Gripping debut novel from Erin Adams blends horror, thriller and supernatural together.

Liz returns, reluctantly, to her hometown for her friends wedding. As a teenager, she was in the woods the night another Black girl was kidnapped, later to be found dead. Liz has never been truly sure of what happened that night, and has remained fearful of the woods ever since. She grew up with stories of Black girls going missing.

Now, at the wedding, her friend's young daughter Caroline goes missing in the woods, and the search is on to find her before it is too late. Liz starts investigating, and realizes that almost thirty Black girls have disappeared, one a year on the summer solstice. These disappearances have been largely ignored by the local police force, while Liz believes this is the work of a serial killer.

Racial themes run strongly through the book, and stir up many questions. Will this disappearance be investigated more thoroughly because the child's mother is white? Is Liz suspected of involvement in the disappearance because she is black?

The book was fast paced and I was eager to get to the conclusion. The book lost its way a little for me in the last third, as I struggled to understand the different points of view, and what was 'real' and what was a metaphor.

I was fascinated by the author's notes at the end of the book, documenting the historical events that took place in the real location of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, that are mentioned in the book. Events that I had not heard of.

Thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

I'm sad that this was only a 3-star read for me. I loved the prologue, but very quickly started to lose interest due to some narrative style choices that I didn't like. The first 5 chapters or so consisted mostly of the main character ruminating on whether she has gained weight, what it will be like to see people from high school, etc. The reveal didn't make a whole lot of sense to me, and I felt like some of the plot points weren't satisfactorily concluded. The book dealt with important themes of race and class, but I honestly felt like they could've been explored even more.

Jackal by Erin E. Adams is such a gripping and interesting novel hitting shelves on October 4th! I’ve seen this book on so many Booktuber’s Most Anticipated for the end of the year list, and it did not disappoint.
In this book, we follow Liz, a Black woman, who is returning to her predominately white hometown to attend Mel’s, her childhood best friend, wedding. On the wedding day, Mel’s daughter disappears into the woods, but Liz has seen this situation before in her youth. Can she help solve the mystery and get Mel’s daughter back?
This book is the perfect mix of thriller, mystery, horror and sci-fi all tied up in one. The book isn’t heavy handed in one single genre and gives all readers something they will enjoy. Another strong point for this book is the cast of characters. There is a large enough group of characters that you can’t solve the “who-dun-it” aspect until the conclusion, but you also will not need to draw a character chart to keep track of them all.
This author’s writing is so beautiful, and has many quotable moments, but it doesn’t distract from the plot, which I love! The writing is clear, concise, and easy to read. I highly recommend this book not only for the plot, but for the important social commentary about race. This is one of my favorite books of the year because it combines everything I look for in books and I really can’t think of anything that I didn’t absolutely love! Five stars!
If you liked The Collective by Alison Gaylin or Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky, I think you should give this one a go!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book.

Let me start by saying Ms. Adams can write. Her turn of phrase, her character musings, all very nicely done.

But her storytelling missed the mark for me. It starts with a bang; years ago, a Black girl is attacked and killed in a forest. Why? Who? What's going on here?

Liz comes home for her best friend's wedding, home being the town surrounded by the forest we read about in the beginning. She didn't want to come home, she has a scar connected to her own traumatic experience in the forest (we find out her scar is tied to a girl/classmate who was also killed in the forest). But she comes home for her friend. At the wedding, the friend's daughter vanishes into the same forest. Liz was supposed to be watching her, feels responsible, and starts to investigate. Here's where the story bogged down for me. Liz becomes an unlikeable character; doesn't want to/won't talk to people, doesn't want to/won't socialize, drinks to numb her emotions, all with no explanation of what is going on. No hints, no suggestions, just more isolation, more drinking. I got bored.

Around the 3/4-mark things pick up a bit, developments are made, Liz and her new friend Doug. Suddenly, what was a mild mystery of an abduction, becomes a horror thriller with mystical undertones. What?!

The jump from mildly interesting to yikes! was jarring to say the least. This was not a book I would read again.

JACKAL pulls off something rare and unexpected in the thriller genre. For the first quarter of the book, I thought I knew what kind of story I was reading, but for the last three-quarters, I never saw a single twist coming—and what more can you ask for? Somewhere between a crime thriller and out-and-out horror, it's a compelling and fearless exploration of Blackness, cruelty, bravery, and what we become when justice is denied. Parts of the narration felt a little abrupt, and the ending came on a little fast for me, but the author definitely achieved what she set out to do, and I hope this book is widely read.

This is a powerful story, both of a missing African American girl and her "auntie Liz" who is determined to find her. part mystery in the present and the years of murdered AA girls, whose murders were denied as murder. It is a coming of age story, a story of racism and racial violence over many generations in this town. It is also a story of how being forced to be "good", to confirm to mainstream white standards keep people weak and afraid and unable to tell themselves the truth and trust themselves. How power and passion were what made some girls targets. It veered a little into horror/symbolism, which for me took away from the power of the story. But overall there was a lot of strong and beautiful writing 4.5

Wow! This book was an incredible debut novel. The pace was a little slow in the beginning, but I love how the author keeps you guessing.
It was so well written, looking forward to more from this author!


Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
I will post this review on my good reads account ( https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/146670520-amber )


Content warning: kidnapping, gore, child death, alcoholism, domestic violence, racism

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope she writes more! I am totally hooked!

Eloquent and captivating, with a remarkable storyline, “Jackal” is a phenomenal read!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me an advanced readers copy (ARC) of “Jackal” in exchange for an honest, voluntary review.

