My Heart is a Chainsaw is a story that had me perplexed for substantial parts…and this may have been deliberate on the part of the author as we struggle to work out what is happening.
Our narrator is Jade, a horror-obsessed teen who is convinced that there is about to be a slasher style killing spree in her town. It starts with the deaths of two tourists, and then Jade maintains events will unfold in a very specific way. In amongst her retelling of events, we have her supposed papers for school credit detailing her obsession with the horror genre and its various tropes. Having only a passing acquaintance with the genre I couldn’t say how accurate Jade’s prophecies were…but the knowledge and sense of dark humour really made me react to this more positively than I was expecting.
At around the midway point I really struggled to tell what was in Jade’s head and what was happening. She, it is clear, is suffering her own trauma and the events she’s involved in certainly link to this. I wish this had been more apparent earlier as I almost stopped reading, uncertain what was happening.
However, as we build to Jade’s dramatic moment there’s a grim inevitability to events that made me feel compelled to keep reading.
This will delight horror fans. There’s some gruesome scenes and, yet again, elements of supernatural crossing into our reality. Perplexing, and probably not to everyone’s tastes, but I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this prior to publication.

The slasher film that brought us more reasons to fear Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth and the word sequel has a long and interesting role in horror. Are we watching horror for the gruesome and inventive deaths? The school jocks and high school royalty that tends to meet their death the most some could see as being quite therapeutic for us if you’ve been on the wrong side of them growing or are we watching for the Final Girl? The heroine who through all the chaos and blood shed finds a way to survive and give ourselves some home and a role model. This debate becomes the heart of Stephen Graham Jones’ powerful My Heart is a Doorway when the town sole horror fan finds herself in a growingly murderous situation which has all the hallmarks of her favourite genre, and she may be the only one to help a young teenager survive or may be enjoying watching the world burn a little too much.

Jade is very much looking forward to the end of her school term in the little-known mining town of Proofrock. She can finally escape a school where she is mocked for her dyed hair, t-shirts, love of horror and tendency to play pranks on the school inspired by her favourite movies. She can then finally move out of her filthy home where she lives with her unpleasant father the town drunk and his sleazy best friend. Jade may finally get a life on her own turns. But Proofrock is a strange town sitting on a lake that itself contains a drowned town; it also has a campsite known affectionately as Camp Blood, eerie forests, and its own ghost stories. Now throw in the arrival of some uber rich families who has decided Proofrock is the perfect location for luxury homes, yachts, and a time of change. Then two Dutch students go for an illegal midnight swim and are horribly killed. Jade recognises the standard triggering event for a slasher plot and as the body count rises, she focuses her attention on trying to help heiress Letha Mondragon who has all the classic beauty, poise, and kindness a Final Girl would need to survive if she can just pay attention to Jade’s advice.

This despite its obvious affection and love of slasher films is a much darker tale than I was expecting and a lot of this is down to the stunning character of Jade who is the focus of the story. Jade is probably a character many fans of the genre will recognise the school misfit, not understood and for reasons the book will explore both very angry t the world and suffering from her own trauma. Jade we first meet leaving home one night and having a manic unsettling episode that finally leads to a suicide attempt. This creates then some concern as Jade returns to school just as a series of suspicious deaths then commence. Jade’s delight/obsession in the light of what we saw is disconcerting – is this because she is a horror fan; is she is delighting in a hometown she despises finally getting shaken up or with the arrival of Letha a chance for her to help someone when she knows she herself is a hopeless case? Jade’s complexity is a highlight of the novel. Graham Jones makes us accept her for all her sharp edges and armour. This is helped by excerpts of Jade’s Slasher 101 school project to her favourite teacher both exploring the history of the genre in an intelligent and amusing way – she’s intelligent, does have her own morality and yet perhaps someone a little too keen to see herself as ultimate slasher fodder and doomed. The final outcome for Jade throughout though is uncertain which holds our attention throughout.

But while the character study is brilliant, we also need a good location and other characters to meet, and this delivers in spades.. Two standouts we come to love ae Sheriff Hardy and Mr Holmes who become despite both being older and perhaps more conservative characters acting as Jade’s real father figures and who may have more respect for Jade’s intelligence and rebellious sides than they’ll ever admit to her face. Proofrock reminded me of King’s It in a way that every main character and location has an unusual Proofrock story of their own if you dig deep enough which adds to the ongoing mystery as to are these killings supernatural or just plain old homicidal? The benefit is this allows the story to create within it many different types of short tales often where a character tells Jade and the reader their own strange experiences in this town. By the end we will recognise certain characters and places which make the final scenes of chaos even more poignant and memorable.

