Horror is probably my favorite genre. That is where Jade and I connected. We are both horror fans. Jade however is horror obsessed.

This book is very well written. I literally felt as if I was in the frantically racing mind of a teenager. I felt every bit of anxiety, fear and excitement.

It did start off slow. I found myself struggling through some chapters just because I was bored, but it does pick up the pace.

I wasn’t really a fan of the slasher 101 chapters honestly, it made the book a bit manic of that makes sense?

Overall this was a great body of work. I see why this author is praised as he is.

Thank you to publisher and NetGalley!
Wow! This was a pulse racing and edge of my seat read. It was hard to stop reading and when I did I just wanted to start reading it again. Definite 5 star read!

My Heart is a Chainsaw.


My Mind is a Tree.
SGJ has carved it into a slasher-seaking monstrosity.

Stephen Graham Jones has, time and again, found an artery straight to places in my mind that live for his voice. His unique cadence takes a few pages, or even chapters to find, but I think it forces a reader to see the effort he puts into placing the right word into each and every sentence. His words resonate for months, YEARS after they find their place in my mind. This book was no different.

In Chainsaw he weaves a beautiful, unique story that will appeal to slasher officiants, dropping easter eggs like Ernest Cline did for 80s pop buffs in Ready Player One. However, for those who haven't loved, or frankly, those who dislike a lot of slasher cinema, he uses the references as a history lesson to reveal the themes and events which rule Jade's life. Honestly, the latter is me. I haven't found great entertainment from Slasher content, which is why it is so significant that SGJ once again burrowed in and showed me how, with the right voice, a slasher could be loved. It's made me want to experience more and that scares me.

Jade, our main character, is beautiful; whether she knows it or not. She is infinitely strong, vulnerable, relatable. Her struggle is your struggle as she spends the novel searching for her truth while fronting that she already knows who she is. All the while, we watch her fragile community fracture and nobody hears her voice. She knows what's happening, at least according to the rules of the slasher genre she lives by. We root for her, for her monsters, and watch out for the pitfalls of the red herrings (as Jade recommends). We read her essays and understand the game.

In the end, SGJ crushed me in a single sentence. The ending was beautifully constructed without holding back. I refuse to spoil a moment for any potential readers. But please, oh please, let Jade take you to slasher school.

Thank you Saga Press and Gallery books for the opportunity to read this in advance if it's release on August 31, 2021.

This book is classic SGJ, indulgent in the best way possible. Although it's very evident in the story itself, the beautiful afterward really captures how much of himself he put into Jade. She is the main driving force of this novel, giving vibrance to the world and the characters she interacts with. I do wonder if her voice could have shone through better in first person, but opinions on aesthetics will vary by person. The way her race is worked in is subtle and sharp, emphasizing the awkwardness young people like herself feel about their in-between/outsider status. SGJ's signature horror-logic conclusions were great here, and while I thought some of the action could have been condensed, no one can drop bodies like Jones.

I did not enjoy this one nearly as much as The Only Good Indians, which so far remains my favorite by him and is imo one of the strongest pieces of horror this century has seen. However, My Heart Is a Chainsaw is an exercise in love and respect for one's self and one's medium that is hard to deny. Also, you can always count on Jones for an ending that ties up the novel's themes in a most unexpectedly brilliant way.

Rating: 9.5/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of My Heart is a Chainsaw for review consideration. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is a laudable successor to Jones’s most recent work, The Only Good Indians. It is both harrowing and heart-wrenching in its execution, further cementing Jones as my go-to in horror literature. If you are a slasher fan in any sense of the word, this is a can’t-miss.

You have all probably heard me gushing about The Only Good Indians for almost two (2) years now. I read it nine (9) months before its release date – 7/14/20 – and still find opportunities to bring it up in conversation. It was a genre-changing read for me, and from what I can tell, the same can be said for many others. It narrowly missed out of being my #1 read in 2019 behind Black Crouch’s Recursion but I keep mulling it over and wonder if I made a mistake.

Now, we have the upcoming release of My Heart is a Chainsaw – 8/31/21. You can be assured that I will be doing the same thing this go-round.

