My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones is a well-written and engrossing read with well developed characterizations. Well worth the time spent reading.

Jade is a girl who loves her slasher movies, not just any old horror, not werewolves and vampires, not ghost stories without structure and rules, just slashers. Slashers act with purpose, they're silent, deadly, and relentless. They can be relied on to arrive just when they're needed and provide more than enough chaos, and Jade knows that her little town, a little run-down lake town called Proofrock, is just dying to have one. See, Jade pays attention, she studies the rules, she knows her Slasher movies, and there are plenty of reasons her town has already got the makings of a slasher story all ready to go if she can just arrange the workings of her life to allow her to pay attention enough. Be ready enough to witness it. All she needs is a final girl and the ability to figure out which of the old stories of her town will pay off-ok, and also finishing out this whole high school thing, and getting her dad to leave her alone. If she can just do that, if she can just make it through long enough to have everything in her life somewhat in order no matter how much everyone else doesn't get it, Jade will have it made- Or so she thinks.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is easily one of my favorite books of the last five years. There's everything here, the joy of a lead character who's genuinely engaging and complex, equally complex and interesting secondary characters with their own narratives, a town with lots of detail and intrigue which we feel like we can slip right into, all the bloody gore slasher fans have been in love with since the seventies, and plot twists and turns that have the reader gleefully following Jade's narrative one minute and emotionally engaged and moved the next. I love nothing better than a book that pulls me in with its narrative and gives me an idea that I know where we're going, then surprises me by taking on a whole new direction or doing a 180 and going somewhere completely counter to my expectations. This book absolutely does everything it set out to do. I really hope people enjoy it as much as I did, especially my fellow horror nerd girls!

A SOLID four stars for My Heart Is a Chainsaw and honestly, it could be a five star after it’s sat with me for a while. I just finished it and UGH that ending hit me right in the feels, with a steel machete. This story was such a clever take on a slasher story, told through the perspective of a huge slasher fan and observer. This book had the teeth chattering horror scenes that I’ve come to expect from SGJ, but what I didn’t expect was having my heart torn out for the main character. Easily one of my most memorable reads of 2021.

I LOVED this. A perfect homage to horror lovers and the movies we all obsess over. Five stars for sure!

I like horror.
I do not like slashers.
So what tempted me to request a book entitled "My Heart is a Chainsaw" full of constant slasher references and gratuitous gore?
That would be the name on the cover: Stephen Graham Jones. Fresh off of potentially the best horror novel of 2020, The Only Good Indians, SGJ returns with a love letter to a genre he clearly worships. In the process, he manages to add nuance, a solid character arc, and a lot of heart to the blood splatters.

Chainsaw follows high schooler and self described "half-Indian" Jade in the mountain town of Proofrock as she navigates being a slasher-obsessed social outcast with an absent mother, living with her drunken and neglectful father who would rather focus on reliving his own high school glory days with his lecherous friends than provide any sort of care for her. As wealthy American businessmen start descending on Proofrock as their new luxury hometown, Jade, feeling progressively out of place in a changing culture, spends her days reliving her favorite slasher moments and imagining her own part in a real life version of one. When people start winding up dead in Proofrock, Jade believes she's ready, starts reading the signs, and begins searching for her own personal Final Girl to save the day.

The pacing of Chainsaw is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Starting with a brutal opening involving some tourists in the wrong place at the wrong time, we then move into a slow burn following Jade through her initially humdrum life as progressively stranger and more disturbing details begin surfacing in both the town and in Jade's own personal history. This leads to a non-stop final 30% of the book, where all hell breaks loose and the barriers of reality begin to break down. However, it's here in this bloody and surreal denouement that SGJ pulls the lid back on his true narrative motivation beyond the gore and screaming: the revelatory struggle and eventual triumph of his heroine.

Jade, to even the most tolerant reader, will initially be a painfully annoying protagonist: borderline neurotic with her constant monologuing about slasher characters and scenes, she's completely unable to listen or connect with any character. She instead renders every situation she's in to the slasher trope she believes it's closest to and inevitably pushes the select group of people who are concerned for her away. She exists in her own sphere and her fellow Proofrock residents are reduced to the stereotypical slasher roles she chooses for them: the sacrificial first victims, the useless adults, the red herring, and of course the Final Girl, who Jade becomes obsessed with "training" to defeat the killer when she finds her candidate.

It is in the chaos of the final part of the book where the reasons for Jade's neuroses and outlook on life become clear both to the reader and to the character. It is here that the self-described supporting character rises from the crushing darkness (in more ways than one) to claim a measure of triumph over a devastating life. Without revealing too much, the final few paragraphs of this are as absolutely crushing and thought-provoking as anything I can remember recently. Despite all of the horror and blood, it was these paragraphs that kept me up thinking after the lights had dimmed.

