A beautiful heartbreaking story, this was evocative and impactful, a real punch in the gut read! The writing was fantastic I loved the dual POV, fully immersive writing

In a similar realm of "Get Out," where horror is used as a way to highlight dark, timely topics like mental health or marginalized persons' trauma, is “Indian Burial Ground” by Nick Medina. The author returns to the fictional Takoda reservation he brought to life in “Sisters of the Lost Nation” with a story that blends the past and the present, and mythical and the real. Similar to Medina’s debut, which touched on the murdered and missing epidemic of Indigenous women and girls, in “Indian Burial Ground,” he again addresses issues impacting Native U.S. communities. This time, the focus is suicide and alcoholism. Dual timelines detail multiple bizarre deaths plaguing the lives of 38-year-old Noemi and her Uncle Louie in the modern day, and 17-year-old Louie in the mid-eighties. An eerie, uneasy force pulsates throughout the novel as Noemi, Louie, and the reader unveil secrets and release darkness, but beyond this cloud of fear and dismay shines a message of hope.

This wasn’t my usual read but I flew through it! INDIAN BURIAL GROUND is a bone chilling story that follows a family in crisis as they confront the spirits and demons that they thought had long been buried, dealing with the horrors of both the supernatural and earthly variety. It’s a character-driven horror novel about generational drama that’s filled with mythology and tribal lore and highlights the social issues that many marginalized people living on reservations often experience, including mental health, suicide, alcoholism, and violence.

This was unlike any story I’ve read before. I love stepping into new genres and I really enjoyed this one. I especially enjoyed learning more about tribal traditions and lore and I loved how the author weaves mental health advocacy throughout the book to raise awareness of the staggering rates seen within Native American communities.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing for the advanced digital copy! INDIAN BURIAL GROUND is out now.

This book was way outside my comfort zone, but I’m so glad I picked it up. This slow burn mystery with Native folklore and supernatural elements delivered on the horror. It was creepy, eerie, and unsettling.

A look at life on an Indian reservation through the eyes of a dysfunctional family was enlightening. These characters struggle with the impact of trauma, alcoholism, suicide, and mental health issues. I enjoyed seeing how the two main characters leaned on each other in the past and present. Their connection provides hope in this otherwise dark, heartbreaking story.

This isn’t an easy read. The subject matter is heavy, the timelines can be confusing, and there are a lot of characters. However, I found it thought provoking and fascinating.

Indian Burial Ground is a good choice for those who enjoy character driven, slow burn, mystery/horror books.

Thank you to Berkley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Growing up on a Louisiana Indian reservation in the 1980s, Louie finds himself burdened with more than most other teenagers. His father is absent from his life, while his mother drinks herself into oblivion and mostly ignores him. He gets along well enough with his sister, Lula, but she is more interested in going out than watching her young daughter Noemi, and so often leaves the girl in his care. Things don’t get any easier for him, as strange occurrences begin to pile up around the community. Someone has been desecrating graves, including Louie’s grandmother’s, and a wave of unusual and tragic deaths begins afflicting the tribe. Stranger still is that at each of the funerals, the corpses suddenly sit bolt upright in their coffins and seem to speak to those in attendance, Louie in particular.

He grows suspicious that the legend of a local vampire may be true as he begins seeing eerie signs all around him, but his kindly and wise grandfather and his rebellious best friend both insist that can’t be true and try to take his mind off of the matter. His morbidly obese neighbor Ern, who has extensive knowledge of the tribe and its legends and whose own mother has mysteriously gone missing, is more open to the idea. Or at least remains non-committal one way or the other.

In the present day, Noemi is now middle-aged and still living with Lula in the family home when she is informed that her boyfriend has died under suspicious circumstances. Though it ostensibly looks like an accident, some signs point to it possibly being a suicide. Noemi refuses to believe that based on what she knows of him, but as she digs further into it, she begins to doubt her once strong convictions. When her uncle Louie suddenly returns home, the past is brought back out into the light, and she hopes that his experiences all those decades before might shine some light on what has happened to her partner.

Mixing tribal lore with mainstream mythology, Medina crafts a creepy and original tale that is able to maintain an eerie and suspenseful atmosphere throughout. As is the case with much modern horror, the supernatural thrills take a backseat to the story’s human drama, which here is handled with care and proves more than compelling enough on its own. Medina doesn’t shy away from heavy topics like suicide and alcoholism, both of which afflict Native Americans at much higher rates than the rest of the population. There are myriad potential reasons for this, but here the author examines it through the lens of feelings of isolation, entrapment, and futility, as well as generational trauma.

Much like the legends he references, Medina’s story is designed to teach us a lesson: We can’t run from our pasts or our problems, no matter how hard we try; the only way to come out the other side is to face them head on. In imparting this wisdom upon us, he has crafted a memorable and moving story that is populated with characters who feel real, anchored by a mystery that will keep readers riveted.

