truths into sharp focus while tearing many other parts of the story -- people included -- apart.

What Jones has pulled off here is a slasher about slashers, then. A story that will pull at your heartstrings, get you to chuckle at some bleak humor, and then surprise you about fifteen separate times before the dust settles. If you're not already a fan of the same movies that Jade is, this book will walk you through a history of gems and misfires, madmen and final girls. It's not referential for the sake of being referential or some winking slice of meta fiction, though. It's a story of a girl rationalizing her own existence through the genre she loves, a genre that Stephen Graham Jones obviously cares deeply about himself.

It's a horror story for horror fans, but it never feels exclusionary because of its greatest strength: Jade. She's one of the best horror protagonists in recent memory. Excellent work once again, Mr. Jones.

4.5/5

Wow! Just literal wow! What a homage to Slasher Flick. And boy do I have a deep love for slasher films. This is my first Stephen Graham Jones book, I’ve seen them and have heard amazing things about them, and this didn’t disappoint!!

You open the story with a graphic and gory murder that again you’d expect in a slasher flick. Then we jump to our main character, Jade. She’s an outcast who hates her father and the life she lives, so she lives for the slasher flicks she watches.. you get the gist of the story. When a murder comes to her town, Jade relies on her facts she’s learned from these films to draw the killer out. The deeper she falls into this plot, the darker it gets for her. A girl torn for her love of horror and trying to find a place to belong.

I really love a good gore filled revenge story. I think the only thing that fell flat for me was getting into the story. Jones’s writing is a slow build that at times lost me. But when the plot caught up and his use of descriptives were more understanding, I just loved the story itself. I can’t wait to read other books from him. This story really made my slasher loving heart happy. All his film uses had me squealing. He used a lot of classics and lesser known ones and his comparisons to a lot of back story with the films just made my heart soar!!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books/Saga Press for gifting me a copy of Stephen Graham Jones' latest novel - 4 stars!

Jade is an outcast in the small Idaho town of Proofrock, obsessed with slasher movies as an escape from her home life. When a wealthy group of investors decides to build mansions on the other side of Indian Lake, Jade recognizes the "final girl" in newcomer, Letha, and predicts a coming massacre. However, no one believes her and she even starts questioning herself, until bodies start showing up.

This is a tough book to review - it's wonderfully written and the longer I have stepped away from reading it, I find myself haunted by Jade's story. I adored some of these characters (Mr. Holmes!) and of course, Jade. It was a bit slow for me and not being a slasher movie fan, much of that info went over my head. But the mixing of Native American culture with the horror movie theme to tell Jade's story was spot on.

It’s rare to find a horror novel, no matter how filled with action and gore, to elicit the kind of explosive, heart-racing excitement that comes from a relentlessly scary horror film. Jump scares usually don’t work on the page, and written horror takes its time to burrow deep into your mind in a way cinematic horror usually doesn’t. Well, “My Heart is a Chainsaw” managed to find a way to have both slow-burn, psychological horror as well as scenes that will make you hold your breath as you anxiously flip to the next page. It stabs deep and slashes quick, cutting at every level.

The primary character, Jade, is well-fleshed out, complicated and traumatized by just living life, and someone we want to root for, even if we don’t always agree with her decisions. Since everything is seen through her point of view the other characters are often described in such a way that they fall into neat stereotypes of the horror/slasher genre that Jade loves so much, but Graham Jones has them bursting at the seams, more than the stereotypical archetypes Jade wants to ascribe to every character in her story. A few are memorable, even if they do fall somewhat into the roles that is expected of them. I will say there are a lot of characters that are pretty horrible, or at least shown making bad decisions, and I did find myself occasionally wondering how adults with any sort of authority could behave the way they were sometimes behaving… But then, that is maybe the quintessential heart of the slasher genre--those with the power to stop the horror before it starts always do the opposite of what they should be doing. So, in this regard, no one ever never felt out of place, and the frustration I felt toward them maybe is what actually marks them just right. The story itself is great, with one of the most untrustworthy and unreliable of narrators and a constantly twisting and turning plot, again following the whimsy and perspective of our main character, and truly taking turns and directions that are fresh and exciting. This is especially noticeable because of the incredibly meta nature of the story. Since Jade understands her life through her obsession with slasher films, and she believes she is in an active slasher film, she is constantly referencing not just the litany of genre-defining greats but also all the tropes and roles of every character and action beat that the genre is supposed to be taking. Being able to narrate what is “supposed” to be happening, while showing that it may or may not be happening to a greater or lesser extent as the story develops, and keeping the reader on their toes, is incredibly skillful. The front half goes on maybe a little longer than it needs to, since it is constantly moving chess piece after chess piece into position for non-stop propulsion once the action actually gets going. While the payout was entirely worthwhile Graham Jones takes his time setting the table, so don’t let that deter you.

