Brutal.

Heartbreaking.

Beautiful.

The Only Good Indians, by Stephan Graham Jones, was a must read for me the moment I saw the cover and read the description…and it did not disappoint.

The author manages to break your heart and build up your hope time and time again.

While I loved the cultural perspective here, I reveled in the nuanced horror story the author brought us. The mix of horror and pure beauty was stunning.

A truly outstanding read!

*ARC via Net Galley

This is such a unique story! Four young men from the Blackfeet nation illegally hunt elk one day and don't realize that they are putting their lives at risk. One by one they are tracked down by an entity that wants revenge for that day. I like the contemporary setting in Montana and how they joke with each other about being Indian. It is one of the weirdest books I have ever read (in a good way that is).

This is a spectacular novel from a modern master of Macabre fantasy. It slots right in between Straub's Ghost Story and M.R. James's "Martin's Close", bringing us a tale of otherworldly vengeance with a power and a narrative inventiveness that is at once propulsive and delightful. This book belongs on the bookshelf of any fan of the genre.

This one will stick with you for a while.I liked all of it- the characters, the setting, the writing. everything. This is the story of 4 Blackfeet youths that hunt on reserved land for tribal Elders and what it cost them. It's a story of revenge, loss, broken hearts and lastly, hope. SGJ is a master story teller and i hope to read a lot more from him in the future.

It took me a little bit to get into this book - partially due to my own distractions and partially because I found the beginning of the book a little hard to follow - but I am very glad I kept going, because it hooked me once I was about 1/5 of the way in and then I blew through the rest of it. This is a spooky-weird book in the best way and made me feel like I was watching a slow-motion disaster unfold without being able to turn away or stop it from happening. I liked that it address some of the issues and realities of being Native at the same time it is a horror story - also while suggesting the realities of being Native in this country can be a horror story of its own - and yet, it leaves some hope alive with the way it unfolds. The mark of a good book, for me, is measured partly in how much it lingers, and this one keeps coming back to me. I’m glad I got a chance to read it early!

What the fuck did I just read???
This gave the creeps the whole way through. More than just a horror story. The Only Good Indians tells a story many do not understand. A story of honor and history. Forgetten rules and traditions. What is like being a Indian in the white mans world. Highly recommended to everyone. You will question eating in game meat ever again.

Shocking, terrifying at times and thought provoking, this novel is a must-read for lovers of horror & suspense. I can't wait to read more from this author!

The Only Good Indian. This was a beautiful story, with a wonderful underlying message about respecting all life. It’s horrific and melancholy. My one true critique is it was at times a bit long winded.

What do you need to know about this book? Some young men, a while ago killed elk, and now we have a revenge tale, where the elk is coming back to kill these men. A bit convoluted, maybe? I have looked forward to this book for ages. And it started off amazingly. However, about 1/2 way in, I found my mind wandering while I was reading, and suddenly I didn't care. I hate that. So much. This may be a book I have to go back and try to reread. I looked through some of the previous reviews and many people really liked it. Based on the beginning and how into I was, I can't give the book a crappy rating. But because it didn't hold my interest like I wanted to, I can't give it a high one either. Maybe I'll reread it some day.

As always, this rating and review won't stop me from reading works by this author in the future. For whatever reason, this one just didn't settle with me. Mostly disappointed more than anything.

The Only Good Indians comes out 5.19.2020.

3/5 Stars

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Damn. That was brutal. And devastating. I feel like I got sucker punched. A few times.
Native American storytelling is woven into the story of four friends who really mess up and have to face the consequences. And those consequences are harsh, terrifying and unforgiving. There is gore and A+ level horror shock factors. I could never guess what would happen next.

The writing is absolutely masterful and suspenseful.

The Only Good Indians didn’t pull any punches, and it shows. Out in May 2020! Pre-order now!