This being written by Jones was enough for me to move it up the TBR pile, but this bit from the synopsis: “Jade feels like she’s trapped in a slasher film…” instantaneously hooked me. I cannot say that I am at the same level as Jade in slasher trivia (not by many, many miles), but I am always up for re-watches if the mood suites. Her knowledge of the genre mixed with how certain events align to fulfill her “prophecy” feels to me like something nostalgic horror fans would fall head over heels for, the way video game/cult classic film fans fell for Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (though Jones doesn’t really hit you over the head with the references, and then continue to bash your bloody corpse).

While there are moments where Jade has these internal conversations with herself that just ooze slasher references, Jones sandwiches “Slasher 101” chapters throughout the main storyline to further hammer home the love. This is all and well, but there is so much left to unpack here: gentrification, dredging up the past (literally), the pain we force ourselves to forget, our true purpose in live, etc. There is a lake-sized load of things I want to unload and comb through, but since I am one of the first to have read and reviewed this title, I’ll wait for some others to join the club.

If you enjoy slashers or books about final girls or your horror mixed with hard-cry emotion but with a little humor, this book… this book is what you have always been looking for. Jade is such a compelling character, though she may take a little warming up to in the onset. While there are secondary characters that play significant roles throughout the novel, she is the absolutely focal point and deservedly so.

Sort of a P.S. – I know Grady Hendrix also has a final-girl novel coming up, The Final Girl Support Group (7/13/21), which I am now looking even MORE forward to having finished this title.

Feels like 2021 is the year of the Final Girl and I AM HERE FOR IT.

It's not often I have to physically set down a book and walk away. However, there were multiple times reading My Heart is a Chainsaw where I had to simply stop to take a breath. And I mean that in the best possible way. The book it dark. It is heavy. There are times when it is difficult to read. And at the end of it all, the novel is a masterful work of modern horror from one of the top writers of the day.

On the verge of graduating, Jade remains the weird girl in her small mountain town--the horror freak, the one with the broken family, always on the outside looking in. However, with graduation looming and the affluent outside world attempting to set down roots in town, everything is about to change.

Alone by circumstance and design, Jade frames her existence through slasher films. They give her structure, context, escape. And through her eyes, My Heart is a Chainsaw reads as a love letter to the slasher genre. Saturated with references and interspersed with Jade's own analysis of the genre, the novel knows its heritage and actively draws strength and fresh life from those traditions--making them not just consequential, but an active part of the narrative itself.

There is enough already on the verge of change in Jade's small town, but when gruesome deaths begin to upend life even further, Jade realizes this is the moment she has spent years preparing for. She knows she isn't the main character--that pure, heroic final girl who will stop the bloodshed--but she is equipped to help that girl survive and thrive in the face of all that is coming. Armed with the knowledge of a thousand slasher films and the bitter determination of someone who has faced so much of life alone, Jade prepares to fulfil her purpose amidst the violence that will soon descend--whether those around her expect it or not.

Jones is an incredible storyteller, and he has crafted a slasher novel with a beating human heart at the center. Even despite Jade's certainty, nothing is quite what it seems. With a dark mystery unraveling throughout the town and old ways of life threatened by the wealthy influences--with Jade's family in tatters and her future little more than a vague hope--the novel layers family drama and small-town narrative with the coming-of-age story of one teenage girl out of place in a chaotic world that has not cared for her like it should have. These are the human elements that give the slasher such weight. In the face of violence, Jade's story is about the fight to survive, about the circumstances we try to escape, the hands extended along the way, and the unexpected places life can lead, even when we think we have it all figured out.

Frightening, absolutely brutal, and beautifully human, My Heart is a Chainsaw is an incredible work of horror fiction as well as an empathetic, heartfelt story of one girl's struggle to understand and find a place for herself in a world refusing to go her way.

Content warnings: graphic violence, discussion of sexual assault, predatory behavior, suicide, mental health, domestic abuse, substance abuse, violence against animals.

I absolutely love this book it’s like a horror film on steroids written in a really smart savvy way. The characters are ones that you route four and the plot is so fast paced but thorough. I strongly recommend this book.

Stephen Graham Jones is on a warpath and we’re thankfully in its red stained wake.

SGJ goes for broke with yet another expression of his love for slasher films, this time with a lead character with an internal and, often annoyingly to those around her, external dialogue that any horror fan can relate too. Jones sets up a familiar path with the class struggle but rips its chest open and subverts expectations with what’s to come with Jade as the beating, bloody heart within.

