I was excited to dig into the new Stephen Graham Jones book, since I've enjoyed everything he's written. This is a supernatural revenge story that does not hold back when it comes to pushing the envelope on what's emotionally brutal and chilling. The only issue I had with it was uneven pacing. The story starts with bang, and then that momentum is stalled when the next character is introduced and we have to wait for that story to build up and then that happens again. I will say the climaxes after each peak is well worth the wait. Stephen Graham Jones has always been an expert at ripping my heart out and this is no exception.

The Only Good Indians was a very unique read for me. I liked the story, but as an avid reader of horror it was a bit hard for me to get used to the pace of this book. It was definitely creepy and like I said the story itself was interesting (I especially enjoyed learning more about some of the American Indian cultures/traditions that were included in the story) but the writing style was a bit slow for me. It was hard for me to really get into the story because of the pace unfortunately. There were moments which might have been much more effective/scary if not for the slower pace. By the time I got to the "twist" or the actual bigger parts of the story I had already guessed what was about to happen and it detracted from the real feeling of it for me. I believe the author's intention was to draw out some of the moments, prolonging the creepy factor, and at times this was successful, but mostly there was so much detail given that instead of prolonging the scare it made me want to skip all the extra and get to the moment I've already guessed will happen so it would feel more real to me. Although the writing didn't work for me as far as suspense goes, it was quite effective for wonderful character development and I liked that each character was flawed but again developed enough to make them likable anyways or really not likable but because they aren't meant to be. This was a difficult book for me to review because though I liked the story and the characters and even the writing, I didn't like the writing for this genre. The slow pace just didn't fit the style/genre of the story well and instead detracted from it. I would love to read more if this author, but in another genre if written because I think I'd really enjoy his writing when used to convey a story not meant to scare. Thank you to Net Galley and Stephan Graham Jones for letting me read this book. This book wasn't for me, but I truly do think this author could be.

Have you ever really been looking forward to a book, then you start it and go “when is this going to pick up?” Yeah, that was me with this book. I have never read Mr Jones before so maybe all of his books are written like this one, I’m not sure. It took until 15-20% for something to even happen. Horror is a singular experience, meaning what one person finds scary someone else will think isn’t. This was not scary to me. It was original and I liked seeing the current world through the eyes of an American Indian, which is why I gave it 3 stars instead of 2. And it had wayyyy too much basketball.

The Only Good Indians tells the eerie story of a timely descent into a haunting existence stemming from a tragic event occurring ten years earlier. Using memories and guilt, author Stephen Graham Jones builds a strong revenge arc using characters that are revealing and tangled to the point of disturbing realism. The payoff is enormous if the reader is willing and dares to invest in the chilling writing talent of Stephen Graham Jones.

This book started off being super eerie and it's definitely a slow read. For me though, unfortunately, I couldn't stick with this book about halfway through. I'm not saying it's a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me. There are a lot of raving reviews on Goodreads for this title, and I recommend you definitely check it out if you're intrigued.

Stephen Graham Jones’s new book shows the unfolding fate of four close friends, American Indians of the Blackfeet Nation, who seem to have run afoul of something in the spirit world. I say “seem to” because the author is skillfully strategic in how he unpacks the story and how he presents reality (blending a hard-edged reality of life for Indians on and off the Reservation with the surreal in a way in which the reader isn’t quite sure what’s real.)

This is horror, and it chills and terrifies as horror readers might hope for, but it’s not just horror. (By that I mean it’s not the gruesome elements that make the book, they just make it more visceral.) The story builds characters that one is fond of and can empathize with, and it even sneaks in a moral (which is the best way for a story to have a moral.)

We learn about the demise of the first friend, Ricky, in a prologue -- an end that everyone believes resulted from Ricky getting beat to death by some modern-day cowboys outside a bar. There is a ten-year jump cut, and the first half of the book tells us about Lewis, who has moved off the reservation and is living with a pretty caucasion woman that everybody – including Lewis – realizes is out of Lewis’s league. Lewis is increasingly losing his mind. We know that, but what we can’t be sure of is whether it’s the run-of-the-mill kind of losing one’s mind, or whether it’s the kind of crazy that is the only reasonable response to an even more insane world.

