The themes and the issues discussed within made this an amazing debut thriller. Jackal is one whopper of a book. It’ reminds me of Ace of Spades, Get Out, When No One is Watching…but mixed together with a scary campfire story. It’s edge of your seat, thinking deep, looking over your shoulder, can’t get up until you’re done read.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania was never really a comfortable place for Liz Rocher. When her best friend announces she's finally getting married, Liz reluctantly returns to the town for the wedding. As a black woman, she's hesitant to return to the predominantly white town where she never felt like she fit in. Her best friend's daughter, Caroline, is half-black as well. During the wedding reception, Caroline disappears into the woods, leaving behind only a piece of white fabric covered in blood. It's a pattern Liz Rocher is reluctant to realize. Years before a girl named Keisha Woodson, the only other black girl in school, disappeared on a night like this. Liz knows this can't be a coincidence. In the hunt for Caroline, Liz will find herself unraveling a secret the town has tried so hard to hide. 

The book Jackal by Erin E. Adams is wonderfully and viscerally written, but it definitely leaves the reader with a sense of dread and unease from the very first pages. From just Liz's experiences as a black woman existing to the way she is treated by the town, the reader will desperately want her to escape and go somewhere where she can be safe. The problem, as this book points out, is that there are few places where Liz can be safe in this world. 

Jackal is now available from Ballantine Books.

Rich and resonant. This will have you flipping pages.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This one has an interesting premise and solid writing. The main character, Liz Rocher, returns to the town of her youth in Pennsylvania for her best friend's wedding. Liz, who is black, never quite fit in with the locals of the predominantly white town, and so, her return is lukewarm and reluctant. This reluctance is a harbinger of worst things to come. And in fact while everyone is dancing, drinking, and partying on the day of the wedding, the couple's daughter, Caroline, goes missing. Surely nothing to be concerned about. She's probably off in the nearby woods playing. Unfortunately, a bloody piece of Caroline's clothing is discovered and the story reaches a fever pitch. Liz can't help but think of one of the few black girls in school during her time in town that met a bad end in these same woods. Liz stops at nothing to uncover the link between the two tragedies and in doing so discovers a breathtaking reality. Black girls have been falling victim to these same woods for years and years. Top-notch literary horror.

Wow! To say I didn't see it coming is an understatement for "Jackal" by Erin Adams. What I thought would be just another eerie murder mystery is so much more!

The author builds a captivating story around a Black woman who returns to her mostly White hometown for a friend's wedding. When the friend's daughter goes missing, it brings back dark memories for all involved.

Liz Rocher remembers other Black girls who went missing in the Pennsylvania forest. After her own close call, she's tried to forget about the past, but now she can't. She's determined to find Caroline, a biracial child, who Liz loves like a daughter. She was the last one to see the girl before disappearing into the woods.

For as long as Liz can remember, kids have been warned about the faces in the woods. She knows someone is watching since she was nearly abducted herself years ago. Someone helped her escape, but another girl died -- and her heart missing. It's up to Liz to solve the puzzle that's lingered at the edge of her memories before Caroline becomes the latest victim.

A deeper look into her town's history helps Liz see a pattern: summer nights, missing Black girls. Who has been stalking victims all these years? There's evil in the world, and it's not just in the forest. Trust me, you won't see it coming!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC. Thank you to the author as well. This was a treat to read.
#NetGalley #BallantineBooks #ErinEAdams #Jackal

This is the debut novel of Ms. Adams and I can’t wait to see what else she does.
This novel resonates beautifully as a statement about racial injustice, and gender discrimination, as well as an entertaining and supernatural horror story.
Liz Rocher returns to her hometown of Johnstown. PA for her best friend’s wedding. Things get crazy, though, when the bride’s daughter disappears suddenly. It’s not the first time either. Liz helps with the search by researching the history of the town, and finds something terrible.
The most notable thing about this novel is the obvious passion for the heavy subject matter that the author demonstrates. For me, the thing that kept me reading was the care she put into her characters, especially the character of Liz. It’s obvious that Ms. Adams felt this book deeply. Perhaps the horror is real, maybe not the supernatural horror, but horror nonetheless.
The least notable thing about this book was the mash-up of genres. I don’t normally mind this but I did feel that a little less procedure and a little more horror would have been nice.
Overall, this book isn’t for everyone but it worked for me.

A horror, crime thriller with all the twists, turns, and social commentary you could ask for to keep the pages turning, "Jackal" is exciting, contemporary, and thoughtful all at once.

Jackal, Jackal, Jackal. This book is a weird one for me to try to review. I devoured the first half of this book and it had me flipping pages so quickly. Unfortunately, the end fell completely flat for me and seemed to come out of left field with little to no build up for the main plot point.

I think Erin Adams is a brilliant writer and I loved many of the themes that she discussed in this book. Even though this book didn't 100% work for me I will be on the lookout for more novels. If you have any interest in reading this book I would highly suggest that you still pick it up as this has been on a favorites list for many people.

Jackal centers around Liz Rocher (pronounced Ro-shay), a young Black woman, who is reluctantly returning to her (mostly White) hometown for her best friend’s wedding. Things go south when the couple’s young daughter disappears during the reception. As Liz joins the search she begins to realize that this disappearance isn’t the first to occur and there is a definite pattern.

Jackal is a well-written debut novel by Erin Adams. It’s interesting and it’s also confusing. It’s a police procedural, with social commentary, a thriller with some horror-type elements, and finally it’s a crime novel. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what kind of book she wrote and maybe that was the author’s intention. However, it created a lot of disruption to the story line. Even though I enjoy a complex plot that is woven around several central themes, this book carried it a bit too far. The horror element, introduced in the latter part of the book, made me wonder if the author was finding it difficult to derive an ending and resorted to using a bit of horror as an explanation.