Looking forward to having conversations about this one!

My Heart Is a Chainsaw is a love letter to slasher films. It is set in a small town, Proofrock, where our protagonist Jade lives out her fantasy of being in a slasher movie in real life. Jade is a damaged girl, and we have to wait to see if the slasher is real, or part of her fantasy. Everything centres around Proofrock's annual Independence Day celebrations. Jade knows the slasher will attend and murder everyone, but nobody believes her.

Okay, I am really conflicted about this book. I've been wanting to read something from Jones for years; he is constantly mentioned as a master of horror writing, so I was really excited to read this. I knew I would love it.

And I did love parts of it. It was a really strange reading experience for me. I would skip through passages, thrilled by what was happening, and then suddenly find the next passage difficult to get through. I honestly don't know what was different about those parts. I'd say fifty percent of My Heart is a Chainsaw was brilliant, while fifty percent was a slog.

Things I liked:
Jade. Jade is a brilliant character. I really felt as though I knew her. She is a fighter, and she deserves a beautiful, horror-movie-filled life.

The references to horror films: As I will go into more detail with later, these references were cool.

Shooting Glasses and Mr Holmes.


If you love slasher films, or horror movies in general, you will get a kick out of this. There are references to the Friday 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream franchises, amongst many others, on pretty much every page. Jones loves horror, and it shows.

Thanks to Stephen Graham Jones, NetGalley and Gallery books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Proofrock is a solitary lakeside town that high school student Jade calls home. When a rich development construction company called Terra Nova starts building a gated community across from Indian Lake, strange activities straight out of a horror movie begin happening. However, Jade’s infatuation with the Golden Age of slasher films promptly turns into reality as her knowledge of these cinematic classics become her weapon for survival.

Stephen Graham Jones pays homage to those great slasher films of yesteryear in his novel My Heart Is A Chainsaw. From the abandoned cabins of Camp Blood to those dauntless Final Girls, the author exploits his own brand of horror through the lens of a killer on the loose. Tropes such as red herrings, pesky out-of-towners and the last woman alive to confront the killer are all cleverly utilized in original fashion. With respect to iconic legends parallel to Halloween, Friday the 13th and Psycho, Jones cleaves his own path of carnage leaving a wake that doesn’t discriminate against victims. True horror aficionados will enjoy this jog down motion picture memory lane while feasting on this disturbing work of fiction served on a hot poker. This Slashland of a book packs enough jump scares, body counts and unconventional weaponry to satisfy every gorehound enthusiast this side of Elm Street.

I suggest readers sign up for Professor Stephen Graham Jone’s class lecture on Slashers 101. Students will need to provide their own signature weapon. A machete, kitchen knife or maybe an old leather glove created with fishing knives will do. Just pray he doesn’t assign homework. I loved this novel and so will you. It has already made my Top Novels Of 2021 list. A very strong Horror Bookworm recommendation.

I love horror film so a novel about a horror-obsessed teen who finds herself in a slasher definitely piqued my interest, but unfortunately I found it to be more tedious to read than anything else. Based on Stephen Graham Jones other work I've read, he has so many great Big Ideas but the execution hasn't quite landed for me yet.

A love letter to all the slashers of the world. Almost poetic, as much as gore fests can be. Brilliantly written.

I had really high hopes for this book.

Like ridiculously high.

I'm a huge fan of slasher movies, all horror movies really, and when I saw the synopsis of this I was so excited. A girl who loves horror is in her own slasher movie? Wow this is gonna be great.

The book didn't exactly pan out like I wanted it to.

It's not a bad book, far from it, it just took a ridiculously long time to get going. Like once it finally did I was way more interested but honestly I almost stopped reading a number of times because it was so slow. The character, Jade, was both fun and frustrating for me. I wanted to like her, I knew at times I probably was the type of weirdo that talked horror movies with everyone I met but she just fell flat for me as well.

I've never read a book by this author before. I knew his name because his first book was on every to read list when it came out and I was excited to get a chance to read this one.