Indian Burial Ground is a truly haunting tale of mythology that also addresses trauma, suicide, and alcoholism. This book was equal parts disturbing and heartbreaking. Nick Medina's writing is so realistic that you can really get a feel for the characters, and he is adept at portraying the affects of trauma on the reservation as a whole. This was an excellent read and I highly recommend it. I already ordered this for my library and am pleased to say that it has been popular with our patrons,

Nick is a great author. I loved seeing characters from Sisters of the Lost Nation in Indian Burial Ground. The writing is powerful and the storytelling draws you in. Can't wait to read more!

Thank you so much to Berkley Pub for the complimentary copy of the book!
Thank you so much to PRH Audio for the complimentary audio of the book!

"Do you think life is pain broken up by moments of happiness, or happiness interspersed with moments of pain?"

Sigh. This was such an anticipated read for me but I just felt like it just was a book not for me at this time.

This book takes place in two timelines except you don't really know its the past until you start to listen to Louie's point of view. I do wish that the book and the audiobook indicated it was in the past and the timeline (the year maybe). And the other timeline is in present day through Noemi's voice. Her timeline was much more interesting to me and it could very well be because of my struggle with the audio.

I did find the context of the text to be very interesting and I was into it but it was just so hard to stay focus with the audio to really enjoy. Yes I know I could have turned off the audio and read with solely my eyes but I didn't.

I think part of my struggle with this book was the male narrator for Louie. I just could not get into the cadence of his voice and it made me not want to keep. And then in the contrast the female narrator was excellent. I love her tone & thought it was an easy listen when she would speak.

Medina highlighted the experiences that a lot of Native Americans face with alcoholism, drug abuse and high suicide rates which I felt is important to include.

Please look at other reviews to judge if you should read this or not as I know I am not providing the best review. But I will say if you decide to read this, I recommend just reading with your eyes.

I want to go back and read Sister of the Lost Nation and will likely read his work again in the future.
I am not deterred from reading his work.

I really enjoyed this one! I'm an avid horror fan so I don't mind the creep and gore. I love diving into cultural folklore and this provided that in spaces. This would make a fantastic movie. I look forward to reading more from this author..

Thank you @berkelypub for the #gifted copy of the book.

I am completely sold on Nick Medina. I read Sisters of the Lost Nation Last Year and loved it. This one was even better!! It mixed my two favorite genres horror and thrillers. My heart was pounding just like the pow wow drum. Just wow! I am already anticipating his next book.

I am telling you that if you enjoy both genres do NOT miss it!!

The story is told in two timelines, one in the present where Noemi is dealing with her boyfriend's apparent suicide when her Uncle Louie returns to the reservation and the second in the past when Louie went through a traumatic experience that follows him into the present. Overall, a gripping horror set on a reservation where you're not sure if the threat is external or internal. Most of the book you wonder if the menacing force is a physical being or if it's a metaphorical entity and Medina does a great job tying it all together.

Another strong story by Medina. His books read like a tv series that I would watch compulsively. In this story Noemi was looking forward to moving off the reservation until she gets news that her boyfriend apparently committed suicide. With the return of her uncle comes some help in uncovering the truth behind her boyfriend’s death but also unlock many horrors. *side note this book is classified as thriller but there is some paranormal activity to this book that lends more towards horror for me. Either way someone please option these books already!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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This was my first read by Nick Medina, and I think this was a case of unmet expectations. What I thought I was getting into was a fast-paced thriller, instead Indian Burial Ground is a character driven ‘supernatural horror’ story with a mystery mixed into it. From a horror perspective and it’s much more an atmospheric paranormal creepy read rather than thriller scary. While I found it to be creepy rather than scary, if you don’t tend to dive into this genre there are some pieces of the story that could really give you pause. Trigger Warnings for this include unpleasant deaths, child death, animal death, suicide, and mental health issues.

The story itself is divided into two narrators: Noemi’s and her uncle Louie. While Noemi’s perspective sticks to the present, Louie’s jumps back and forth between past and present and I had a difficult time determining which one we were in when it came to his narration. The representation from each though is heavily skewed towards Uncle Louie’s view and honestly, I didn’t find that Noemi’s added anything to the actual plot. I would have much preferred to have just had Uncle Louie’s two timelines only. In addition, the very first narrator we hear from, we never hear from again or really even referenced again after the first chapter/prologue. That felt weird to me and left me with lots of questions.

The plot is certainly interesting but Indian Burial Ground didn’t fully deliver what I was expecting. Maybe if I had gone into this blind, I would have enjoyed it more. However, the slow burn pacing, the unclear indigenous mythology (which since the tribe is fictional, I wasn’t sure if the myths were fictional), and with a more character driven plot this one just didn’t ‘wow’ me and I found it a chore to finish.