The writing itself is, for the most part, fun. When telling a story using a first-person narration, the writing needs to capture that voice, in this case that of a seventeen-year-old, outcast, Native girl who sooner live in the Bay of Blood than in her own lakefront hometown. That isn’t an easy voice to capture, and the narration does it well and never feels forced. With that said, many of the chapters are interspersed with essays Jade has written, explaining all the conventions of the slasher genre, as extra credit assignments for her history teacher. These I like in principle, in terms of overall plot structure and how they work in the story, and not only the meta-genre information they give us but also the introspective glimpses they give into the mind of Jade that she wouldn’t share in the normal narration. I don’t remember exactly what high school essays sounded like, so maybe these were on the mark, but these did feel a little forced once in a while, with language and writing that seemed to be below what Jade shows herself capable of. It wouldn’t be as noticeable if it wasn’t the case that these short essays follow almost every chapter, and I would have loved for these to sound a little less childish. Even saying that, though, as we learn about Jade’s life and development, the nature and language of her essays isn’t entirely out of line, so again, maybe it’s just me. The writing bugged me a little once in a while, but not enough to diminish the book, especially considering the amount of heavy-lifting these short essays were able to do in terms of overall plot and character development.

Overall, I had a really good time with this book. I didn’t want to put it down once I started. Even when I felt it was moving maybe slower than it needed to be I was never bored by it and always anxious for the next page. It has a protagonist who I want to follow and learn more about, a story that simultaneously follows a specific model while still being unexpected and exciting, and has a dynamic writing style that very strongly captures a very specific narrative voice that is such a critical part of telling this specific story. For anyone who is a fan of the genre this is a must read, an unequivocal recommendation. For those who are less inclined toward horror I would still say this is worth your time. Not only does it double as a great primer on the slasher genre in general, it’s a story about a young woman navigating trauma through imagination and escape. Jade takes something that others consider cheap, gratuitous, and meaningless, and elevates it to being a spiritual path that shows her how to survive a less-than-amazing life, and it was a thrill to take the journey with her.

I want to thank NetGalley and Saga Press, Inc., who gave me a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the odd one out on this one but gosh- I just couldn't finish it. Jade, the teenage heroine, is an interesting character but she lost me. There were just so many words and I had no idea what she was going on about early in the book. Yes, I know slasher movies and those who are more up on the genre than I am probably will get all the references but as much as I wanted to- I just didn't get it. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

A spiky bon-bon of a book that should not work as well as it does. Despite a paucity of plot and an obsessive narrator whose love of slasher cinema would try the patience of the most dedicated fan of "Men, Women, and Chainsaws," Jones keeps things percolating with his snarky humor, inside-out deconstruction of movie cliches, and creepy atmospherics. Ultimately, though, it's Jones' empathy for his traumatized teenaged narrator and her search for the slasher film's "last girl" heroine to deliver righteous vengeance that brings the story home.

