Stephen Graham Jones is a master of the horror genre and this novel just proves that once again. Featuring a heroine with an encyclopedic knowledge of horror films, Jones crafts a slasher novel that also exposes the deeper horror going on in her life and the revenge she seeks.

This book fell short for me. I found it very boring and was unable to finish. Thanks for the opportunity.

4.5/5

Absolutely 100% did not expect to arrive at the end of this book loving it and giving it four stars. Expected not being able to get it out of my head for months and upping my rating to 4.5/5 even less. BUT HERE WE ARE.

This meandering, slasher-reference-heavy book did so SO many things that I typically Do Not Like but somehow it worked so well?? So much was handled sensitively without being patronising n that especially feels rare, ESPECIALLY from a male horror author.

Jade and her bears and her isolation and her slasher movie obsession were just the perfect protagonist for me. Loved this so much. VERY excited about it being the first in a trilogy too.

Would definitely recommend this to horror fans - and if you think its a lil slow-paced just please settle in for the ride cause the payoff is so worth it.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the author for the e-ARC. Available to buy now!

I really want to like his books, but I feel underwhelmed and dumb at the same time. I will keep picking them up though because I know it's just me. lol

I loved this book. Pacing is a bit slow at times, but it was fun to read of Jade's love of horror movies and seeing it all play out in her life. The ending is a bit erupt, and I feel like it could have benefitted from a few more pages for closure, but overall, this book was great.

Slashers. If I had to pick one subgenre of horror films as my favorite I would probably have to go with the slasher. From Halloween and Michael Myers to Scream and Ghostface. Is it nostalgia, maybe? Spending the night at a friend's house, eating cold pizza and drinking way too much Mt. Dew while staying up all hours of the night watching some masked killer stalk and murder his victims on the television. Experiencing those frightful instances of a jump scare while knowing deep down that I was safe and that the boogeyman wasn't real (or is he?) Now take that slasher film, convert it into a novel and you’ll get MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW by Stephen Graham Jones. A love letter to the slasher film.

Meet our protagonist Jade. She is obsessed, and I mean absolutely obsessed with horror movies, and slasher films in particular. Honestly, for me Jade was a bit unlikable at first. Maybe unlikable isn't quite the right word, a bit overbearing might be better? Jade is all about the slasher. Full of passion for the genre. She lives and breathes all things slasher. Twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. It got to the point where she was so hopeful with every fiber of her being that an actual killer would show up in her hometown of Proofrock and start murdering people just so that she could live and breathe the slasher experience firsthand. Jade was just too much for me up to a certain point where I thought that she was just crazy. A bit off her rocker. But then Jones' expert storytelling kicked in and his ability to craft great characters transformed Jade from being someone I wasn't sure I liked to me viewing her in a completely different light. There was a revelation of understanding as to why Jade is so absorbed and obsessed with slasher films. I won’t say why here, I’ll let you have that moment of discovery for yourself reader, but suffice it to say that it fully changed my opinion of Jade as a character.

Jade fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) gets her wish as blood spills and people around town start to be killed off one by one. Is a masked killer on the loose or is it something more sinister from the town’s dark past come back for revenge? With all her years of accumulated knowledge of the slasher Jade sets out to predict who will be the next to die a gruesome death, the killer's motives, who the man or woman behind the mask is, and who will be that final girl left standing bloodied but not beaten by the time the proverbial credits roll.

This is not a fast paced slasher with a tight hour and a half run time. After a bloody and brutal opening scene the book switches gears and we coast along in the slow lane. I am all for a slow burn of a book but this one was at times a bit too slow, even for me. Hold onto your hats though because as we approach the third and final act Jones dumps gasoline onto the fire setting up one of the most frantic and frenzied conclusions to a book I have ever read.

MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW by Stephen Graham Jones pays homage to the great films of the slasher genre while carving out a unique place of its own. It is far more than just a fun, bloody, and mindless slasher though. Jade’s story is about seeking acceptance. About how we all have an inherent need to feel loved and protected no matter how though we might act. Of finding that someone who is willing to fight for you, just as much as you’d fight for them. A slasher with a beating, revving heart, just like a chainsaw.

SGJ writing can be very choppy at times, but his story development is so very good. Creepy atmosphere, loner girl, and she suspects a murderer is on the loose in her town. Great story.

If you like horror and gore...this is for you. Perfect read for around Halloween or anytime you need a scare!

This book gave me ready player one vibes but for horror movies. It was also a little Glee like. It seemed a little bit rushed as well. Thanks NetGalley and Gallery Books.

I unfortunately didn’t get along with this book and DNFed it. I apologize, but thank you for the opportunity to read and review this.

The burn is slow but well worth it.
Jade Daniels is a horror fan, particularly slasher films, and is an expert on the subject. Her narration is spread through with high school essays she writes, and through these 'Slasher 101' installments, the tone for the story is set, and also the reader receives a primer on all of the killers and slasher tropes that are the basis for her suspicions.

Is it because Jade knows so much that she's becoming paranoid? Around her town, which is becoming increasingly more gentrified with a large development being build across the lake, She notices some weird happenings, just like in a slasher flick, but is it real, or is she so caught up that she's seeing what's not there?