The horror elements are very much a slow build but the pay-off is worth the wait. We get the typical slasher scenes of young teens in love, bizarre animal deaths, unwary golf players and people who seem to have met unlikely accidents and there is a steady but unrelenting feeling that a much bigger disaster looms in the distance. As things start to go south, we definitely feel that Letha and Jade are in huge danger. The finale is an unusual affair of initially making me think we had one explanation for it all and then completely pulling the rug from under me as I made a sharp 180 degrees as to what I’d just witnessed. By the end we move from quiet scenes where it is dangerous to be on your own to a full-on spectacle of bloodshed and death where no one is safe.

If Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians is an ice-cold revenge story, then this is a much fierier sibling with colour, passion and revelling in its slasher roots and yet despite that provides a sensitive and intelligent look into why we love horror. Allowing us to channel and process pain and anger at a world that perhaps is deserving of being disrupted by monsters they don’t understand and gives us heroines that know how to survive it. This is very much Jade’s own tale of discovery and learning to face demons and while this is a horror story and there will be immense pain, unfairness, and injustice but she faces this on her own feet. I must warn readers there are themes of suicide and sexual abuse but at no point did I find that gratuitous, but it does go to dark places some may prefer not to visit. For me a great horror novel for 2021 and highly recommended.

I not done this before ,written a review and read about 35 percent
I tried …..hard
I loath not finishing a book as feel can’t truly review unless have ,however …..
This is so dull ,I’m not sure if it’s the translation as yes sometimes it just made zero sense some of the sentences ,nothing happens at all bar her thoughts ,constantly on horror splatter films.
Yes I know ,part of the pull and defo for me as I love slasher films amd enjoyed and enjoy movies books that dissect them but this was with zero action .
There no real start to it either ,I mean something alludeds to something on the water and I was hopefull then nothing bar conversation of the lead character about horror movies ,no real profound statements just what we know to other characters .
I put it down ,came bk to it and still had a similar issue
Now it may pick up and from other reviewers it does but way later and life’s short and unless it’s epic u need to still be intrigued and turn the pages
I can’t take any more ovious what we know narratives on slasher movies with no other threads ,it takes way too long without any mystery other than when oh when will this start
Riley sager does this better a lot better .
Save some time

Author, Stephen Graham Jones taps into the recent resurgence of the teen slasher genre. We have recently had the amazing Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix and Scream 5 will be hitting the big screens soon too. We follow Jade, a teen who is obsessed and is therefore encyclopaedic of the teen slasher horror genre - she loves it so much that she prays for a slasher event to happen in her home town.

As you can imagine, we have the usual horror tropes that come with this genre; scream queens, teen nudity, grizzly and imaginative deaths

I have only ever done this with one other book in my entire reading life and that was to not finish it. I got to 40% but I just couldn’t go any further - the story was just so boring. The opening chapter showed such promise but then all we get is the main characters inner monologue about how much she wants people in her town to die. I am sure that if I persevered no doubt the gory and grizzly deaths would come but I just couldn’t dedicate any more time to this book. In addition to the slow storyline I really didn’t like the authors style it’s like he has just vomited words on to a page; I found myself saying aloud what the heck is going on. At one point we have her following a car and then she’s in the woods and I’m like “when did she get out of the car”.

I know this review will be polarising but for me this is the poorest book I have ‘attempted’ to read in a very long time and therefore can only give it my lowest rating 1⭐️ out of 5.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of My Heart is a Chainsaw but that has in no way influenced my review.

I am addicted to slasher fiction. There's no two ways about it. I am well and truly hooked on the idea, the concept and the execution (). Books featuring a crazed serial killer, of this realm or...elsewhere...will always get my full, undivided attention. So my heart soared when I saw the latest book by Stephen Graham Jones. My Heart is a Chainsaw was an absolute must read for me, particularly as I thoroughly enjoyed The Last Final Girl by the same author (and I have The Only Good Indians waiting patiently for me on the TBR!).

Jade Daniels is the horror chick. She lives, breathes, dreams in horror movies. She loves all horror but slashers are her true obsession. Her knowledge is beyond encyclopaedic and it consumes every moment of her life.  Which equips her perfectly to notice things happening in her small lake-side town that others may miss. Things which confirm, to Jade at least, that catastrophe is heading straight to Proofrock in the form of a slasher. Now all Jade has to do is convince everyone else before it's too late...

