The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

The Only Good Indians is the story of four friends desperately trying to escape the consequences of a night ten years in the past. A night where they took too much from the hunt and now an entity is out to get its comeuppance. A horror story woven with American Indian culture. A sizzling tension… a low growl for dozens and dozens of pages until a snap of the teeth. I was shocked by the frequent twists. Told is an urgent style that puts the reader in the hip pocket of the narrator, lodged in there with a skinning knife and a history of violence.

I read many horror novels and stories of the supernatural, and this one blended the real and the mind-f*cking so blisteringly well. There are several scenes at the beginning of the book where one of the men, Lewis, sees a ghost or image of a long-lost nightmare. He spends parts of several chapters trying to recreate the imagining in an effort to find its origin. Jones describes this obsession with such a circular way that I felt all wrapped in the character’s mind. A nightmare of justifications and promises to change and move on start to turn Lewis on himself and others in his life. This is just one character, but Jones follows through in the rest of the novel. Gore and all!

Read this one for a shock or six. And plenty of excellent writing that will get you into the heart and head of evil.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Saga Press, and the author for an advanced copy for review.