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Only Good Indian, by Stephen Graham Jones

There were parts of this novel that i really liked, but some that I had to really slog through to get to the meaty bits.
Basketball, meh. Not my cup of tea. Indians, well, yeah, I watched westerns growing up.
But these aren’t those Indians. They’re real Indians, not made up ones that served as foils for the Duke. More like the ones that rode next to the Lone Ranger, who had a lot of pride and were seeking their own place in the world.
What starts out as something normal, takes a sharp left turn behind a garbage dumpster and comes out on the other side all wonky and twisted and not-quite-to-true.
Some parts were a little unbelievable (but shouldn’t fiction always be a little unbelievable?), but some rang solid.
I was left a little shell shocked. Who were the good guys? Who were the bad guys in this story?
Maybe, more like, there are no good or bad guys or good or bad animals. We’re all creatures doing what we’ve been bred and taught to do. We do what comes natural, but there is always another side of that coin, isn’t there?
One action that seems to have no importance to anything at all, becomes the linchpin that turns the world on its heels and drives the narrative for another decade. That changes the world forever for a few old friends
I recommend this book. Some parts were a little rough around the edges and it seemed to ramble at times, but the old car found its way out of the ruts and back onto the road time after time.
And, maybe ,like all good trips when the destination is reached, you will have seen more of the world than you had before and noticed things that were perhaps always right in front of your eyes but were hidden in the shadows.
And having gotten there, at last, you are happy that it’s over, but glad that you stayed in the car for the whole trip.
It was worth the ride.

I stayed in bed too late this morning finishing this book even as my kitten screamed at me and my dogs grumbled for food because I had to finish it and see how it ended and who, if anyone, would survive.⁣
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The Only Good Indians is the new realistic horror we need right now. An #ownvoices story of American Indian men in the Blackfeet tribe who made a choice ten years ago during an elk hunt gone wrong that comes back to haunt them. ⁣
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The characters are real, the gore is visceral and the end had me holding my breath until the last page.⁣
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Pre-order this now and block out May 19th on your calendar because you want this book!⁣
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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars for this one! One of the best books I've read this year! ⁣
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I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while. It's more than just a gory almost slasher horror book. It's extremely relevant as I live in a town where the police shot an unarmed Native man to death and have yet to charge the officer because ya know, police suck and prejudice is real.⁣

Each man who took part in the illegal elk hunt is trying to make his way through life being the best Indian he can be even while constantly thinking about all the things he's down that make him A Bad Indian. The elk hunt incident being one of the worst.
The way Stephen Graham Jones weaved the story along with bits of Native culture and history was fascinating and I found myself nodding along far too many times to parts of each man's life. About a 1/3rd of the way through the book switches narratives and takes a weird turn that had me screaming WTF IS GOING ON?!!! and after I caught up and realized what was happening and who was talking I loved it and really fell into the story, Super unique and different from anything I've ever read and I was so worried about the ending, but pleased with how it all closed down.

I even appreciated and enjoyed the acknowledgments where he thanks his dog for being the best.

This is my first Netgalley review, and The Only Good Indians did not disappoint.

I'd seen some of my favorite reviewers raving about this book on Twitter, so when I decided to try Netgalley, I was excited to see this was available.

The Only Good Indians is a revenge story, but it is so much more than that.

This story reads like an oral tradition. It is conversational and tangential, weaving in non-linear arcs and stumbling over memories. Jumping from character to character, but always in the same thread, the act the four friends committed connecting the strands together in a continuous loop.

Many of the issues faced on the reservation are highlighted in bold. SGJ doesn't shy away from stereotypes--in fact, he uses them to insert some humor into the heavier moments--and wants the reader to feel uncomfortable. Racism. Alcohol and drug abuse. Broken homes. Lack of education. These topics are covered gracefully and brutally, demanding to be seen and heard in a stark realness I appreciated from the first page.

It is a story about identity, about maintaining culture and figuring out how to be a "good Indian" in a modern-day world. Each character struggles with this in their own ways, from honoring the past without becoming beholden to it, preserving tradition while attempting to create a space in the present. This is a theme explored in many NA literary works, from Harjo to Alexie to Shihab Nye.

The construct of The Other is also extremely important to the characters, never feeling like they fit in; whether this alienation stems from the decision to leave the reservation, marrying a "Custer-hair woman," or being the stand-out on the basketball team, there is an underlying conflict of being separate from something and needing to be apart of it at the same time.

This is a horror story you're unlikely to find on your bookshelf already. Bloody, visceral, and heartfelt, The Only Good Indians will stick to your bones and haunt your dreams.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery for providing this title for review consideration.

This is a superb work of horror. I am honored and ecstatic to get to read this so much before its publication.