As someone who has always been facisnated by Appalachian folklore, this book is IT. Vibes and unexplained mysteries aside, Adams masters tension by mixing in the still all too real horrors of life in, specifically, rural America.

Liz returns home for her friend Mel’s wedding.
Mel’s daughter Caroline disappears into the woods at the wedding when Liz is supposed to be watching her. Girls have been disappearing in those woods for 32 years.
This was a great book with a supernatural twist. So creepy I couldn’t hardly put it down.
Thanks NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this book!

I really wanted to like this title. Jackal by Erin E. Adams had an interesting premise, black girls are going missing in Johnstown PA and there's something bad, supernatural?, in the woods. I found the combination didn't work for me though. There were too many explanations for what was going on muddling the story.

Thank you to Netgalley, and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital ARC.

"Do not go seeking the devil and he will not find you."
I love books that give me real life anxiety. Jackal did exactly that. Liz Rochet's search for Caroline is harrowing and hopeless at times. Add that to Liz's constant paranoia and insecurity and Erin Adams' unrelenting commentary on America's inherent systemic racism, you have a beautifully written, very spooky, and well-paced Debbie Downer of a book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Jackal is a thriller/suspense novel set in a small Appalachian town with a stark divide between the white and black communities of the town. Liz returns after many years away from the town intending to enjoy her best friend's wedding, but finds herself in the midst of something much darker.

I truly enjoyed the majority of this book. The mystery was revealed slowly, with enough twists and turns to keep the action moving along and to keep things from being too predictable. I loved how the woods became their own character and I enjoyed the POVs from the monster at the heart of the story. I also truly enjoyed how fear and rage in all their different forms became centrals parts to this story, for the main character and the monster both. However the main thing that I disliked about this book was something that often happens in suspense novels, which is that Liz made a lot of stupid decisions that I thought she should know better than. When she suspected someone of being involved she was very obvious about it, putting herself and her missing goddaughter in danger. She did experience a lot of character growth though, and I really enjoyed seeing her journey through the book.

Jackal

Liz goes home to a small town in Pennsylvania for Mel’s, her best friend, wedding. During the wedding, Mel’s biracial daughter goes missing. During Liz’s search, she finds out that black girls go missing once a year, but the police don’t care. Hoping to find Caroline alive, Liz hopes to uncover this serial killer.

This is a well-written suspense novel with supernatural elements. The plot was well-paced, and there were enough twists to keep me reading. But it reminds me of why I don’t like suspense novels in general. Liz makes foolish decisions. Every time she suspects someone, she isn’t subtle about it. Her first suspect is Mel’s father. In her wisdom, instead of gathering evidence, she decides to voice these concerns to Mel while they are in the woods searching for Caroline. Then she’s surprised that Mel doesn’t take the accusation that her father not only kidnapped her daughter but is a serial killer. Liz is basing her accusation that he’s a racist hunter and an unproven antidote that he shot a dog after it bit a child. Mel, who, instead of being on her honeymoon, is instead looking for her lost daughter, doesn’t take this well. Liz is shocked. Liz’s love interest is also dim by having the bright idea of asking her out on the first day of the search party. Does he also hit on women during funerals?

A good suspense novel that falls for the cliche of having stupid main female characters.

4 stars

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! A brilliantly written whodunit with a powerful ending! I thought that I had the villains figured out a few times, only to be proven wrong. Excellent characters with a mythology allusion at the ending.

"If there's one thing fear can do, it's make a beast out of a shadow. It turns us all into monsters." (from Jackal)

Jackal, overall, is a success. I'm sure Jordan Peele would love to get his hands on this tale. The characters are interesting, the town feels very alive and claustrophobic, Adams is saying a lot of important and insightful things with this story, and manages to keep us tense and suspicious along the way. Almost.
My only complaint are the chapters told from the perspective of a perpetrator (trying to avoid spoilers). They are so willfully obtuse that each time one would come up, I would be so thrown off of the story and what was happening that I started to get mad. It's one thing to have an author be mysterious and make you want to find out more as they gradually dole out more and more clues; it's something else to be seemingly intentionally murky. But I will say Adams does manage to wrap things up nicely and explain everything by the end. I just wish I hadn't had to keep being interrupted by maddeningly nebulous bits.

This was exciting and entertaining. Hard to put down once i got immersed into the story. Some parts were a bit confusing and the ending was a bit weird to me but overall i enjoyed and am blowed away that this is this authors debut novel.

I actually read the first chapter of this book in the RandomHouse Horror sampler. I didn't think it would be a book I was interested in, but after the sample ended, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Thank you NetGalley and Bantam Books for providing this ARC! What an interesting read this was. I really enjoyed the mystery, the downward and complicated spiral of our narrator's thoughts as well as the hidden narrator. The commentary on fear and how it affects so many aspects of society was well crafted and thought-provoking. I can see how the end may not be everyone's particular taste and I did find it to be an interesting choice. Overall a stunning read, surprised it is a debut, and looking forward to more from this author, highly recommend.

Link will be added to my review once it is posted closer to publication date.

This book is definitely a thriller. It kept up the suspense to the point that even times when I was confused with what was going on, I kept reading to find out what happened next. Black girls keep disappearing into the woods and are found mutilated. A rhyme that is said, don't look at it. Stay out of the woods.

The story keeps you in the dark about the killer until the end. Although the ending left me wondering exactly what was going on, and I felt unsatisfied by the ending..