The children of the town have all heard the story, that if you think you see something in the woods... you didn't. Don't look, don't give it any attention or it will get you.

When Liz returns to her hometown for her best friend's wedding, she has no idea that her goddaughter Caroline will go missing at the reception. She seems to have walked into the woods and disappeared. This reminds Liz of when she was in high school, and another girl went missing. When it seems like the police are looking in all the wrong places, Liz begins to dig on her own, and discovers that young black women have been going missing for years. She doesn't want Caroline to end up being one of these girls so she doubles down on her investigation, and won't stop until Caroline is found. She does have help, but the longer Caroline is missing it becomes clear that she can't trust anyone. She has known the woods weren't safe since she was a kid but no one seems to believe her, at least until she finds the mothers of the other missing girls. As Liz begins investigating you can feel the tension building, she knows something is off with the investigation, especially when it seems like everyone has turned their suspicions in her direction.

When we get to the final showdown it was nonstop action, and so many surprising things happened and were revealed. We have no idea who if anyone will survive this confrontation.

The mystery was very good, I had no idea what was truly going on until everything was revealed. There is a supernatural element to what lives in the woods which was exactly what I was hoping for, and it was definitely creepy and will make me look at the woods behind my house in a whole new way.

I had no idea this was a debut novel for this author, it was excellent, and I will definitely read the next book she writes!

A thriller that touches on real world problems - specifically race, inequality, social classes, fear, and violence. It has a very twisted plot and conclusion. The author has an impressive ability to remove realism while keeping focus on real world issues.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this story knowing nothing about JACKAL or its author. The story started a bit slow for me, but the pace intensified as the time ran out. In the end, I was hooked. This was Adams's debut novel. She filled her story with pain, frustration, fear, and rage—a flood of emotions. And they are all expected with a story about an abducted child—one of far too many. I also found the author’s voice to have an undeniable hope in the future. In better things. In a better life. “Nothing good comes from being hateful and hollow.” Words to live by in today’s divisive times.

Snap!

Amidst this pain and loss is a fierceness of determination to get to the truth. And the truth that her protagonist, Liz, is looking for should rip your heart out. The setting is the mostly-white, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but this is an American story. It is one equal parts thriller and whodunit—splashed with horror. While some of that horror is of the paranormal/supernatural variety, be forewarned, much of it, sadly, is all too real. Violence. Racism. Child death. Body Horror. Domestic violence. Gore. Alcohol abuse. Eating disorder. Animal death. Kidnapping. Off-page rape. Off-page violence against children.

Wow! Read this book in 2 days. Lyrical horror set in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. A young Black girl goes missing in the woods and Liz Rocher discovers the girl is only one of many. Liz races to find the girl while trying to come to terms with all of the reasons she fled her hometown in the first place.

You NEED this book in your life, particularly during spooky season!

This novel totally enraptured me. Between the eeriness of the setting, the shady characters, not knowing if we had a reliable narrator or not, the deeper permeating theme of racism, and the general suspense woven throughout the pages, I couldn't get enough.

The horror aspect of this novel actually gave me King vibes. It was hard to trust or guess if the murders were related to something supernatural or just a horrible human. The pattern of the murders and racial aspect was extremely powerful and added complexity and depth to the story. I loved how the history of the town was relevant to the story and how the woods actually became a character in and of themselves.

While I would characterize this book as horror, there were so many layers to this novel that will make it appealing to a wider audience. The overt and subtle acts of racism were hard to read because they rang so true. Coupled with the themes of classism, sexism, and substance abuse, this would make a really great book club selection because there was so much to discuss.

I love books that keep me guessing and Jackal did just that. I really couldn't trust anyone and I was constantly flip flopping on my theories (they were all wrong!). Admittedly, I enjoyed the second half of the novel a little bit more than the first because that's when we got to the heart of the story (see what I did there? you will once you read it....) and the mystery and suspense really built.