Indian Burial Ground is out now. Thank you to Berkley for my advanced copies in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

**Many thanks to Berkley and Nick Medina for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley**

Noemi can't believe her ears, her eyes, or the reality of her current situation...her boyfriend Roddy is dead. What she finds even MORE unbelievable than his untimely demise, however, is that Roddy took his own life. She had been anxious to launch into her new adult life, move out of her mother Lula's house, and come into her own...but in a flash, every ounce of opportunity has been taken away. It's Noemi's uncle Louie who presents her with this news, and he also shares that the woman who hit Roddy with her car claims that Roddy leapt in harm's way...for no apparent reason; hence, the conclusion that this MUST have been suicide.

But Noemi's gut feeling that there is more going on than meets the eye is underscored by none other than Uncle Louie, who is sharply reminded of some of the horrors of his OWN life...ones that to this day, remain partially unexplained. Trauma borne from mental illness and addiction was already enough to leave lasting scars, but so much of his past still remains a mystery...and seems to point toward a terrible, lingering evil in their tribal ground...an evil that might just have reached Roddy. Can Noemi and Louie band together to unlock the secret horrors of the past...before the demons unleash their fury one FINAL time?

Nick Medina is an author in a very specific space that has been gaining considerable traction lately: Native American horror. The subgenre has had some standout writers as of late, with Stephen Graham Jones leading the way, and it certainly makes sense why: the space is ripe for scares, with rich folklore and mythology at its core. This is nothing new: legends about the consequences about building on top of the ancient Indian Burial Ground are at the center of many a creepy tale (most notably in MY mind, from that horrifying scene in the movie Poltergeist...let's just say I STILL turn away from the screen during the end of that one!) The cultural depth, the breadth of folklore, not to mention the complex and intricate underpinnings of different tribes and how they exist as a unit (with explorations of mental health AND addiction issues to boot) gives plenty of fodder to writers such as Medina.

But in the case of this particular tale, I spent far more time confused, bored, and disoriented than I did intrigued or terrified...and the 384 pages in this one felt more like 584....or possibly even MORE.

For starters, one thing that feels beyond frustrating for me in ANY genre is a messy timeline...and this one is messier than an on-again-off-again couple's breakups. To be honest, it took me a LONG time (read: too much time) to even determine that we were IN two different timelines and how they worked with one another. I'm not sure if a device as simple as naming the chapters with the year they occurred would have helped...but let's just say it couldn't have HURT. I honestly learned more from reading some other early reviews AFTER I finished this one as to what events happened in the past and which happened in the present, what was legend and what was reality, etc. There's talk of missing people, the reanimated dead, and even possession of sorts...but to me, it felt like it was presented in a haphazard fashion, all over the place, to the point where I couldn't tell what were stories Louie was presenting telling Noemi about his childhood versus which he was simply recounting as a narrator to the reading audience about the legends he'd potentially experienced...it all just felt a bit cluttered to me.

Amidst all of this timeline confusion, one of the worst offenses for me was the fact that for a minute I actually thought there was not one but TWO characters named Noemi. Yep, I actually thought that one character had a child named Noemi alongside present day adult Noemi...which I later found out was one (and only one) Noemi. The fact that this was so muddled and unclear was beyond frustrating to me, and although I enjoyed Noemi (only in the present day timeline, mind you) I came to realize that the only reason I felt more interested in this timeline and its events was because it was SLIGHTLY easier to follow and had a more clear trajectory: what happened to Roddy? I'll be honest, once we got into the weeds with some of the more 'out there' mythical aspects of this one, I lost interest completely. It reminded me of how I felt at the end of Mexican Gothic: I went on a long and complicated journey and it ended with something that felt so bizarre and ridiculous I almost rolled my eyes. No spoilers here, but if you want a quick summary....let's just say a picture (like the one on the cover, perhaps) MIGHT tell a thousand words...or at least ENOUGH to give you the gist.

Although this story had all the potential to take me deep into uncharted, mysterious, and sacred ground, I think the only thing I managed to bury was my interest.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley and the Berkley Besties program.

This book has a lot going on and addresses some pretty heavy topics. This spans several genres, to name a few it is a bit horror, mythological/folklore, and mystery/thriller. The author takes a deep look into very real issues that Native and Indigenous people face such as suicide, substance abuse, and trauma.