You know when you read a book and it's nothing like you expected it to be? That's sort of where I am with My Heart is a Chainsaw. I really enjoyed the story, I adored Jade, the writing was powerful, chock-full of emotion and multi-layered. But I found it a little slow going to start with, which of course, isn't a bad thing. Just unexpected having read another of the author's books (which is actually a crazy thing for me to say as who writes the same book twice? That would be barmy!). My Heart is a Chainsaw is a true work of art though and it's well worth picking up. I can't imagine how long it took the author to write this novel - the care and attention, the precision, it all shines through.

Jade is a stones throw from failing high school so she composes a series of essays for her state history teacher, Mr Holmes, in return for extra credit. The subject matter is, of course, slasher movies which she intricately examines, pulling themes and explaining theories to her beleaguered teacher who is on the brink of retirement. These essays are a wonderful addition, informative and enlightening in their content. They run alongside Jade's day to day dealings with the other residents of Proofrock and her investigation into what she believes is a certainty, the forthcoming slasher. I enjoyed the time I spent with Jade. I couldn't help but like her. She's the unpopular kid, the odd one who everyone keeps at a distance.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. My Heart is a Chainsaw is a beautifully written love letter to the slasher genre which I thoroughly enjoyed. I appreciated that the author has given his readers a chance to get to know Jade properly so you're fully invested in the character as you approach the end of the book. The ending was sublime. Meticulous and so cleverly staged that I was fully in the moment, right by Jade's side. I feel a little bereft now it's all over but Jade will stay with me for some time to come. Gutsy, gruesome and utterly captivating. Emotional and really quite haunting. Recommended.

I devoured The Only Good Indians last year and I’ve been meaning to pick up some more books by Stephen Graham Jones ever since. So I was very happy to be accepted for his latest release.

Jade Daniels is the only daughter of an abusive father and a mother who has very little interest. In fact, most of the town of Proofrock has very little interest in Jade and so she has become the weird loner, obsessed with slasher films. In order to make up her credit, she begins to write a series of essays detailing her love of slashers and the history of Proofrock in light of this to her history professor. But then bodies start appearing around the Indian Lake and Jade starts to think that there may well be a mysterious attacker lurking and she is certain she can stay one step ahead of them via her slasher knowledge.

Jade’s father is Native American and while she does touch on parts of her heritage, there isn’t too much about the culture in the book. This may be because of the horrific relationship that Jade has with her father. I guess she may be trying her hardest to distance herself from anything to do with him. However, despite not many explicit references to it, there is a huge sense of the Indians having always been there. The town and indeed the whole of the States was built on their land and they’re still very much haunting towns where their presence is strongest.

Everyone in the town seems to treat Jade like someone who is fragile but volatile. I’m sure her love for slashers probably doesn’t help her image much but she is clearly a kid who could use some guidance and there seems to be very few people around who are willing to give it. Mr Holmes’ willingness to read her impassioned papers on horror appears to be the closest thing she has to a reliable mentor but I really wanted some more heartfelt connection to grow between them.

Jade is certain that Letha, a pretty, popular cheerleader whose father is a prominent figure in the housing development across the lake, is Proofrock’s final girl. Because of this, she becomes set on preparing Letha for the violent climax which Jade knows is coming. Letha is kind enough to listen to Jade’s seemingly inexplicable rambling about what’s coming and they form a kind of unlikely friendship. Letha knows that beneath Jade’s chaotic aura, there is a deep, secret pain and she does her best to get to the bottom of that and get Jade some help. She does in fact ‘go toe to toe with this bad evil’.

There are parts of the book where I really didn’t know whether the murders were actually happening or whether we were simply seeing things through Jade’s theatrical, blood-fuelled lens. Jade isn’t even sure herself whether there really is a murderous presence or whether it’s just her own unreliable mind. The question of which option is the better one keeps you powering through the first half of the novel as it races towards its incredibly dramatic, bloody end.

A lot of Jade’s observations on slashers are well-made and they set the reader up for the chaos that is the ending. By the end of the book, I was seeing the whole thing as a slasher, full of people who I wanted to triumph and a wealth of irredeemable characters who deserved their sticky demise. To realise that you’re suddenly seeing things through Jade’s eyes is a bit disconcerting because she is so obviously disturbed but she does make for a fascinating perspective that is ideal for seeing this story through.