I enjoyed the plot and the characters, but there was so much going on and so many divergent threads that I can only give Jackal 2.5 stars but will bump it up to 3.

A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her White rust belt town, but she's not the first, and she may not be the last.

JACKAL was a gripping suspense that was part thriller, part horror, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen. While it was a solid thriller, I loved that the author also touched on topics of racism and classism.

*many thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy for review

Jackal by Erin E. Adams
I have conflicting feelings about this book so we will start with the things that I really enjoyed. First of all, a small town with a secret will ALWAYS get my attention. I really liked the main character and enjoyed the exploration into her mind as she struggled to solve the mystery of who was murdering all these young black women. I especially enjoyed the flashbacks where we would get a little more insight into what happened to these little girls. The exploration of racism and how that played a huge part into allowing these horrible crimes to continue for years unchecked made this book feel all too real.
Overall, this book really kept me on the edge of my seat. I wanted to know exactly what was going on in this town and scream at everyone for not listening to Liz....but the big twist/reveal (aka what really happened) left me feeling a little disappointed. I can’t say why it was disappointing without giving away spoilers, but I would have perferred a different ending. However, I still really enjoyed this book.
I would recommend this book to readers of thrillers, horror, and true crime. It has elements of all of those genres and will keep you hooked until the last page.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

JACKAL by Erin E. Adams is a powerful and thought-provoking mystery that delves into the deep-seated racism of small towns and the lengths people will go to maintain the status quo. The main character, Liz Rocher, is a Black woman returning to her predominantly white hometown and is immediately confronted with the uncomfortable reality of living as a minority. As she investigates the disappearance of her friend's daughter, Liz uncovers a disturbing pattern of missing Black girls and begins to suspect that there is more to these disappearances than meets the eye. Through Liz's journey, the reader is given a poignant and eye-opening look at the impact of racism on a community and the devastating consequences of allowing it to go unchecked. The plot is expertly crafted and full of twists and turns that keep the reader engaged until the very end. My one complaint is that the story got a bit muddled toward the end, but it was captivating nonetheless. JACKAL is a must-read for anyone looking for a thought-provoking and emotionally charged mystery.

Really loved this from beginning to end. There were a few parts where it was slow but there was such good character development that I was always invest in the outcome. Also, I think the fear of the unknown was a whole character in itself. Kudos on this electric debut!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for early access.

I think this was a serviceable horror that speaks to a larger cultural and societal issue in the ways good horror should. I only give it the mid rating because I'm torn on the aspect of paranormal in this novel. While things are hinted to be supernatural and certain places sold this as a connection to Stranger Things-vibes, the paranormal was doubtful most of the way and only confirmed in the very back half of the story. It did bring about the nostalgic "IT" vibes with the nature of the creature 'Jack' though I'd argue he's more grey aligned than outright Bad.

Liz is a very good protagonist and the novel is exceptionally written and tackles its themes well so any fault I find in this book by itself would not stop me from picking up future writing. Adams doesn't shy away from scenes of death and destruction and she paints loving pictures of these girls and their families before tearing it away from you with images of their deaths. I think Liz does a decent job of not putting all her eggs in one basket when it comes to suspects. She may have suspicions but other than immediately telling her best friend that she thinks it's her dad and brother and causing a fight, Liz keeps a level-ish head and gathers as much information as she can before heading out to deal with the issue herself.
I do find the ending a bit of a let down but it does track with what the story was going for I guess. Like I said, very good writing and a well-rounded protagonist make up for some of the other flaws for me.

I will be reviewing a physical copy of this book that I bought myself on my social media platforms but thank you agin to Random House for the digital arc

My feelings toward this novel are complicated. I enjoyed the suspense, mystery of the missing Black girls and the identity of the Jackal, referred to as Jack.

In this town, 95% of them in my opinion are shitty. Which brings me to the real world problem of the lack of coverage missing Black girls receive. This is the main premise Jackal highlights, as the recent Black girl to go missing is 11- years old and biracial. Her mom is caucus, furious that her child became missing on her wedding night and that she is receiving an urgency of importance from the police because they view her as a Black girl, thus unimportant.

The narrative gave a spotlight to the reality of this truth. That Black women are the most unprotective class, period. How disheartening society is and ostracizes the very queens who walk this earth. There will be a change to it, I know it.

Thankful I switched from the ebook to its audio.

This book was all over the place for me. Was it a thriller? No. A mystery? Wait no. It’s horror. (That was my thought process when I started reading it). I loved that topics such as class and race were brought up throughout the story but the ending completely ruined it for me. I do think this novel will be a hit for a lot of readers, but I am not into paranormal stuff.

This book was very interesting but it was a really good read. I found it very easy to read to I highly recommend.

This was quite a ride: some parts were amazing and some left me confused. The fantasy element didn’t make any sense to me, and the narrative lost its footing a few times, but I was moved by the compassion and ferocity of the protagonist, Liz.
The story revolves around a missing child, and making connections among over a dozen missing/killed children over the recent years. Liz tries to find her friend’s daughter while dealing with her own nightmares from the past.
I think this book will appeal to a specific audience but not be for everyone.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the arc. My review is at https://www.instagram.com/p/CmO-_vNLgpG/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I love the premises of the book and I enjoyed reading it throughout. I am so glad that I got a chance to read the book. Thank you.