Stephen Graham Jones cleverly uses a horror genre that is often grimly predictable to illustrate how even the most "broken" among us can rise above their tropes and swing a bloody machete to tear down and begin to rebuild themselves. Five stars, he's done it again.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to
Gallery Books**

I really really wanted to love this book after I heard such amazing things about The Only Good Indians but this one just dragged on and on. There was an info dumb of slasher movie information, which i was looking forward too but it was just TOO much. The plot makes zero sense at all as well.

My thanks to Stephen Graham Jones, Gallery and Netgalley.
I don't know what to say about this book. It took 50 to 60% before it even got going. Once it did, I was hooked! But, it was a long start.
I loved most of the characters. But Jade? She and her single minded obsession made for tough reading.
The last 30% was good. I just don't believe that any book should take so long to finally get interesting.

Thank you To NetGalley and Saga Press for this Arc. First off this book was beautiful. Mind-blowing gorgeous writing. Fast-paced anxiety-building plot. Can you combine slasher horror with comedy and deep character arcs? If you are Stephan Graham Jones you can. I cannot even remember if a horror novel ever made me cry before. On one page you are laughing and then your heartbreaks. Jade is a complicated, interesting character whom you have to root for! For fans of Horror, especially 80’s slashers. I would love to tell everyone to read this as Jade’s journey is fun, fantastic, and horrifying for all the wrong reasons. It is proper horror though with graphic descriptions and tragic characters. Not for every reader. But if you can handle a little gore this is well worth the read.

UghhhhUH. I wanted to love this, I really did. The synopsis has me on the verge of happy tears and the first chapter of the book had me! Then we meet Jade, who is likely one of the most insufferable narrators of all the time (and in horror, that’s quite a feat). It does pick up near the end, but by then you’re so over it it doesn’t land the way I think Graham intended it to. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

4.66 stars

We follow Jade, a senior high school graduate struggling to find her place in the world, accept the lack of prospects, and feel upset about her beloved hometown's gentrification. She narrates her life as a slasher movie and is convinced that a slasher massacre is looming in the shadows because she found her final girl. Will her final girl save the town? Is there enough time to convince her prospect to accept her fate and train her before the slasher attacks?

I felt that My Heart Is a Chainsaw was an impactful and action-packed horror novel that satisfies every horror fan while at the same time bringing awareness to the racism Native American's suffer as well as some of the main issues they face. I fell in love with Jade, and her arc was so painfully beautiful, I couldn't hold my emotions at times.

This book is a heavy read filled with angst and an overwhelming sense of dread in the beginning and a fun, speed-of-light, full-of-gore third act! I would have loved this book more if its middle part had found a more steady footing. It felt a little too long for me. But this is me nitpicking.

For most of the first half, I will say that I was having a hard time reading the book. Graham Jones' writing is superb, and it felt out of my league until I channeled the last girl in me and decided I was meant to read this book! I will re-read this later with an audiobook as a companion and feel it will help with my reading experience.

As a horror movie buff, I loved all the references and discussions surrounding the meaning of the last girl and the value in slasher movies. I also feel that the author touched on an important subject (I can't mention it without spoiling the book) in a very respectful, gentle, and powerful way.

Another thing that I loved in this book was the Slasher 101 essays we find sprinkled throughout the book. Jade writes them to her teacher, and if these are not a testament to Mr. Graham Jones' talent, I don't know what is. Those essays read as if they were written by a teenager, down to the grammar and tone.

My Heart is a Chainsaw has, in my opinion, a closing that rivals The Haunting of Hill House's. Those last paragraphs were beautiful, poetic, intense, emotionally charged, and perfect.

I can see Tarantino adapting this movie, as this book read very visual. It started in black and white, went full-on technicolor before it faded back to black and white (with bright red accents), and ended in beautiful sepia.

This book was my first Graham Jones novel, and I will keep reading his works!

Disclaimer: I first read it as an ARC. In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to Stephen Graham Jones, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of My Heart Is a Chainsaw.

Wow, what an opener. This book is most definitely not for the gore-adverse, but that’s something you’ll figure out right away. The writing is fantastic and although some of it is more drawn out, you’ll want to keep reading to get to the exciting and terrifying conclusion!

Very stream of consciousness, if all you think about is horror movies. The main character, Jade, see's everything around her as a potential horror movie. She has many long monologues on the topic, to the point where I was getting tired of it, and I watch a lot of horror. The first half of the book moved so slow. I was ready to bail several time, but people kept saying it would get better, so I kept on.