This is an exceptional debut and one that cannot be missed. I can definitely see this making big waves this fall! I am really excited to see what Adams comes out with in the future and I'll be highly recommending this novel to everyone!

Thank you to Bantam and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

Totally picked this based on the cover and was not disappointed! Jackal is a unique, tense take on the (beloved) trope of "traumatized woman returns to hometown and solves local mystery." There is some sort of shadow creature in the woods taking Black girls in Liz's hometown, something that she survived and may still be looking for her. When Liz returns for a wedding, her goddaughter becomes the next victim and the police are hinting that they may suspect Liz. In a town with a history of bigotry, who can Liz trust and can she save her goddaughter without sacrificing herself? The pacing is great and I couldn't stop turning the pages.

While reading "Jackal", I was a few chapters in when I googled its author, Erin E Adams. The prose was so confident, so perfectly voiced, and thickly atmospheric without getting too frilly. I was surprised to see that "Jackal" was Adams' first novel - what a talent we have to look forward to in coming years! I'll read anything she writes; such was the simple beauty of her writing.

"Jackal" doesn't reinvent the wheel, but perceives that wheel from a different POV than we normally get: that of a biracial Black woman returning home to a sad, remote country town. Flashback chapters offer the reader additional information as we learn that young Black children are being murdered in the woods. Our main character, Liz, gets drawn into the mystery when her best friend's child goes missing. The story follows along typical beats - a man on the inside of the police who helps her investigate the crime, a rekindled romantic thread, a narcissistic mother, repetitive crimes reminiscent of a serial killer - but the whole thing is very enjoyable and begs you to keep reading. Liz's investigations are hampered by the fact that she is Black - and further derailed by the fact that all the victims are Black. Racism - subtle and overt - is featured throughout the novel as an institutionalized challenge facing people of color.

I'd recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a solidly creepy thriller. While I did guess the "who" in who-dun-it, the excellent writing and likeable characters elevated this book above typical examples of the genre. I'll happily pick up anything Adams wants to write!

This was an exciting read. I loved the horror, mystery and thiller aspects of this book. Liz was a well rounded character and the most realistic. I can't imagine growing up black in a predominantly white community. Jack was terrifying and enticing at the same time. I gave this 4 stars because I figured out the bad guy half way through. As a mother I could never imagine never knowing what happened to my child; more or less no one caring because of the color of their skin.

*3-3.5 stars

In Erin E. Adams debut novel, Liz Rocher, a young Black woman, reluctantly returns to her childhood home of rural Johnstown, PA, to attend her best friend's wedding. At the reception, Liz is asked to keep an eye on Caroline, the couple's daughter, but the girl slips away into the woods while Liz is off getting them drinks. All that remains to be found of the girl is a strip of bloodied fabric....

Liz is blamed, for her inattentiveness and maybe even more if they can find enough proof to pin it on her. But the town has had similar disappearances every summer over a span of 30-some years and kept it well hidden. Black girls were warned by their mothers to avoid the woods and never look into the shadows. As Liz starts investigating, she discovers the hidden pattern with its link to the summer solstice. Is there a serial killer at work that the town has covered up because it involved only Black girls?

The story is atmospheric, horrific and spooky. Liz is brave but has broken spots that still haunt her from her childhood. Her mother, a doctor and a perfectionist, is always pushing painful buttons for her daughter. And now this...

There is a supernatural aspect to the story which brings it beyond thriller territory into horror. I enjoyed how Adams kept me guessing over which of the townspeople were involved. She definitely has a knack for writing suspense. It turns out Adams grew up in Johnstown, PA, so she knows the area and people quite well and brings in some hard truths of the town's history, including the flood of 1889 and a mayoral decree in 1923, which forced both Blacks and Mexicans who had lived there less than seven years to leave town. Even in 2017, the year the story takes place, Johnstown is still very segregated by both race and class.

The story is mostly told from Liz's first person point of view with insertions of some of the victims' stories and the news reports that followed. It's almost unfathomable that the town was able to cover up these tragedies with such lame excuses.

