Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
455 pages, Hardcover
Published March, 2024 by S&S/Saga Press
A writer as genius and prolific as Stephen Graham Jones is always doing good stuff. He is a NY Times bestselling author, has won many awards and when we had him as a guest at the PKD festival all the Dickheads were surprised that he is a bit of a heartthrob with bookstagramers. All for a good reason. His novels Mongrels and The Only Good Indian are masterpieces, I love many of the novellas I have read and It may not be a popular opinion but his slasher novels don't work for me as well. Even the best hitters in baseball don’t connect on every pitch, and it is not that these novels are no good, they just don’t connect for me. My Heart is a Chainsaw actually taught me I am not a slasher fan, and this trilogy of novels is nothing short of love letters to that subgenre.
That being said, am I weird that the middle part of the trilogy Don’t Fear the Reaper was my favorite? I have theories but I will come back to this. Because I enjoyed the second part and because the library had it on the shelf I pulled the trigger. My experience this time was much like the first. I didn’t connect with it, but I can totally understand why people love these novels.
This trilogy of novels follows the exploits of final girl extraordinaire Jade Daniels who manifested her obsession with horror movies and became the target of multiple slashers over three books. When this novel opens Jade has been away from her hometown of Proofrock Idaho for a couple of years. While she was at the heart of two slashers who brought terror to the town she is now a teacher. That creates a different dynamic.
I do like how each novel seems to increase the supernatural elements and this time the cultists seem to represent a certain Western state vibe of exploitation. Rexall a rather minor character previous to this volume, becomes more interesting. Letha Jade fellow horror nerd friend is developed more in this book. Both Jade and Letha explore different aspects of being the so-called “FINAL GIRL”
“There's final girls everywhere, aren't there? I used to think they were the rarest breed, the finest vintage. But everyone who's got something to fight for, they'll fight for it, never mind if it's a fight they should win. 'Should' doesn't always matter. What does is that you run screaming into this thing, and don't stop until it's over.”
I like the idea that these two grown women, who as young people loved Horror movies have grown to understand there is an art to survival that everyone experiences.
“I’ve been talking to counselors and therapists since I was seventeen, I mean. One thing I’ve learned is not to tell them anything that makes them tap their pens against their lower lips and say “interesting,” with all this open space opening up after, for us to “discuss” and “work through.” Can’t I just seal stuff in a barrel, roll it into the cellar, and forget about it? Please? Talking about it all just keeps it alive and happening, when “dead and buried” is what it should be.”
Jade lives with a fair amount of guilt despite in a sense saving the town multiple times. Jade is an excellent hero.
“It was me who called the horror down on Proofrock, though, I can never deny that. Meaning my job now, much as I hate it, is it to put down each one that rises, so long as I can still breathe and kick and fight and scream.”
Jade is a character that is destined in the hands of the right filmmaker and actor who will make fantastic films. It seems odd for me to say this, as I love SGJ as an author but I know these books are not for me. They are for a lot of people. The references to horror movies are it, sometimes that back and forth between characters lost me.
That said I can’t be happier that most readers think I am wrong. Your milage may vary, I know plenty of people who LOVE these books. They are not wrong. That said Buffalo Hunter, Hunter is one of the books I am most looking forward too.
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