Stephen Graham Jones says in the author's note how hard he worked to write the book, and not only does it absolutely show, but all that work is definitely appreciated; I can't wait for the next one!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book at 37%. I tried, I really did. The writing was well done and the story is probably great, it's just not for me.

I didn't like Jade's character - I have learned recently that I am just not into books about slasher movies. And honestly, I feel like it's been done a lot lately (or I just don't like them so I notice them even more!). I typically do like quirky characters but I found Jade obnoxious and without enough redeeming qualities.

I also didn't enjoy Only the Good Indians so I was hoping that it was a fluke because I do think Graham Jones is an incredibly talented author. It's evident that his style and genre just isn't for me.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

While this book had a lot of promise, unfortunately the execution fell short for me. I found the main character hard to like and couldn't finish the book.

This was an excellent read. I read it in 3 days and for a longer novel, I’d characterize it as “un-put-downable”.

I was totally immersed in Slasher 101 and the main character, Jade. I’m a slasher fan myself and loved all the references to the 80’s classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th. Jade was a true delight. She was strange and an outcast but this just pulled the reader in all the more.

The side characters were just as well written. Holmes the flying history teacher, Hardy the small town sheriff and Letha the perfect “Final Girl. I felt like I was a citizen of Proofrock for 3 days and I wish I could live in a cabin in “Camp Blood”

Listen, I know I’m late to the SGJ party. I haven’t (yet) read THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS, or any of the other titles in Stephen Graham Jones’s catalog (and I will), but I simply could not resist MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW once I read the synopsis. An unlikely heroine from the “wrong side of the lake” who’s a horror-slasher cinephile? You have my attention. A slasher story inside, effectively, a slasher documentary? I’m listening. A slasher murder mystery with a hint of supernatural horror, a dose of social commentary, and a healthy helping of gore? TAKE MY MONEY.

Half-Indian and all angry, Jade Daniels is an outcast in her small, marginalized community of Proofrock, Idaho. She’s the town eccentric, and she’s only just graduated high school–well, sort of graduated, as her history teacher, Mr. Holmes (Bear, not Sherlock) still has her on the hook for unfinished work, which she’s doling out in creative essays on all-things-slasher. Her family life is bleak, her future, nonexistent. And, as a group of wealthy elitists descend on her town to erect an idyllic community on the other side of a Probably Haunted lake, just past a camp that was the site of Something Terrible a few decades before, Jade (not Jennifer, thank you) is convinced that Proofrock has all the pieces assembled to soon play host to a new slasher. At least she has something to look forward to.

Full of twists, turns, terrific horror references, and enough witty one-liners to shake a stick at, MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW is all the best parts of every slasher film cobbled together, set to tune, and let free to rip your throat out. And sure, while Letha Mondragon may be the most quintessential final girl ever, Jade Daniels is still the one you can’t wait to see rising up, crawling out, fighting back–again, and again, and again.

All I can say is I can’t wait to dive into the next book in The Lake Witch Trilogy: DON’T FEAR THE REAPER.

This one was a little rough to get into but half way into the book o finally was able to enjoy the read

I really wanted to love this book. I would've been happy with just LIKING it. But I didn't. The main character had so much potential but just fell flat. The plot was so repetitive. It felt like two-thirds of the book was just a synopsis of every slasher movie out there. Literally. The main character actually speaks the entire plot to some. I actually enjoy this authors other books so I'm chalking this up to just not my favorite by him.

(DNFing this at about the halfway mark).

It pains me to say that a book all about slashers was dreadfully, terribly boring and yawn inducing. I absolutely loved <u>The Only Good Indians</u>. It was probably one of my favorite horror books of 2020! But Chainsaw just doesn't compare. Jade's voice is inauthentic and extremely confusing to read/follow. Not to mention that nothing happens for chapters at a time. (I mean she spent 20 pages in the police office just stuffing and licking envelopes!) I have way too many books on my TBR shelf to waste any more time on this one. I hope Jones writes some more standalone books in the future, but I'm giving up on this series.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. Though this author has many published works to his name, I do not recall reading any of them in the past. To start out, I read the first paragraph and realized it was one long run-on sentence. I was reading an ARC so hopefully that was picked up and corrected before the book went public. The book kept me reading, in the hopes that something REALLy interesting would happen. I was not a big fan of the jumping around, or the inner turmoil portrayed in the dialogue. However, unlike other reviewers, the slasher movie trivia inserts kept me reading the book.

3 Stars

Jade Daniels is a social outcast in her small, lakeside town of Proofrock, Idaho. She has an absent mother and is forced to live with her abusive father, Jade changes her hair colour frequently. She is smart, resourceful, and a huge fan of horror Huge fan could be an understatement. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, particularly slasher films She seems to conflicted with the world more or less constantly,

After finishing high school there's nothing much in store for Jade. She works as a janitor for the local public school, and it seems she may be doing so well in the future. She doesn't view this as a bad thing and as long as she can get away from her father and his perverted friend.

Things change when mysterious events around town start mirroring the plot structure of her favourite genre, and Jade knows it's finally happening and strangely she's excited by the prospect. Her vast knowledge of horror films helps her predict how things are going to unfold

This was a fantastic book. There are so many references to slasher movies, characters, scenes, etc. I enjoyed every bit of it. This book was like an 80's horror movie and I was here for it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.