The second half was much better. Finally, things started happening. And the ending is just as horrific and bloody as I was expecting. Really, it was like reading two completely separate books. The first part was terrible, the second part was fantastic. Averaging them together, the book was ok. I don't think having a great ending really makes up for such a dull beginning.

I received a free copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book!!!! I loved it. I loved the words. I loved the long winded essays. I loved the way the Jade talks, thinks, is! I am a huge slasher film fanatic and this was one of the best experiences - reading a slasher film. I 100% recommend this. Read it ASAP!

I got this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I had a hard time getting into the book in the beginning. It kind of ran slow to me.. but at the end it got better but I had to force myself to get there.

It is a gory creepy book that if you like these types you will enjoy it. There were some things that didn't make a lot of sense or could have been left out of the story. All in all it was an interesting read once I got towards the end of the story. It just did not grab me in the beginning like some books do.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A gory tribute to slasher films and to all the final girls we ever loved.

If creepy lakes are your thing (yes, please!), then you're in for a good time. The action builds slowly but really gets going in the last 25% of the book.

It's hard to like the protagonist (Jade) but she intentionally doesn't make it easy. By the end of the book, you will probably warm up to her or at least extend her your sympathy.

There were some loose ends and periphery characters that I wouldn't have missed if they were slashed from the story completely but overall, this is a fun read for slasher film aficionados and horror fiction fans.

Thank you to Gallery Books, the author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Stephen Graham Jones has done it again, making me seriously consider purchasing a night light at the age of 25 years old. I'm consistently impressed by his horror writing and the vivacity of his words. I didn't quite love this one as much as his other works, but it was still right up there with some of the better horrors I have read in my time!
Would totally recommend to my friends who enjoy being creeped out.

If you love horror movies, specifically the slasher movies from the 1980s, this book is for you! It started out a bit slow, but stick with it and you will be satisfied.
The main character, Jade, is obsessed with horror movies and final girls. So much so, she thinks the new girl is going to be the final girl. She develops the entire plot of which the new final girl will star in and why she will be.
There are many characters, but many of secondary and add little to the story.
This book will hold your attention, due to the many twists and turns throughout. Don't worry, there are plenty of gore but you will have to wait for it. When it happens, it is a lot,.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jade is Proofrock's "horror girl." She seen all the movies, knows all the rules and tropes about slashers, and is pretty sure that her little town is about to get its very own maniacal killer. All signs point to it. Two random tourists are killed while skinny dipping a the lake, a massive development is being constructed near "Camp Blood" and Jade is convinced she has met the ultimate "final girl"(Letha). The stage is set. But the authorities don't believe her, and is this killer a monster? A supernatural being? Or a resident of the town hell bent on revenge? It's up to Jade to educate Letha in all things slasher - before it's too late.

Firstly, let me say, there is a lot to like about this book. It discusses and explores the gore and campy nature of 80's slasher films in quite a bit of detail. Being a child of the 80's (and probably - no definitely- way too young to watch Jason and Freddy slice their way through a group pf promiscuous teens) this book brought back a kind of nostalgia (be it one of nightmares) that I really enjoyed.

The beginning and end of the book were great, edge of your seat stuff. But the middle felt unnecessarily prolonged. And, unfortunately, I didn't really care about most the characters who fell victim to the slasher.

However, I am sure most horror fans will devour this book and love the grizzly mess of it.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is a book that you need to sit with after you read it.

Jade is a seventeen-year-old obsessed with slasher films to the point of obsession. To the point where she filters her world through them. To the point where she wishes she was in one. When the sheriff accidentally gives her the phone from a couple of Dutch tourists who die in the lake mysteriously, she decides that she is in a slasher. From there, her thoughts spiral regarding who is the slasher, what his or her motives might be, and preparing Letha Mondragon, a new girl Jade decides must be the "final girl".

This book will certainly appeal to horror nerds who can understand all of the many references -- though if you're not an expert, there are "Slasher 101" interludes between each chapter provided by Jade to explain the genre. The book started with a bang, but then became a super slow burn, with not much happening besides Jade's spiraling thoughts for the first sixty to seventy percent of the book. But once things pick up, they don't stop. For a lot of the book, it almost felt more like a Whodunnit (or who's-gunna-do-it) than a horror novel, with both the reader and Jade trying to piece together who might be the eventual slasher.

Stephen Graham Jones has a great way of describing the horrors--in just a few words, he can provide a vivid image that will make his reader cringe. When his writing is on point, it's super effective in an understated way.

I think this book would be a hard sell for readers new to Stephen Graham Jones due to the slow pace. However, readers familiar with Jones will likely fall in love.