Stephen Graham Jones

In this final installment of the Indian Lake trilogy, Jade is no longer a teenager, no longer an inmate and, thanks to the influence of her best friend, Letha, she's making a stab at adulthood teaching history at Proofrock high school. Sure, she's still smoking a lot and maybe not sleeping much, but she's retired from the final girl stuff, getting therapy, and even wearing pantyhose and sensible heels to work. So when some local kids go missing, it's not her problem anymore. And when a head rolls through the middle of the school car line, her only involvement is in babysitting the new sheriff's toddler. But Jade can't just opt out of what's happening and soon enough she'd drawn across the lake once again.

In any trilogy, the final book has to pull everything together while also providing larger stakes and in this regard this book delivers. This isn't a book that will make sense when read out of order, but if you've read the previous two books, you'll find this to be a satisfying ending, even if Stephen Graham Jones is far too eager to kill off favorite characters. Adult Jade is still prickly, but she's also oddly empathetic, understanding the trauma of the people around her and hoping to help them. There's more gore and jump scares than ever. Jones has a read love of slasher movies.… (més)

I was super excited to be granted an ARC copy of this book, the third in the Lake Witch trilogy written by Stephen Graham Jones. The first two books, My Heart is a Chainsaw, and Don’t Fear the Reaper were big, splattery tales of slashers gone wild, with metadoses of pop horror culture Easter eggs to lure in the hardcore horror movie fans. Or even the softcore ones. Angel is no different in this regard. It is often times an exploded, pulpy mess of confusion, but that’s what the truest forms of the horror genre are, I suppose. Lots of twisted trails of our blood soaked nightmares. I'm trying too hard to evoke images of guts and gore, I know. But that’s what the trilogy is; Jade Daniels, the Native American final girl who can never be that. A final girl.

This story brings Jade back to Proofrock, the idyllic little lakeside community in Idaho that has become one of America's top destinations for murder. Jade returns after being incarcerated for her crimes from the first two books, and after enduring some state mandated therapy. But she’s out and she’s back, and she’s snagged a teacher position at her old high school, thanks to online college courses and friends with money in high places. As Jade pops pills to help her stay sane, it happens again. Students go missing, wind up dead, and ultimately have a connection with Jade and her obsession with horror.

I feel like Jones felt the pressure of having to top the frenetic pacing of books one and two here, but as is the case with many a part three story ( especially in film), the attempt doesn’t always hit the mark. This does not mean that I wasn’t entertained. Far from it… But some of the deaths/mayhem felt gratuitous. And by gratuitous, I mean deaths that just happened without provocation. I’m talking Tucker and Dale level accidents. Some of the deaths were certainly unexpected but also random, as in Final Destination random, but they didn’t feel intrinsic here.

That having been said, I feel like the number of relevant shocks and surprises outweighed the baseless ones. Favorite characters are not safe here, and the first one to go (for me) had me shouting “you bastard," at Jones—in a good way. We see everything from Jade's POV, which can be challenging because she’s not a linear thinker, but it’s true to character so be prepared. Also, reading the first two books is essential.

I think two of my favorite things about how this story was laid out, were the asides written by an investigative firm about Jade's mental state and progress after jail (yes, Mr. Jones, sir. I’m calling it jail too), and the one story thread that had me comparing Jade to Ripley in Aliens. If there is one person to focus on saving, that’s the one.

And finally, thanks to Mr. Jones and Saga Press for providing the ARC. It was one wild ride!… (més)