I really wish I had liked it more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones is a heart-thumping, pulse-racing thrill ride that leaves you wanting more. Every time I thought I had this figured out and knew what was happening, it would flip and have me confused and guessing again. It is like watching one of the great slasher flicks from the eighties or nineties; it even has our main character obsessed with everything horror. She is an expert on slasher movies and realizes that strange occurrences are the town’s worst nightmare and her biggest fantasy comes to real life. When people start dying, she thinks she has it all figured out and exactly knows what will happen, so she starts to plan and set the big event stage. Unfortunately for Jade, in reality, the killer doesn’t follow the rules.
There are so many layers to this story that I do not even know where to start diving in. Jade is a broken and messed up kid who has not had a good life. In all honesty, the entire town has had it rough. Suddenly, wealthy people move in, showing them what they have all been missing all their lives, and many people in the town resent them for this. The anger and conflict that so many characters have keep you guessing who the killer could be. You will start to question everything from beginning to end. The action doesn’t miss and beat, not letting you take a breath to calm down.
Well done, Jones! I call say with complete honesty I look forward to reading more from you in the future, and I believe you have a bright future in the dark and spooky department.

Thank you Netgalley and Stephen for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jones writes what can only be described as a loving homage to slashers. His love for the genre spills out into the treatment of every character, into every thing they do and every word they say. You can’t help but love and hate Proofrock as well as Terra Nova. The research that had to have gone into this is staggering.

The story is everything you want it to be and so much more than you initially think. I fell in love with The Only Good Indians because of his ability to write a story that was surprising, frightening and violent with a suddenness that always caught me by surprise. The same happens in My Heart is a Chainsaw. I was never fully prepared for what happened next. It is utterly fantastic.

In her small town of Proofrock in Idaho, Jade Daniels is an outsider. With her black fingernails, badly executed dye jobs, hatred of her father and fascination with slasher movies, how could she be anything else?

But when Letha Mondragon moves to town, along with a cohort of rich celebrities, all headed for the new development on the other side of Indian Lake - Terra Nova - Jade is pulled into the centre of the slasher movie she’s been waiting for. But will the story turn out like she expects, or will it be much, much worse?

It doesn’t feel hyperbolic to say that Stephen Graham Jones may well be one of the greatest horror writers of our time. I’m ashamed to say that this is the first of his works I’ve had the pleasure of reading, but I am now hooked.

My Heart Is A Chainsaw is most certainly an ode to the slasher, thanks to Jade’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre. But it’s so much more complex, too.

The story unfolds itself in the same way a car crash unfolds. In slow motion, with every detail held up to the light and analysed with the awestruck detachment of an observer. Except, as it progresses, Jade is pulled into the horror, the gore, the terror, the unforgiving reality of it all. And so are we.

The novel builds to a chilling climax, and then just keeps going. It’s intense but unstoppable. Once the stage is set and the wheels are in motion, all there is to do is sit back and watch it unfold. Except you are Jade, in a way, and it’s both terrible and fantastic all at once - like many slashers are.

Whether you’re a die-hard fan, or just dipping your toes into the horror genre, My Heart Is A Chainsaw is a fantastic way to start or end. I loved the interjections between chapters of Jade’s extra credit history papers, and I especially loved the story running beneath the gore and irreverence, which lends a complexity you wouldn’t expect to find in a story like this.

This is a book you’ll want to read again and again, for the different angles that come with the knowledge of what happens next. And for a deeper reading of what the novel is truly saying, beneath its surface of blood.

Gory. Raw. Disturbing. Bleak. Challenging. Just let out your scream and get ready to expect the unexpected!

If you’re not keen on choosing blood pumping, stomach churning, scaring you sh*tless kind of one of the most jaw dropping, wildest rides you may get, just buckle off, go back to your comfort zone, hide yourself under your bed or blanket whatever makes you feel safe from the monsters lurking around!
Because this book forces you to face them . Oh quick correction: not only face them but you gotta also destroy them to be the last one standing!

I have to admit this book has one of the most disturbing zero opening/ prologue you may ever read. My eyes just popped out! I kept blabbering: wha wha whaaat the ffff...”
Am I watching gory opening of European thriller? ( it reminded me of the bleakest Nordic thrillers)

I cannot help myself! I want to scream , closing my book, running as fast as I could after that opening! But it already hooked me and dragged me to the story. I was possessed. I couldn’t stop to read it! It was addictive!

