The Only Good Indians was one of my favorite books I read last year, so I was excited to read My Heart is a Chainsaw. I hate to admit it, but I had to stop 1/3 of the way through. There wasn't anything engaging about this story for me, and that's a bummer considering this is an ode to the slasher film genre. Where is the action and pulse racing scares?

This book is amazing. It is unlike any other horror novel I've read. It sucked me in and kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't stop thinking about this book whenever I wasn't reading it. The ending was just about as perfect of an ending as I have ever read. I never expected to be gross sobbing at the end of this but I did and I still loved it. Just an excellent book I cannot wait for everyone to read it!

Oh, man. I, uhhh...eurp...I’m gonna need a minute to recover from this bloodbath of a book. It opens with a gruesome bang in its first scene and then it ebbs into a slow burn in order to introduce the reader to Jade and her background...and to reacquaint the audience with some famous slasher film lore. Then the last 40% of the book happens and you’re plunked down in the middle of the movie ‘Friday the 13th’. I’ve mentioned before that my terrible attention span hates a slow-burn, but I’ve learned that every Stephen Graham Jones book is a ‘trust the process’ type of book: if you commit to it and commit to paying attention, even through the slow, meandering parts, the payout is huge.

The premise of this story is good but the execution of it, in my opinion, is terrible. At the end of the story I had so many questions. I was left hanging and so unsatisfied. I just don’t feel there is any rhyme or reason here. I do appreciate the author’s attempt and his love of slasher movies but this did absolutely nothing for me.

If no one scoops up the movie rights for this, I will be so disappointed. It was a great, twisty slasher/thriller, but I really loved the sense of community he built in Proofrock. Jade has some people in her corner even though her family is trash and she's a loner. I was worried that Jade's past would be exploited just as another plot point but I feel it was handled with care. I can't wait to discuss the ending with someone!

Book Review for My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Full review for this title will be posted at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

My Heart is a Chainsaw starts off with a bang. I was sucked in right away, but then the following chapters just dragged and it was a struggle to finish. I love horror novels and I love horror movies. But this book was a fail for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of the book.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. However, it just wasn’t for me. I love horror novel and movies as well as slasher films so this sounded like something I would really enjoy. I just couldn’t get into the story and the writing style was hard for me. I kept losing interest so I found myself skimming just to get to the end. I wish I had liked it more. I will say if you’re into slasher movies to give it a try, a lot of people love it. I think it may have just been a right book, wrong time situation for me.

Horror fans have all had that feeling. A change in light comes through the window. A stranger rounds the corner. One moment life is business as usual, and the next you can’t shake the surreal feeling that you’ve stepped inside a horror movie. Or perhaps stepped inside isn’t quite right. Rather, you’ve been enveloped. Taken in. Absorbed. In the blink of an eye, you’ve left the world of free will. Now, moments are preordained, the ending already penned.

Of course, in the real world, the moment passes. The flare of red sunset in the window fades to night without incident. The man on the corner crosses the street and disappears. Yet the thrill of possibility sticks with you. What if, you wonder, puzzling over what could have been. If the moment had been the start of a horror movie, what type would it have been? And which role were you destined to play?

In Stephen Graham Jones new novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw (Gallery / Saga Press), Jade Daniels finds herself in just such a moment when a series of deaths begin to pile up in her rapidly gentrifying rural town.

For Jade, life is a constant struggle. Her home is a war zone, thanks to her abusive, alcoholic father and absent mother. School is nearly as bad, surrounded as she is by a sea of peers who would prefer to remain strangers. Even her job as a custodian at the local school is made worse by the presence of a lecherous older coworker. But, for all the awful around her, Jade finds solace in horror movies—slashers, to be exact. From Halloween to Dead and Buried, there isn’t a slasher film Jade doesn’t know by heart, and that encyclopedic knowledge makes her the perfect person to see through what’s happening in her hometown of Proofrock. For everyone else, the recent string of strange deaths is just bad luck, but Jade knows better: a slasher cycle has begun.

It’s too easy to call My Heart is a Chainsaw a “love letter to slashers.” This book is an immersion, a story told in the language of sub genre. Horror fans will revel in Jones’s references to everything from My Bloody Valentine to Scream. But make no mistake, no matter the many nods to classic slasher films, this book is singular. Even as Jones carefully lays out his plot and movies his character’s into place, readers will be hard-pressed to predict the exciting conclusion. Jones’s story twists and flips like a fish in a net. This tale is alive, and living creatures all have one thing in common: they’re unpredictable.

What sets Jones apart from his contemporaries is that his stories feel dangerous. While other authors obfuscate their terrors with metaphor, Jones meets the horrors at the center of his story head-on. The result is a tale that feels simultaneously familiar and fresh, modern and timeless. As you read, you won’t be able to shake the feeling that something terrible is lurking just out of reach, waiting for you behind every page.

My Heart is a Chainsaw publishes August 31, 2021, from Gallery / Saga Press.