I received an arc from the author and publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own. I look forward to reading more from this talented new author.

DNF early on and I wish I didn't have to give a star rating because of that.

I was invited to read this by Random House because I liked HIDE by Kiersten White. With this in mind, I was expecting something with an almost immediate supernatural/horror element. Instead, it starts as a mystery/thriller.

The prologue was amazing with its third person point of view and then I got confused when it switched to first person point of view. The writing style was odd for me, but I didn't get that far to fully judge it (this is mostly a first impression).

Finding out the story was set in Johnstown, Pennsylvania was rather cool (I was aware of the 1889 flood and like when stories match up with historical items in my head). To see how the author was relaying the racism and classism issues in the story was good so far. Horror is such a great genre to examine those issues and I think if horror was the choice from the beginning, it may be a different story/outcome/reading experience.

I ended up reading other reviewers to find out the ending and to say it took a weird turn (even for what I was thinking) is an understatement. But it also makes me wish it was steering toward horror from the beginning.

I will say it's ENTIRELY possible that I wasn't in the mood to read this right now.

Liz returns to her hometown to attend the wedding of her childhood best friend. At the wedding, her friend’s daughter disappears. Liz learns that over the last 30 years, numerous Black children have gone missing in these same woods, including a friend of Liz’s when they were children. Jackal is the heartfelt story of a small town, where racism is deeply rooted and multi-generational, and how that racism manifests itself, as Liz tries to uncover the town’s long held secrets, as well as confront some of her own. While the writing is eloquent, the plot tends to get bogged down in the dream sequences, and the supernatural overtones are a bit hazy and distracting, However it’s a powerful story that will strike a chord with readers. I received an arc of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars
HOLY COW! Way to start off your writing career with a bang! This is such an amazing way to explore these social injustices. It really is a stunning debut. It is a slow burn, but it worked, and I enjoyed every minute.

Jackal is a gripping, chilling (in more ways than one), well written thriller that drew me in from the first page. This is a powerful book, not what I was expecting, but well worth the read.
It's 2017 and Elizabeth (Liz) Rocher is returning home to Johnstown, PA, for the first time in over a decade to attend the wedding of her best friend, Melissa (Mel). Liz had a terrifying experience in the woods outside of town as a teenager, but when Mel's daughter Caroline goes missing in those woods, Liz must overcome her fear to find her goddaughter. As they search for Caroline, Liz learns that young black girls have been going missing from the woods for 40 years; most of them are found soon after, gutted like deer and missing their heart, yet cause of death is always attributed to an accident. Liz realizes that finding Caroline means finding out what has happened to all of these girls means confronting the racism that has been part of her town for years and facing her fear of the woods. The author does an exceptional job of peppering the story with villain candidates, and I found Liz to be an authentic, smart, flawed, and powerful main character. The last part of the book was more horror than thriller, and although well done, I prefer thrillers to scare me with their realism. That being said, I felt like there was a lot of symbolism in the last part of the book that was essential to the story.

This book is so hard to review because the subject matter is so important and what better way to tell it than through horror, because it is real life horror. It is something that Americans have to deal with on a daily basis. And it needs to be talked about so it can be fixed.

However, it was very slow to start and felt very disjointed. And it may be possible that this is supposed to be literary horror and literary books are often choppy and hard to read. So there might not be anything wrong with it at all. It could be that I am the wrong audience, because I have a hard time reading that type of writing.

I think if you enjoy slow burn horror then maybe give it a try. But if you are just looking for a quick thriller I would say stay away. And not because of the book but because I would hate to see this get a lot of negative reviews because people think it is a thriller.

Hold on! What in the "HELL" did I just read?

Did I also read this is supposed to be Adam's debut novel?

There is no way this is the work of a newcomer; someone is pulling our leg. Adam's position is that of a true "WORDSMITH."

Jackal is an experience unsurpassed by any other you may have encountered.

