Tell me a story... about the Golden Age of slashers
My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
Expected publication date: August 31, 2021
Date read: May 11, 2021
Jade is obsessed with slasher films. She's seen them all, and she knows all the rules. The one thing she wishes for most is for a real-life slasher to come to her town and take care of all the people she hates. When the first body turns up, Jade is prepared. But this is real life... will it really play out the way Jade believes it will?
I finished this book a week ago, but I needed time to process it to figure out how I feel about it. My first thought was that the pacing needed work. The book starts out fast and bloody, and then not a whole lot happens until about the half-way mark. Looking back, I do feel that this slower section was needed to develop Jade as a person, but I'll admit that I found it dragging. Jade is honestly not the easiest character to like, and her obsession with slashers starts out kind of fun, but eventually had me questioning her sanity. Once the bodies started dropping, the pace definitely picked up and the book had one of the most entertaining horror climaxes I've read in a while. I'd say that the book was definitely worth it in the end, but the middle was not what I was expecting. So don't go into this one expecting high action and fast pacing.
I read The Only Good Indians by this author last year and he definitely has a style: slow pacing broken up by moderate gore. Good writing and worth it for the payoff, but neither was a fast read for me. I think I liked Indians a little bit more than this one, but only because I liked the main character a little bit more. I had a hard time identifying with Jade until pretty close to the end.
It's hard to say more about this book without dropping into spoiler territory, which I'm trying really hard not to do. Overall, this was a good read. Slow start, but with a payoff that made it worth the wait, in my opinion. Also, while I'm not a horror aficionado, I do enjoy the genre, and the number of references in this book, both obscure and popular, were pretty fun. I often found myself on imdb looking up a title or actor to learn more about a particular film.
Do I recommend this book? Yes. But go into it prepared. I thought a book about a slasher would be more action-packed, but that's not the way this author writes. Worth the read, but know what kind of book you're reading.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