Summary:
Jade Daniels is the horror girl. The freak, the loner, the one you don't get too close to. Mix her obscure obsession with 80's slashers films with her awful life, you have a girl that's begging to get out. Out of her town, life, and the eyes of those judging her. But when her small town of Proofrock is turned into an actual slasher film, no one is more prepared than Jade to find and help the final girl of this film and keep the bloodbath from happening, or maybe she’ll sit back and watch it all unfold as her own, personal slasher.
My Thoughts:
This book took me on a WILD ride. One that I thought I was prepared for, but the farther into the ride I got the less sure I was. But I loved every twist and jerk of it. Jones has this beautiful talent of writing a story where I have no idea what's happening, but I keep reading in hopes of understanding. I stay confused until the end when it all comes together, and I furiously turn the pages back to reread the sections I didn't understand before. It's glorious, and this book is no different. There were times I out loud said "what" about something Jade said, or what was happening. But then I went back and it all made sense. Jones also weaves in so many pop culture and slasher references that I somehow didn't hate even though I normally get annoyed. (but you might want to brush up on your 80's horrors(sorry I mean slashers)). It reminded me of Ready Player One where I liked the references, it helped make Jade a character.
Also, I have to add I love that Jade ate up the gore in slashers, but when it came to real-life she couldn't do it. Cause girl, me too.
Throughout the book I continuously asked what's happening, is this real, and most importantly girl stop leave it alone! But I couldn't stop. I ate it up! Some people say it takes about 60% for the plot to get moving, but I disagree. I think the plot was there, but instead of moving linearly, it was moving all over the place you just needed to know where to look. It tricks you into thinking it's moving slow to trick you into a false sense of security before it SLAMs you back into it. And that ending, oh that ending!! It also tackles gentrification and colonialism in such a poignant way. These rich people come in with all their promises of grandeur and new things for them. Take what they want, use the residents of Proofrock until they're no longer need them, cast them aside, and then move to slowly push them out. It happens so much today and is something that needs to be talked about, and this book did so in such a smart way. Something you don't expect to see in a horror novel, but one that I think is very fitting for the genre.
My gushing aside, I did find myself getting quite annoyed with Jade more than once. Her obsessive one-track thought process got tiring, but I can see why she was like that and why it was important. Just made me want to smack her upside the head. Honestly, I don't think I cared about any of the characters too much. None of them ever tried to get her help throughout her life, they just kind of ignored her and then questioned why she was the way she was. What do you expect?

Would I recommend?
YES! I think the pacing and the overall structure can definitely feel offputting to some. It's not laid out like other horror books, and if you don't like weird books, or ones, where you have to wait until the end for the payoff this, might be a bit of a struggle for you. Also if you avoid gore and extreme violence, I would say stay FAR away. There is no lack of either. But for everyone else YES. This is a perfect read for any horror lover or anyone who enjoyed any of Jones' previous works.

Stephen Graham Jones and his love letter to slasher films. I loved the continuous talk of the slasher films, but for some that could be a turn off. This story started off so strong and then did nothing, but drag for the rest of the time for me. I went in thinking it would be fast paced and that is how I was let down.

I wanted to love this book so much, but I didn’t at all. Maybe next time Stephen.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is something new. I enjoyed it, it kept my attention and the main character (Jade) was likable (for an outcast). She was actually my favorite part of the whole story. Her attitude, her outlook on everything… it was all relatable for me. She was pretty freaking weird, and was someone I could totally befriend… you know, if she were real.

Though some of the pieces didn’t really fit, the paranormal happenings seemed almost like an afterthought, but it didn’t throw me off from the story. I keep going back and forth between wanting the book to have ended a different and maybe better explained way, and loving the ending the way it is.

After reading some other reviews, I’ve concluded that you either love this book or you don’t. I liked it, it was entertaining and the characters had depth. Since this is the first book I’ve read by SGJ, I now look forward to reading his other titles as well.

My Heart is a Chainsaw Review!

Thank you @netgalley for the free copy of My Heart is a Chainsaw, in exchange for an honest review!

This made my horror loving heart so happy. I’d say that slasher horror is probably one of my top favorite types of horror and this one was chock full of it! I loved every single reference and it was so fun to finally read a book about a character who seems to love horror as much as I do! This one was beyond gory and the twists were great. 😄 My Heart is a Chainsaw was a 3.75/5. I found it really hard to rate this one. I loved every horror/slasher reference, that was a 5/5 for me, but the ending wasn’t. I finished thinking, wait, that’s it? Some of writing was very confusing at times, as well. It seemed like the story or Jones’s thoughts were jumbled and I got very confused at times. There was a lot of rereading and still, confusion. Also, usually when reading or watching a horror you absolutely love the final girl. I had a hard time trying to like most of the characters in this book. 😅 That being said, I am already reading Night of the Mannequins and I have The Only Good Indians on hold at my library. I loved the gory horror of this book so much and I can’t wait to read more of his work!

Synopsis:

Jade had waited her whole life to be in a real life slasher movie. She has watched every slasher known to man and studies them religiously. The only catch is, she isn’t “final girl” material. When her small town starts showing the beginning signs of a slasher movie, Jade must find her final girl and give her all the knowledge to face and defeat the serial killer.

I loved the parallel between slasher films and this story. The little hints that you would see in a typical horror movie were well placed throughout the story.