My Heart Is A Chainsaw is a story of revenge, of healing and of the delicious darkness of horror. It’s horrendously violent and it should be noted that there are triggers for sexual abuse. The first part of the book is quite slow to get going but it’s beautifully written and reminds us that we all deserve to live, free of pain and hate. By the time it reaches its cinematic, visceral finale, you’re right in the thick of a thrilling, emotional clutch that refuses to let go.

I’m really struggling to review this book. I did so many things I don’t usually like and so much that shouldn’t have worked and yet??? It’s been with me all evening. I can’t sleep.

It was slow, like painfully slow, but with real depth not just detail. We have a man writing female trauma, but authentically, and with empathy and understanding. It’s gruesome, teetering on gratuitous, but also deeply emotional. We have ENDLESS horror movie references, preventing us from getting too close to our main character, exactly as she would want it. A girl who understands the world through slashers wouldn’t reveal herself any other way.

SGJ is brilliant. It’s such a clever book. A little difficult to get into, granted, a little meandering, but impossible to leave behind. A slow build up and a powerful payoff. But none of it matters as much as that ending. I’ve never read anything like it. Jade and her little girl ghosts and her trauma and her bears are haunting. I will not forget this in a hurry.

Massive thank you to Titan Books, Netgalley and the author for an advanced e-copy of this one in exchange for an honest review.

Oh, the horror! There are no two ways about it: this is a slasher masterpiece.

Stephen Graham Jones has a devilish way with words that is completely intoxicating, and he clearly knows the horror genre inside out. I ate up this book's blood-soaked stream of pop-culture references like the true slasher-movie fanatic that I am, and I loved the interstitial chapters that really interrogate the defining characteristics of the slasher film, both good and bad.

There are also mentions of a couple of little-known slasher gems that I for one will definitely be seeking out. Thank you Stephen Graham Jones for giving us the horror book we deserve.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw is my most anticipated horror release in 2021 and I was really happy when my request for e-arc was approved by the publisher.
Overall, there were some moments that I really enjoyed and some with which I struggled a little bit. Let's begine with the first ones:
- It was great spooky read, ideal for October/November;
- Some scenes gave me lots of goosebumps;
- The slasher references were not just amazing, they were immaculate;
- Ending was tense and gave me some vibes of another book by Stephen Graham Jones "The Only Good Indians".
If we talk about the moments thay I didn't enjoy that much, then we need to talk about the writing style. I don't know why I struggled with it, because I don't remember having the same problem with the first book that I read by the author "The Only Good Indians". While reading "Me Heart Is a Chainsaw" I couldn't get into the book, first 80-100 pages were the most difficult. At some point I even wanted to DNF it, but later on I got used to it and managed to go through the whole story.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Review: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Firstly I want to say I actually finished the book a short while ago and I am still thinking about it which is always a good sign. Stephen Graham Jones is well and truly one of my favourite authors. His writing style and story telling and top notch, fun, engaging and give a sense of realism. I found him via Only the Good Indians and after finishing that novel I knew I had to read the rest – I was not disappointed but this is about My Heart Is A Chainsaw so let’s get on.

I am older than Jade but could see parts of my teenage self in her. I would think a lot of people could see snippets of themselves in her as well which makes it easy to get invested in her and the story. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At the very core the story focuses on Jade who is one class away from graduating high-school. Only that is the one class she keeps failing, local history. Our protagonist is dragged down by her past, her family and being an outsider but she has a plan. A epic essay series on the unifying theory of slasher films! As you can I guess I already knew this was going to be good. Slowly Jade begins to see a pattern in the recent events in her rural lake town that could only point to one thing, if you have a plethora of horror cinema knowledge, like Jade and the final straw? The arrival of the archetypal Final Girl, Letha Mondragon.

We follow Jade as she prepares for the inevitable slasher killer to arise, further signaled by tourists going missing, and tensions growing between locals and the new celebrity newcomers starting to build their mansions on the other side of Indian Lake, the town lake. While preparing and continuing her epic essay series Jade delves into the town’s history, and most importantly the tragic deaths that occurred at the nearby camp years’ ago, and finding out about the missing tourists no one is sure really existed to start with and the murders that start happening.

The small and peaceful town in true fashion hurtles full pace towards catastrophe, that Jade is sure will come to ahead on the 4th July, in one epic showdown between rich and poor, luxury yachts compete with canoes and inflatables, past and present, townsfolk and celebrities and above all a slasher and the Final Girl.