Let us begin:

32-year-old Liz Rocher is returning to her hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for her best friend Mel's wedding. Liz has not returned to Johnstown in 15 years and had no intentions of ever returning. Then Mel called with her news that she was getting married and nothing could keep Liz from being there for Mel. Nor the chance to see her beautiful nine-year-old goddaughter Caroline, Mel's daughter.

To Liz's shock and dismay, Mel tells her that the wedding will be held outside, in the woods. Near to where the body of the girl they went to H.S. with years ago was found. It is also a place where Liz has gotten a deep scar on her wrist, and she can't fully recall precisely what happened. Liz is still apprehensive about the woods but has a pep talk with herself and proceeds to remind herself she's only there for 48 hours.

The wedding guests are in full swing when Liz is supposed to be watching Caroline but gets distracted by Chris (a guy she had a crush on in H.S.), who is working as the bartender. Chris is one of the few people that remember Liz and begins to converse with her until they are interrupted by his ex Lauren.

Liz excuses herself and goes back outside; when she looks for Caroline, she doesn't see her. Liz frantically looks all over, asking everyone, until she gets the courage to look where Caroline was last. (Playing near the woods.) It takes all of her strength to step foot into those woods, but for Caroline, she would do anything. When Liz goes in, at first, she sees nothing until she steps further in, and that's when she sees Caroline's torn dress with blood on it. Immediately the wedding is no longer a wedding but now a mother frantic looking for her child.

Liz is taken to the station, where she is swabbed for DNA and fingerprinted since she was the one who found Caroline's torn dress. While there, she befriends one of the officers named Doug, who becomes an invaluable source of information to her.

A couple of days go by, and the police have still not found any leads to Caroline's whereabouts when the knowledge sets in for Mel. Mel pulls Liz into the woods out of earshot of others and asks, "They aren't really looking for Caroline because she's a brown girl, are they?" Liz is stunned by Mel's question but knows she's probably right. Because had Caroline's father not been black, she probably would have been found already. But since Mel is her best friend, she doesn't want to let her know what she's thinking.
Liz vows to Mel that she will do everything possible to get her goddaughter back and bring her home.

The mother of their classmate Keisha, Denise, tells her that her daughter didn't die of an accident like they say she did.

That if Liz really wants to know what happened, she needs to meet the others. Liz is baffled, not knowing what Denise is talking about because it's daytime, and clearly, she's drunk. Denise tells her to meet her at the Church in the morning Downtown.

Doug, however, has news that Keisha didn't die from an accident, that whoever did this cut her in a certain way and removed her heart.

The next day Liz goes to the Church, and she is met with the most shocking revelation. Five women are there, each with a different story to tell.

However, they all share the same time frame, June, and the first day of the summer solstice. As the meeting ends,

Liz speaks to the youngest of the group, named Kylie.

Kylie tells Liz, "You ever just get that feeling like something bad is about to happen? Like you just know when it's the end?"

And that's where I must leave you, my fellow readers.

Believe me; there is so much that will BLOW YOUR MIND!!

Adam's inimitable writing style is astonishing. Her word-building is stellar, and her descriptive, spellbinding feel of the woods made you believe the warnings.

Adam's characters within the town felt true to life. You could feel the hostility exuding from them, especially Nick.

However, you could also feel a certain cowardice from Garret and Dr. Rocher. (With Dr. Rocher, I could understand because she was older, Garrett I could not.)

Adams shares a story rich in historical non-fiction but also in racism, classism, and, most importantly, the lack of attention when women of color go missing.

What if Caroline had been white? Do you think it would take over 48 hours to get the police to respond thoroughly?

How does a wild animal perfectly excise a heart in that fashion with Keisha? Yet it's ruled an accident because she's black?

Why is it that the police don't put any actual manpower into looking for women of color who go missing?

So what!

Do they think they just up and want to be missing?

These are just things to ponder.

Adam's afterword was incredibly informative, not only about her city but also about her life. Especially the part of a predominantly white neighborhood; however, mine wasn't like hers, and I was 5 hours away like Liz in NYC. Only this was in the '70s when you would have thought it would have been how she describes her time.