Even though the author’s legendary present tense writing style was challenging for me to focus and the slow burn approach to present us the chaotic atmosphere of the town and its characters made me impatient, the deliciously intriguing parts started sooner after we learn more about inner demons of Jade Daniels: our heroine: a very tough, smart, has encyclopedic knowledge about slasher movies, missing her mom, struggling with her relationship with her dad, trying to honor her mother’s memory.

She knows herself: she is not the last girl standing of slasher movies! But when her native town Proofrock turns into movie set of real-life slasher, she has to learn how to protect herself and teach her friend Letha how she handle the danger as a guy wearing gas mask, carrying axes or nail guns following you! Real life Jason Voorhees , Michael Myers are out there to catch you!
But Letha focuses on the main reason why Jade is so obsessed with those movies. The reason behind her obsession is more heart wrenching than you can imagine.

Overall: this is effective, quiet intense, bloody, terrifying story! The writing style is outstandingly sincere and unique! It’s not for everyone! But if you are true fan of the horror genre, this book is real treasure and outstanding gift to the literature world.

Especially those movie references made the day of my inner geek who enjoys watching slasher movies since her childhood!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books/ Saga Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Stephen Graham Jones knows slasher. He has seen all the movies, read all the trivia—and he gets slasher.. He loves it. . . Its pureness, its circle of justice, its seductive dance.
My Heart is a Chainsaw is love letter to the genre. The novel is set in a small mountain town where a slasher superfan—a Blackfeet Indian called Jade (not Jennifer!)—starts to think that her movies came to life and her town will be a site of a massacre.
The novel follows the slasher structure with short essays—written by Jade—at the end of the chapters about the genre: the final girl, the slasher, the blood sacrifice and all that. It’s a character-centric novel, and Jade earns the spotlight: she’s funny, brave and. . . special. Messed up, yet not broken.
My Heart is a Chainsaw is a meta take on slashers, but it’s more than just a gimmick; the slasher knowledge is a vital part of the character. . . hence: the Heart in the title.
Written with his extraordinary, sculpted, flowing prose, Jones tells the story of a girl who faces her fears—and the world needs stories like this.

Folks, if you’re looking for a super bloody, creepy-as-hell gore fest as well as some poignant and incisive character development that may have you legitimately tearing up when you aren’t nervously poking your head up to make sure someone in a gas mask isn’t coming for you with a nail gun, then look no further. Another master class in horror, here Jones employs his chewy, run-on, present tense writing to pin the reader like a bug in the world of Jade Daniels: horror movie authority. Jade knows she isn’t final girl material, but she does have an encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies in her head, so when disturbing hints start to point to the fact that the town of Proofrock (which has a bit of a haunted past already) might be the scene of a real-life slasher, she’s the perfect person to help train her new classmate Letha in what it’s going to take to be the last one standing when the credits roll. Unfortunately Letha seems more interested in helping Jade confront whatever might’ve happened in her past to make her love horror movies so much. Jones’ writing can be hard to get the rhythm of at first (he remains one of two, maybe three writers who use present tense in a meaningful way) but it’s worth it to keep at it until it clicks; he simply excels at blending carnage, black humor that made me feel bad for laughing during the carnage (how, for example, “a human standing on the surface of the lake” was so hilarious given the context in which it happened, I’m sure I can’t say), and Jade is one of the best characters I’ve ever read. Would that I could be the one to give her a big mom hug and sit her down and ask her if she liked scary movies, ie, the question she’s always waiting to hear, but spending 400+ pages with her the highlight of my month.

Stephen Graham Jones DOES IT AGAIN. When it comes to the horror genre, Stephen Graham Jones consistently nails it (no pun intended). He has incredible skill in taking all the beloved pieces within the horror genre and playing with them, turning out something completely unique. For me, My Heart Is A Chainsaw took a few chapters to fully fall into it, but as soon I did, I found myself staying up late and racing towards the end. This book is a wild and unpredictable read and Stephen Graham Jones always manages to write the perfect, most visual, terrifying and heart-racing scenes. Every time I thought I had it this book figured out, it took me in a totally different direction. Would love to see this as a movie!

I look forward to buying a hardcopy of this book and rereading it all over again.

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