The pace and tension created within the novel is brilliant, true to Jones style who is a true master of his genre and craft. By using mixed styles of narrative and the essays Jade is compiling we get a greater insight into the town history and Jade’s mind. Peppered with references with classic and cult slashers alike the references are sure to make you smile, if you love horror which you obviously do to be reading this! Another reason to love Jade is she is self-aware. At some points in the narrative we are made aware that Jade knows this is typical bad horror movie etiquette but in the heat of the moment she has no other choice. While it is a work of fiction asides like this help build a sense of realism that it could, in fact, happen.

Again I want to keep this spoiler free but the ending was incredibly powerful. It’s the one part that sticks out so vividly to me. I’ve already recommended this to all my horror loving friends and will continue to do so.

The book will be released on 7th September. I want to thank Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-Arc of the title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My Heart Is A Chainsaw (MHIAC from now) opens on a pulse pounding chapter of fear and gore. Something about the way SGJ writes makes me really squirm, it's that uncomfortable prickling of the skin like someone's watching you.
As a kid I once watched a horror movie with the ground floor windows and curtains wide open onto the dark street behind me, I can't describe the feeling eloquently enough to try but SJG writes it.

MHIAC is told from main character Jade's perspective, split between a first person running monologue and 'Slasher 101'; Jade's obsessive guide to horror movies masquerading as what she claims are history essays. Slasher 101 is an almost encyclopaedic explanation of 90s horror movie tropes ,(if you haven't seen all the classic slasher films but intend to some day then you'll want to put this book down now, spoilers abound!), addressed to her school teacher Mr Holmes. The only person Jade feels is ever listening.

SJG has a talent for writing unreliable narrators that keep the reader uneasy whilst giving the subject a crazy shine to their figurative eye. You can feel yourself being pulled downward into the characters psyche as their thoughts spiral.
For me, I found MHIAC was tough going, Jade's obsessive need to compare every event, big or small, to a slasher movie got tiresome quickly.
It became hard to disassociate Jade's wild theories and day dreams from what was actually happening.

Now I loved slashers as a kid, I've seen every 90s horror flick going- though there are a few older ones referenced in MHIAC that I'd not seen, and now will never need to. It endeared me to Mr Holmes that he allowed Jade to wax lyrical on fictional movies in place of an actual history education, though at the same time I felt it was neglectful of him not to try and help his clearly troubled student.

There are some predictable reveals later and the book does pick up suddenly around 70% into a grand finale much like a movie slasher would. However the riotous mash up of screaming gore felt shallow to me and at no point was I genuinely scared or creeper out by this 'horror'. My Heart Is A Chainsaw opens brilliantly and has great character building but overall felt like too many ideas jammed in over one week in a small town.

“A lot of people’s insides are about to start being on the outside.”

Meet Jade Daniels, my new favourite outcast.

“Town reject, nice to meet you.”

Jade’s exterior is basically armour covered in spikes but beneath the surface there’s, well, more sharp, stabby things. But beneath that is someone I want to be friends with. She even reminded me a little of me, the weirdo who word vomits about their obsession to everyone in the vicinity, not that anyone asked.

Despite having an encyclopaedic knowledge of slasher films, Jade lives knowing that she can never be a final girl herself. She’s simply not pure enough. This doesn’t stop Jade from desperately wanting a slasher to turn her hometown red, though.

“Real final girls only want the horror to be over. They don’t stay up late praying to Craven and Carpenter to send one of their savage angels down, just for a weekend maybe. Just for one night. Just for one dance, please? One last dance?”

Finally, she sees the signs that her dream may, in fact, be coming true. Although her current slasher theory may very well be right, Jade has a reputation in this town, so for the longest time she might as well be Cassandra. After all, who’s going to take the “weird horror chick” seriously?

It’s been four weeks since I finished this book and I’m still thinking about Jade on a daily basis. I want to tell you all of the things I loved about her but I loved everything about Jade, from her resilience to her ‘stay away from me’ vibe to her enthusiasm about all things horror. Jade is over the top in the best possible way.

“She’s gonna be there front-row, shoving popcorn in, maybe wearing a clear poncho and goggles against all the blood.”

It took me about a chapter to get used to the writing style but, even as I was adjusting, I felt a great big hook pulling me along for the ride. I looked forward to Jade’s Slasher 101 essays, which made me want to sit down and have an extended discussion with her (and her creator).