The synopsis of this book had me give Stephen Graham Jones another chance after trying to read the Only Good Indians. Read about 1/4 of the book and had to skim. Thanks for giving me a chance to review. I just do not like his writing style.

The Only Good Indians was one of my favorite books of 2020 so I was thrilled to receive a copy of My Heart Is A Chainsaw. This book was actually published in 2012 but is being released in 2021. Stephan Graham Jones has a very unique writing style. He leaves a lot of sentences up to the reader to infer what is happening without saying what is going on. I believe it worked for The Only Good Indians but I struggled with it while reading My Heart Is A Chainsaw. The book has a very slow building start, I had to push myself to keep reading. Then all of a sudden, BAM! Every bit of action happens at once.

I honestly didn't really care for the main character Jade. She had a lot of traits that just we're not likeable and the rest of the characters were not very memorable. Overall I felt the book was disappointing. Maybe my expectations were a little too high since I loved The Only Good Indians a great deal but this book just didn't work for me.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a slow burn in the best way. At first I had a little trouble getting into the book as it centers on a senior high school girl switching between her narrative and her extra credit essays for her history teacher that are all focused on slashers. However, as the book picks up speed you start to see all the threads come together into a beautiful gory masterpiece. I kind of hope there is a sequel, maybe even a 10 years from now reunion of the main characters.

SLIGHT SPOILERS BELOW

We follow our main character Jade, as she sees her town being changed by the new rich folks building McMansions across Indian Lake from the main town. Jade is convinced that these changes and the dead body that washes up means that a slasher is playing out before her very eyes. She sets out to warn the final girl and help her reach her destiny. But all is not what it seems as Jade's extra credit essays show not only how slashers work, but also the gory history of the town she grew up in. With more than a few jump scares in store, this book will keep you guessing until the final pages.

Wow, Stephen Graham Jones is such a fantastic writer. He manages to top last years The Only Good Indians with My Heart is a Chainsaw.

Jade Daniels is an outcast who lives in her own world with slasher films as her guidance in life. When dead bodies starts to pile up, she drags everyone into her world of blood and masked murderers and the question is if it's real or just in her dark twisted dreams of horror.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a tribute to slasher and horror films and if you like me love this genre you will love this book. There are references to all great slasher films like like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Halloween and A Bay of Blood. Stephen Graham Jones is a literary master and I highly recommend all his books and this book in particular.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Gallery/Saga Press for the opportunity to read this book and to share my honest review.

I’m having a hard time putting words together to make a sentence because this was everything I wanted and more!

Jade Daniels is your average town nerd. Horror nerd that is. Stephen Graham Jones transports you into every step and thought that passes through Jades mind as she tries to figure out what the hell is going on. People start dying one by one after some wealthy families start constructing their luxury homes across the lake.

This book is terror, mystery, and a hell of a ride. It’s as if all our classic slasher movies came together to make one devious baby. All I have to say is be prepared.

Five out of five stars.

I agree that this book is an homage to slasher films, which will definitely turn off a lot of readers but I found it intriguing and interesting. Jones is a fantastic Native writer doing surprising things with the horror genre. This book reinvents a lot of the field and truly blew me away. Highly recommend.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones #twentiethbookof2021 #arc Thank you to #NetGalley and @sagasff for the advance reader copy. (Pub date 8/31/21)

CW: murder, violence/gore, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse

This was my first book from this author but won’t be my last. I’ve been wanting to read The Only Good Indians for a while and it has now jumped to the top of my list based on this review copy of My Heart is a Chainsaw. This book is chock full of slasher references and is a must read for fans of that movie genre. I went back and forth on whether I thought narrator Jade was reliable or not, but in the end it didn’t matter because I knew her, trusted her, rooted for her. This is a good story. It manages to balance horror movie cliches, gentrification and class, town and Native lore, and even bears. My heart was in my throat for the last three chapters. I think this one will stay with me for a while. And his acknowledgments at the end, the part to his wife? Tears.
#myheartisachainsaw #stephengrahamjones

I will likely still recommend this for purchase for my library because it is a unique story and Stephen Graham Jones is a popular horror author and to boost up our horror collection, but personally, this book was not for me. Though the story was interesting and different, I could not connect with the writing style. I found the way Jones structured sentences to be very odd and felt he always chose the most roundabout way to say what he wanted to say. I had to keep reading over the same sentence to absorb all the information many times throughout this book. I'm disappointed because people praised his last book so much, but his writing style is not for me.

Stephen Graham Jones is the typical overnight success author who took decades to break big. If THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS was his debutant ball, then MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW is a party where his parents took off on vacation, and he's invited everyone to his house, and there's pizza and a keg. This book is the result of years of work, and the blood and bones of this book is filled with love for everything that scares us. You'll love it too.

Loved this! So good, so exciting, so gripping and great story. Can't wait to read more by this author - absolutely brilliant.

This book was not for me. I was so excited about the concept of a horror fan living her own horror film. But, this is the slowest books I have ever read. The main character is absolutely intolerable, She is just super annoying. The other characters did nothing for me, either.

I had such high hopes but this book fell flat for me.