This follows alternating points of view Louie in the past, and Noemi in the present. In Louie's chapters he is a teenager, and much of his time is spent babysitting his toddler aged niece Noemi and being the man of the house for his sister and mom. He does his best to take care of them and uphold customs and traditions. During the summer the story takes place the reservation they live on is plagued with several deaths, all of which end up having some strange circumstances or occurrences. Louie is caught up in the legends and lore of his people as more strange things happen that summer. He tries to understand what is going on and get to the bottom of things

In Noemi's chapters, she is in her late thirties and has just learned that the love of her life has been involved in a fatal car accident, and his death has been ruled suicide. She is adamant that he would never do that, so she tries to figure out what really happened. With Uncle Louie's help she tries to find out if it truly was an accident or if Roddy was hiding his internal pain and trauma from her.

I found the pacing of this book to be very slow and there are a ton of characters to keep track of. The vast majority of the story is told from Louie's POV in the 1980's, with Noemi's POV sprinkled throughout. The past and the present are connected, however I felt like there were two distinct books as Noemi's chapters felt a bit disconnected from Louie's. I expected Noemi to go on a similar path of discovery as Louie did to discover what happened to Roddy, but that doesn't happen. The folklore aspect was interesting and I liked the way the author wove that into the horror elements.

I'm still going back and forth if I would truly call this a horror novel, but there is no doubt that with its tense pacing, perfectly timed flashbacks, and heavy topics such as alcoholism and depression, Medina has presented readers with a story that will leave readers thinking long after the last page.

The only reason this wasn't a 5 star for me was the ending, while good, just didn't hit all the boxes for me. I felt like there was more to explore.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC for an honest review.

I enjoyed this author's previous novel, Sister of the Lost Nation, and when I heard what the premise of this novel was going to be, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. I loved that this story was a way for the author to reclaim the negative narrative surrounding Indian burial grounds, which has been perpetuated by works such as Pet Sematary and the Amityville Horror.

What I liked about the novel:
-Atmospheric, creepy vibe
-The horror components
-Native American folklore and urban legends
-Dual timelines that were thirty-seven years apart. The earlier one built intrigue for the present day one.

What I thought could have been better:
-Too much of a slow-burn.
-Uneven pacing
-I wish there had been a stronger ending.

Indian Burial Ground is a slow burn mystery with horror elements. The story is told in two perspectives. One is Noemi from the present who just lost her boyfriend to a freak car accident. The other is her uncle, Louie, but back when he was 16 years old, taking care of toddler Noemi. Most of the story is told from Louie‘s point of view, depicting the events that took place at the reserve and how the community was affected by them. There are a number of deaths with strange circumstances, the connection to a vampire that may be killing people as well as instances of graves being dug up and bones taken.

There are a lot of things I liked about this book. I loved contrasting Noemi and Louie with their younger selves. The reservation life is depicted in vivid details and the story emphasizes the strong ties that people have with each other, even though they are not related by blood. I felt immersed in the indigenous culture.

I struggled with this book because of its slow pace and the length. I would have liked more of Noemi's perspective to stay interested to the end. The few chapters about her up till 40% were good but they did not create a strong enough connection for me as to why Louie’s perspective was relevant, or when it would start to be.

Maybe if I read this book at another time, I would like it more. At this time, the progress of the plot is too slow to keep my attention.

Many thanks to the punisher for a review copy of this book for an honest review.

This hauntingly twisted read quickly caught my attention. The beat of the pow wow drum mimicking the beat of your heart. Giving you life, the feeling of power, and the confidence to become a warrior. The traditions and stories passed down through the generations. How the people came into existence and how that affects their daily lives. The keeper of the land, the kind souls of their people, to never pick up a weapon, and if you do....

The story is told through two characters, Noemi and her Uncle Louie. The night Noemi's boyfriend dies. Her Uncle Louie comes back to the Res. He had not seen his family in ten years and the drum with the rhythmic beat drew him home. Making the past and the present come smashing together. When they discover that a coyote was seen leaving the scene. Uncle Louie is flung back to the 80's, when weird occurrences were going on at the reservation. Burial plots being dug up, people dying, the dead seemingly coming back to life. What has left the people and their home unbalanced? Will Uncle Louie be able to figure out what is going on and if the two are connected?

This is a slow burn read that will have you in its web as soon as you connect with the characters. Louie stole my heart, and I wept for Noemi. Reservation life roars its ugly head. The extreme poverty, mental illness, addiction, and your family struggling to make ends meet. It is a tough life, a life you need to have a heavy backbone to survive, with the singing and the pounding of the drum in the background. Always calling you, filling you with joy, and purpose. Thank you to Nick Medina and Berkley Publishing for my gifted copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. It was my first Nick Medina, and I will definitely go back and read his debut after this. I really liked the dual-timeline narrative of this story, following both Noemi and her Uncle Louie when he was younger. This story weaved together a harrowing family horror/social horror about the realities of reservation poverty with a genuinely terrifying horror story. The scenes about the dead people sitting up in their casket were so creepy and unsettling. Medina has a very talented voice for horror!