“To put it in conclusion, sir, final girls are the vessel we keep all our hope in. Bad guys don’t just die by themselves, I mean. Sometimes they need help in the form of a furie running at them, her mouth open in scream, her eyes white hot, her heart forever pure.”

With one of the most bingeworthy list of movies ever included in a single novel, I’m convinced a movie night with the author needs to be on my bucket list.

“Want to go to a horror movie with me?”

This is my first Stephen Graham Jones read but this is only the beginning for me. I can’t wait to catch up on everything I’ve missed.

Content warnings include alcoholism, attempted suicide, self harm, and sexual assault.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

There have been at least two other recent horror novels about slasher films. The James Patterson-lite The Final Girls by Riley Sagar, the criminally disappointing The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (review here). In much the same way as film directors in the 80s suddenly rediscovered the monster movies of the 50s (The Thing, The Blob, Invaders from Mars, etc), it feels like sufficient time has passed for these decades old films to be re-invented by the modern creators who grew up with them. Stephen Graham Jones’s My Heart is a Chainsaw joins this mini-wave and the good news is that it’s far better than either of the books that preceded it. In fact it’s quite brilliant.
Set in 2015 (for reasons that become clear in the afterword), it follows slasher obsessed Jade. A 17-year old of mixed Native American/European heritage who struggles to find happiness and purpose in the small rural American town, a place about to be taken over by the millionaires who are building a secluded settlement nearby. Following the discovery of the body of a tourist, Jade’s slasher movie conspiracy theories seem to be coming true as locals start to die and a new girl she identifies as a final girl starts at her high school.
As in his excellent, The Only Good Indians, Jones mixes commentary on the plight of America’s rural poor with out and out horror. My Heart is a Chainsaw has an easier narrative style than the more complex earlier book. The plot moves like a freight train as Jade finds her suspicions ignored by the local sheriff and her teachers, even as the body count rises. The sense of the helplessness of teens in the face of dismissive adults is palpable and adds wonderfully to the overall tension. Jones also does a fantastic job of keeping the reader guessing as to the credibility of Jade’s theories.
Neurotic and misunderstood, Jade is a wonderful protagonist, one who it’s impossible not to root for, even when you don’t know whether to believe her. Her pain and frustration seep from the page and her determination to do what she believes is right, even when the cost to her is great, feels almost inspirational.
Best of all for horror fans, Jade’s dissection of slasher lore and constant references to classic movies is beautifully woven into the tale. In other books this can feel like a gimmick, here it works perfectly, drawing the reader into Jade’s world. What’s more, Jones’s knowledge of the sub-genre is impressive to say the least, meaning this may be the best ever blending of fiction and movie criticism.
It’s been a long time since a horror novel as fresh, readable and powerful as My Heart is a Chainsaw has come along. This is the book The Final Girl Support Group wanted to be. It intelligently examines and plays with the genre without ever descending into naval gazing, it’s gripping, gory and fun from page one, and in Jade it has a truly memorable, believable heroine

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw’ by Stephen Graham Jones in exchange for an honest review. As the audiobook was released, I did a dual read/listen for an immersive experience.

Last year I read Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘The Only Good Indians’ and just loved it. So I was very excited for this novel, especially on learning that its premise was focused on slasher films.

Jade Daniels is a half-Native American teenager living with her dad in Proofrock, a rapidly gentrifying rural lake town in Idaho. She is just one class away from graduating high school and in order to complete her local history course she is composing an epic essay on a unifying theory of slasher films. In it, she is incorporating local folklore and history including ‘Camp Blood’, an abandoned summer camp where a murderous rampage took place fifty years ago.

When Letha Mondragon arrives at school, Jade identifies her as the Final Girl, a key component in slasher films, and is convinced than an irreversible sequence of events has been set into motion.

As tourists go missing and tensions rise between her local community and the wealthy newcomers building mansions on the other side of Indian Lake, Jade is prepared for the killer to rise. She is convinced that it will all come to a head on the 4th July, when the town gathers on the water to celebrate. Of course, there are people in Jade’s life that question whether she is delusional or compensating for more mundane horrors.

This is the second novel that I have read recently that focuses upon the concept of the ‘Final Girl’, a term that I hadn’t encountered before, even if it makes a great deal of sense as a major trope of the slasher genre.

Following a shocking opening chapter this was more a slow burn character-led novel, which then switched gears for its breathtaking, extremely gory conclusion.

Like Jade’s brain the novel was packed with references to slasher films. I caught quite a few, though by no means all.