The remainder of the book tells us about Gabe and Cassidy, the two friends who’ve continued to live on the reservation and are still in close contact. Gabe, we learn, has a failed marriage that resulted in one child, a girl with prodigious talent for basketball. He’s prone to over-drinking and was issued a restraining order to keep him from going to his daughter’s ball games – an order that fails to keep him from attending but succeeds in getting him to tone down his expressions of pride and support. Cassidy is shown as the responsible one, but one is led to believe that is the recent result of a relationship with a woman, Jo, who has had a calming influence on him. Jo’s success in straightening out Cassidy creates a strain in the bro-mance between the two friends.

I don’t read much horror, but was hooked by this book. The characters are developed and interesting enough that one isn’t just waiting for the moments when the axe drops (that’s an expression, don’t expect actual axe-induced fatalities.) In between, one is enrapt with questions like whether Gabe can thaw his relation with his daughter, and whether the next generation will end up better off, worse off, or the same as that of the four friends. Throughout there’s this issue of the characters having one foot in the past (traditional Indian tribal life) and one in the modern world, and that is an uneasy and unappealing spot to be in – too little of the community and confidence of the tribe and too little of the wealth and well-being of modernity.

I highly recommend this book for fiction readers.

Review Copy

This was both an easy and a difficult book to read. It started out very slowly, didn't really get moving until about almost 30% in, but then...then...it kicked in. It's a story that hopefully will teach people that not all beliefs are the same and one (or some) may be as correct as another.

Woah. This book is insane. Rarely does a book leave me feeling as horrified as this one did. Slow pace but I think that made the shock of what was happening in certain scenes even better.

Stephen Graham Jones' upcoming horror novel, The Only Good Indians is an #ownvoices story of several Native American men in Blackfeet Nation and how one decision has affected them in their current surroundings. These four men are battle against a vengeful deity of some kind that is seeking revenge on this group. It seeks out those who love them and the closest people in their circle—and doesn't have sympathy for who it takes down.

My review will be short, because obviously it's a negative one, but I really think that many will actually enjoy The Only Good Indians . I think this was just a bad combination of me and the author's work. I just could not get into the writing style provided in this novel, and it left me frustrated and confused at times. Sadly, it turned me off from anything going forward with this story. We are just a bad combination.

However, the societal commentary that The Only Good Indians provides eye-opening portrayals of Native Americans in America. Although this book was not for me, I think anyone interested in a good ole horror story should definitely give it a try. You can't like them all!

The Only Good Indians is unlike any book I've read, and I read a LOT. The plot concerns four friends, members of the Blackfeet tribe. The four hung out since they were kids, struggling with addiction, poverty and the other trials of living on the reservation in North Dakota. A "great idea" goes horribly wrong and soon people start dying - people closest to the four involved. Jones puts you right in the middle of the lives of Ricky, who dies in the first chapter, then Lewis, Gabe and Cass (Cassidy) writing with humor, great character develpment, then very vivid descriptions of the disasters that begin to happen to each of the men, ten years from the day of that first incident. Jones paints a vivid picture of life on and off the rez and of the people who try to escape, then rise above the hardship they were born into. The three remaining men, grown up and trying to live a good life have to deal with the consequences of actions they''ve all but forgotten.

This is an excellent horror story - not the most horrific or scary that I've read, but pretty darn close. The ending was very satisfying, poignant, but believable. I'd like to read other works by Stephen Graham Jones, but I'll make sure its light out when I do!!

The book was very unique. I just had a hard time getting through parts of it because of the way it was written.
Because of that awkwardness, I did not feel that I could rate this higher. However, I know that many people found this book frightening so I don't want stop anyone from picking this one up.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read and review.