This is a revenge story unlike any I've ever read. The emotions are powerful, the characters are electric, and we ultimately have two intensely powerful female characters to rally behind. The monster is humanized, engaging, and sympathetic. The larger discussion beyond the horror elements is one of racism, systemic oppression, the overwhelming cycle of poverty and addiction, and the continuous mistreatment of Native American populations by the U.S. as a whole and its government. Despite this, there is a resounding and refreshing message of hope.

This book is honestly a wild ride. There is gore, body horror, and psychological thriller elements. Fair warning, there is quite a bit of violence against animals, but for the most part it feels like it's there for a purpose. I skimmed those sections because it isn't something I can personally handle, but it felt like part of a larger dialogue rather than violence for violence sake.

Stephen Graham Jones has blown it out of the park with this one for me, and I'm already excited to catch up on his early publications.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones is a wickedly well written horror story that went far above my expectations! It is an eerily creepy tale about a supernatural force of nature seeking revenge; honestly, this is not what I was expecting and I mean this in the most awesome way possible!

Mr. Jones wrote the characters so deeply fleshed which made for a really affecting reading experience; Fear, guilt, sadness, compassion, pity, anxiety, heart-break … There were a few times that I needed to break away to digest what I was reading and then I was right back in to the story, it’s that compelling. Along with the intensely written characters is Mr. Jones ability to draw the reader in slowly with vibrant descriptive narration and haunting prose that just drew me in deeper to the story. The Only Good Indian explores the culture of the Blackfeet Nation and I was fascinated with this story that is deeply rooted in Native American culture. This is one of the best horror stories that I’ve ever read!

A big thank you to NetGalley, Gallery/Saga Press, and Mr. Stephen Graham Jones for providing me with this book to read and review! It was a true pleasure!

Thanks for the AR Net Galley

You will not read a book like this in the next 12 I can tell you. Brutal and revenge filled there is no place for safe words in this story. Masterson and Lovecraft visions in a story of revenge where the old adage, "we all act like animals may be true"

I was fairly disappointed in this book. It seemed scattered, convoluted and the characters weren't really developed. Good plot, but for me, it just didn't deliver.

Rating: ★★★★★+

Synopsis

Peter Straub’s Ghost Story meets Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies in this American Indian horror story of revenge on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation, who were childhood friends, find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt ten years earlier by killing them, their families, and friends.

Review

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of The Only Good Indians in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this eARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

I have to agree with Entertainment Weekly that Stephen Graham Jones IS the Jordan Peele of horror fiction with this latest novel. The Only Good Indians is an extremely unsettling masterpiece that is destined for the big screen. It is a horror novel that will chill you to the bone, but one that will also leave you with a profound sense of hope. You will not be unmoved.

I have been a fan of SGJ’s for a while now, having loved his novel Mongrels (2016, William Morrow) and his latest novella, Mapping the Interior (2017, Tor.com), so to say I had to get my hands on this astounding piece of literature… you get the point. I mean, it isn’t even slated to be out until May 2020. This actually may be the quickest turn-around for an ARC I have ever received.

The Only Good Indians doesn’t start out at breakneck speed, allowing the reader to become familiar with the characters and environment, but as soon as Jones begins to sprinkle in the horror elements, attempting to set the book aside to gather your thoughts, let alone your breathe, is like attempting to stop a freight train barreling down on you. Having said that, around the halfway point of the novel, there is a bit of a slowdown that I didn’t see coming. It almost felt like the end of Book 1 and the start of Book 2, but as you progress along into the next few chapters, you will see that it is required to set up the 2nd half of the novel. This, by no means, detracted from my enjoyment of this book.

Though I came into this novel expecting to be terrified by the turn of the last page (which you will be, too. Trust me.), I wasn’t expecting to have my heart broken into a billion pieces on the way there and beyond. TOGI will eat away at your emotions until you are hollowed out, only to restore you by the time you hit the acknowledgements page. It is brutally beautiful in its execution and we as readers are not worthy of Stephen Graham Jones.

It isn’t even December yet.
2020 is still over a month and a half away.
I don’t even know all of the books set to publish next year. I literally haven’t compiled a list yet.
But one thing I do know is that The Only Good Indians has the first shot at being my #1 read of 2020 already, and it is going to be tough sledding for anyone to knock it from its perch.

Pre-order this book with confidence.