This was a great deal of fun, as only well written comic horror can be; though its more than ghost masks and big knives and also integrates themes such as alienation, racism, mental health, abuse, and other social issues including the town’s increasing economic divide.

I enjoyed the time I spent with Jade, in many ways a kindred spirit to my teenage self. I was amused by the description of her fascination with Letha Mondragon’s ‘incredible’ hair at their first meeting. Throughout I admired her wry, snarky views on life and her undeniable courage.

In his acknowledgments Stephen Graham Jones writes about the genesis of the novel and his own appreciation of the slasher genre.

Overall, I found ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw’ very much my kind of horror novel. It is well written, literary, and multilayered: addressing serious issues while continuing to honour the traditions of its genre. It is genuinely frightening yet with dark humour and self-awareness running through it.

Stephen Graham Jones has quickly become one of my ‘must read’ authors and I look forward to exploring his back catalogue as well as news of upcoming projects.

Certainly highly recommended for fans of intelligent horror.

Conclusion:
Absolutely can’t recommend this one enough! I enjoyed The Only Good Indians so much but this one is my new favourite by Stephen Graham Jones. Recommended for readers who enjoy horror of all sorts, psychological and dark fiction styles, lovers of the slasher genre and supernatural tales. A must-read!

Review:
The protagonist of My Heart is a Chainsaw is Jade Daniels, a seventeen year old Native American girl living in Proofrock , Idaho. Derived by her peers, obsessed with slasher movies to hide a darker personal betrayal than a town that ignores her, Jade is trapped by the bleakness of her position, unable to escape living with her alcoholic father and shunned by Proofrock. What Jades wants more than anything is revenge for being unseen. When two Swedish travellers are murdered in Indian Lake, the manner suggestive of a local legend, a child called Stacey Graves or the ‘Lake Witch’ who has historically been blamed for many murders over the generations in Proofrock. Jade believes this is the beginning of her chance to see Proofrock punished for ignoring her abuse and her.
On the opposite side of Indian Lake is Terra Nova, the once-national park and Shoshone territory, now a construction site for incredibly wealthy families called the Founders. Jade strikes an unlikely friendship with Letha, daughter of one of the Founders and in Jade’s senior year. In the ensuring carnage and slowly rising body count, the identity of the murderer remains unclear, the reason for the slayings equally puzzling as threads of people’s lives cross and some are cut permanently. One thing Jade is certain about is that Letha is the Final Girl of Proofrock, the only one who can destroy the slasher in the very real reckoning for Proofrock. But Jade is forced to confront the realisation that slashers are fictional, following a genre while real life does not. Forced into grim reality, Jade tackles the wrathful supernatural force of Stacey Graves and finds her own heart is a chainsaw, roaring into being with a powerful need to survive, defend herself and those few like Letha she cares about.

Final Thoughts:
My Heart is a Chainsaw was a wonderful exploration of the slasher genre which combines supernatural elements boosted by Graham Jones’s characteristic style: tensioning the unknown with sudden shocks of horror. It works beautifully and is so skilfully done, it drives the story forward, keeps the reader on edge, waiting for the next sudden shock. There are strong characters and some explorations of very dark themes which give such a strong literary quality to the novel. Although My Heart is a Chainsaw felt a little slow to get into focus, once it did, it was impossible to stop reading.

This book is not for a slasher movie novice. As much as I enjoyed all the references in the book I am a horror film enthusiast and I feel unlike other horror authors who do a similar thing this book isn't as acsessable to someone who isn't a huge fan of the genre and alot of the references would be lost.
I personally found Jade to he really annoying and not written well at all, although I could sympathize with her life and issues she was dealing with I found her actions to be a bit all over the place and her thoughts were erratic and very clearly written from a male perspective.
This book delivered when it came to the gore however the 60% build up to 40% action ratio just didn't pay off for me as I felt the build was far too slow and not in keeping with a slasher films pacing which is something I would have expected here.

✨ "Horror's not a symptom. It's a love affair."

This book is brilliant and probably one of the biggest homages to the slasher genre ever. It's essentially a love letter to slashers and took the author 10 years to craft.

Not only does it pay tribute to beloved franchises (Scream, Friday The 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street), it even discusses lesser-known films (Cry Wolf and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane) as well as obscure ones that I've never heard of. Heck, it even makes a solid argument about why Jaws is more slasher than monster film.

And yet it failed to wow me.