Seeing the many positive reviews, I expected a good read. This was not it. I made it through half of the book before just giving up. My opinion is definitely in the minority so you may like this book.

The Indian life described is bleak. The four main characters were trying to hold onto the old ways when they went out hunting for elk before thanksgiving. Lewis could not believe the elk he shot through the spine was not dead. This is the start of his undoing.

The story just didn't hold my interest. I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Simon and Schuster through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.
#TheOnlyGoodIndians #NetGalley

I am going to be an outlier in review of this book. Lots of great reviews, I just wasn't feeling it and it was a struggle to get through this one. I like a good horror/thriller/mystery and this one just wasn't it for me.
I appreciate and understand the supernatural aspect with the elk, the revenge, the "karma" so to speak, but it wasn't scary, it wasn't gory, it wasn't mysterious - it was wrapped in an obscure writing style that tried too hard to be something it just wasn't for me.
I am grateful for the ARC, and I got through it, but it was not a fave of mine by far.

I had previously read another novel by Stephen Graham Jones and loved what came of it, so when I saw that this new novel was available, I jumped at the chance to get a preview, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. I think the horror of the novel was memorable, it was visceral. Jones brought injustice up to the plate and eviscerated it in a terrifying way that spanned generations. I think the brutality of it all managed to never be too much, even though there were times when it was beyond unsettling. The ending was one of my favorite parts, because it dragged us back from the horror and into the reality of it all again. This novel will make you uncomfortable, it will make you worry and laugh, and it won’t let you put it down.

So, I feel a little guilty about this one. I REALLY enjoyed the writer's style, language, characters, and imagery and tried many many times to keep pushing through reading the book. There's just too much animal suffering described (way too well, thanks to this awesome author) for me to stomach it. Which makes me really sad. I'm going to read some of Stephen Graham Jones' other books though, because I liked the writing so much.

This was great story and I really enjoyed the book. Stephen Graham Jones is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The story is from 4 different perspectives all connected by 1 event in the 4 men's past. Toward the end as it switches focus and ties everything together it becomes a different story again and very intriguing. Highly recommended. I will be reading more of Jones' work for sure.

So, this book is not *bad*, it just isn't for me. I'm not a fan of surreal horror that doesn't feel grounded in reality enough, but I know many people really like that stuff. (For example, White Tears by Hari Kunzru.) So, not my jam but I can see it really being other people's cup of tea.

This is the first book I've read from Jones but definitely not the last. I kept thinking of what Ann Radcliffe said about horror writing while I read this; roughly that "terror" is the feeling that precedes an event, while "horror" is the revulsion felt during/after said event. Jones absolutely nails both of these again and again throughout the narrative while veering in and out of 3rd person close which I appreciated. As a reader, I like getting as close as possible to multiple characters instead of being stuck in one mind.
There were some places where the prose got sticky and I found myself reading and re-reading passages to make sense of them which kept me from 5 stars but not sure if that's just his style or things that a copy editor might massage out before publication.

Four American Indian hunting illegally on tribal elder land run afoul of a dangerous entity in Stephen Graham Jones' latest, The Only Good Indians. This book is a fantastic trip, mixing the classic horror trope of a pissed off entity of nature with some timely social and environmental commentary. Graham Jones expertly utilizes different point of views and characters to flesh out the story, and each main figure in the story has a complex and often sympathetic backstory.

Of course, a horror story wouldn't have legs if the scares weren't there, and Graham Jones does not disappoint here either. There are various passages that are difficult to read, and the creeping tension in the first third of the book is a particular highlight. Despite the terror, it's the book's ultimate message of cautious hope that ends up being Graham Jones' finest accomplishment: the ability to stare bleakness in the face and see glimmers of light.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Gallery, Pocket Books**

I will be honest. I found this book a little confusing and it didn't hold my interest. I am a tough read, this I will admit. A book has to grab me from the start or at least suck me in after chapter or two. This did neither, and for that I am sorely disappointed. I've seen the good reviews it has gotten by members of the horror community, but frankly it did nothing for me.