I went to Catholic School in the Bronx and was the only black child from pre-k to second grade. The funny thing is I never noticed it until I moved and looked at a picture of my communion years later.

That's how it should be. Who cares what color each other is?

Because when you're in the morgue, nobody gives a damn what color you are
.
We only have two ways to go, cremation or in the ground.

"SUPERB!!!!!"

JE NE SAIS QUAI

"SIMPLY BRILLIANT"

"BEST OF 2022"

"YOU DID THAT, GIRL!"

Thank you, NetGalley/Erin E. Adams/Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine.Bantam/ For this mesmerizing eArc for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Jackal is an intense read. This books has little bits of multiple genres and the writing style felt very unique to me!

The pacing surrounding the events was strong, though during the first 50% I found it hard to get into the storyline. Once the second half of the story started, I found myself really intrigued in what was going to happen.

Jackal is a really compelling story with very complex characters. I felt my heart racing during some of the thrilling events and I liked seeing the pieces come together. The story had some heavy themes and explored important topics.

I was very interested in the mystery of figuring out who was taking the girls. The creepy thing was creepy enough when it was introduced, I just wasn’t scared of it so it fell sort of flat once we finally see what it was at the end. Other than that, I'm really impressed that this was a debut novel!

*Full review to be posted closer to publication!*

Wow, what a ride! Jackal is a incredibly intense, emotional read that I highly recommend. It's hard to classify this book as any one genre because it really has some bits of everything, which makes it really stand out as a reading experience for me.

The pacing was strong and mostly consistent throughout, though I found my attention wavering a bit more in the second half than the first, and I think that's because there were moments that I didn't feel flowed quite as well as they did in the first half. Despite this, however, I still found Jackal to be a really compelling and impressive horror/thriller that really had some heavy hitting themes and topics explored.

I'm really impressed that this was a debut novel and I see many great things coming from Erin E. Adams in the future.

I’m going with 3 1/2 stars rounded down. I’m not sure what I thought I was getting myself into, but it seemed to me that this couldn’t decided if it was a mystery/thriller or a horror novel. Which is fine, but for me it threw off the atmosphere. I had trouble getting into this one.

Liz is your bitter and scared main character who left their racist hometown for better pastures and never looked back and then comes back only to get tangled in a huge chain of kidnappings/murders.. My main problem is Liz isn’t very likable. And I don’t even want to get into her supposed best friend. The real horror story was how she was treated by Mel.

The bad creepy thing was creepy enough I guess, I just wasn’t scared of it. So as a mystery, I was very into figuring out who was taking the girls, but then there was this creature thing… So as a horror story, I wasn’t super into it. I’m more into Stephen King or Josh Malerman. So that may just be me.

I don’t feel like I can really recommend this one, but I’m sure there will be lots of people who will really enjoy this.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Erin Adams for the opportunity to read this for my honest and unbiased opinion.

“There is no going home for Black Americans, there is only claiming it.”

A fast-paced blend of suspense and the supernatural, Jackal is the perfect fall thriller. The story follows Liz, who has come home to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for her best friend’s wedding. The festivities are cut short, however, when the bride’s daughter suddenly goes missing. Plagued by guilt and an incessant sense of discomfort, Liz helps search for Caroline, but soon discovers that something much darker is at work in Johnstown, something that has been methodically killing young black girls for decades. Liz’s narration, the atmosphere of the town, and the shrewd discussion of anger in Black America kept me reading to the end. 4 stars

This book, in plot summary and execution, reminds me a lot of another book I read. I won't name it, but it dealt with similar aspects regarding young women and a legendary, possibly mythical predator. I'm not naming it because I just didn't think it was as satisfying as it could have been. Jackal, on the other hand, is far more successful in nailing the menace.

It also reminds me of the recent Say Her Name, which I also liked. That had less supernatural vibes, obviously, but if you liked that one, then you'll probably want to grab this one, too.