I didn't mind the slow burn or that it's literary horror rather than thriller or suspense. The biggest issue for me was the writing, which I found terribly confusing and couldn't connect with. Long sentences that run on aside, I couldn't picture or visualise most of what was being described. In just the opening chapter alone, I had problems telling whether a character was on a boat or in the water.

I spent lots of time re-reading sentences + flipping back and forth to make sense of what was going on, which made it hard for me to enjoy the book. Even then, I didn't really understand what was happening. And till now, I am still clueless.

To me, it was just the protagonist rambling on non-stop about slashers and rambling to other characters about why a slasher is truly unfolding in her town. There were also a lot of pop culture references. Some might say too many. I'm not sure if the references would even make sense to less hardcore fans of horror.

To give you an idea of how confused I was while reading the book, let's just say till now I still have no idea whodunit and who actually survived.

I freaking love horror and slashers, but this is sadly not the book or author for me.

Stephen Graham Jones has done it again.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is another home-run from a horror mastermind. He expertly weaves truly terrifying moments with a socially conscious and fiercely intelligent tale that you won’t be able to forget.

Right from the menacing opening scene, Jones proves that he is a master of the genre. It has this incredibly intense atmosphere and charge to it that starts the domino effect of sprawling chaos, death and destruction. For me, it felt like a classic horror film opening and instantly filled me with dread. Very rarely have I read an opening that feels as perfect as this one. It’s blood-soaked, gorey and promises many more horrors to come. Jones is a master of crafting an exquisite atmosphere. He seems to channel the shadows that move in the dark and the glimmers of what lurks within them. Well done horror lingers on your mind, allowing you to create your own worst fears and Jones exploits this perfectly. Also, there’s a fervent exploration of societal issues, including a deep-rooted exploration of childhood trauma that seeps into all the blood and gore. I thought Jones explored this with such nuance and a unique lens that really stays with you. It’s not used as a cheap twist, more as a heart-breaking realisation that the reader has seen glimpses of all along.

Jones has truly smashed it out of the park once more with a slow-burning horror novel that fully immerses you inside the tangled and foggy mind of Jade before all hell breaks loose. I was absolutely fascinated by Jade and her horror film obsessed mindspace. Through this, Jones is able to interrogate conventions of the genre as Jade sees them present themselves in the events unfolding around her. It exposes the machinery whirring behind the tales and elements of predictability, only for Jones to constantly upend every expectation you may have. I loved the slower pacing, which became a masterclass of suspense and tension. You can feel the hairs on your arm stand up at the menace of the oncoming storm, but you are kept waiting on the edge of your seat for it to arrive. This is next level brilliance that I adored. Of course, once the storm hits, you’re in for a bloody, gory madcap mess that you just fly through.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is another brilliantly immersive and introspective horror novel from a powerhouse of the genre.

The second book I’ve read this year that riffs on classic slasher movies, after Grady Hendrix’ Final Girl Support Group. Must be something in the air, I guess. This is a darker book than that one, with some real horror at its heart.
Our lead character Jade is a troubled teen, who is trying to navigate the difficulties of her life by constructing a persona based around slasher films.
The middle of the book is a slow burn, as other reviewers have pointed out, but it’s not wasted space as we get further into Jade’s head, and also get to piece together some of the things she’s not telling us about herself (like her name, for a start). The ending delivers plenty of blood and excitement, but the real emotional punch comes in the last few sentences with their pointer to a life that could have and should have been.
It’s funny that a book celebrating one of the most exploitative horror genres turns out to be a nuanced and sensitive character study, which I guess just goes to show that you can have your cake and stab it after all.

My Heart is a Chainsaw was such an anticipated read for me. A book that is described as Shirley Jackson meets Friday the 13th? Yes please! The first chapter in this book was everything that I was anticipating. It gives serious slasher vibes and made me so excited to continue reading. However for me it went a little downhill after that. It took me a while to get used to the writing style (this was my first Stephen Graham Jones book so I'm not sure if this style of writing is common for him) and although I did fully love the slasher references I felt that they were a little plentiful and muddled the story somewhat. Some parts I did need to re-read in order to try to fully grasp what was going on and I spent most of the first third being confused. HOWEVER. The last third of the book.... just wow. Things get real crazy and it give me everything I wanted and more. It took a turn that completely threw me and then just kept on giving. Overall it's a very mixed review from me but I would recommend this to horror fans, especially those who love slasher movies as the references will have you fangirling hard.