I often like to go into books without knowing much about them. Often this works out really well for me - but occasionally it backfires. In this case, it didn't work out for me and I decided to DNF. I knew this was about a Black woman returning to the Pennsylvania town where she grew up and learning about Black girls who have gone missing. I read lots of crime/thriller/suspense so thought this would be up my alley. I didn't realize there was a horror element and that isn't my thing so decided to stop reading this one. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

<I>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.</I>

I won't lie y'all - the first half of this book was a bit of a struggle for me. I really enjoyed the flashes to the past and reading from the "forest's" (as I called it then) POV, but when we were with Liz, our MC, it was just... not doing it for me.

It was only later in the book I came to realize the author was <i>purposefully</i> writing her to be withdrawn, distant, and blank. And once the floodgates opened... boy, did they open.

<i>If there’s one thing fear can do, it’s make a beast out of a shadow. It turns us all into monsters.</i>

This book is a commentary on the ugliness that hides within the shadows; how easy it is to pretend that there is nothing wrong, to continue to exist in an unjust world, because we are too afraid of confronting the demons that haunt a society, a place.

I understand how some felt the ending of the book was not satisfying, as we weren't really left with a clear understanding of the fate of one of the characters - but to me, that was entirely on purpose. Now we have confronted the darkness. But there is more work left to do once you face the dark - you must also work to ensure it doesn't encroach again, and to continue to face it head-on, no matter how uncomfortable that makes you feel.

I highly recommend to all who read to make it to the Author's Note at the end, which I also found to be both powerful and enlightening:

"But learning, naming, and confronting what makes us afraid and uncomfortable, no matter how ugly, is key to understanding and ensuring it never happens again. Sometimes anger comes with truths like this."

This book is an ode to missing and murdered BPOC women, who have too long and too often been forgotten, had their light snuffed out, or been pushed back down when they shone brightly. This was an extremely purposeful book - and it is not subtle in its critique of police when it comes to the cases of missing and murdered BPOC women.

Jackal by Erin E. Adams was such a creepy read! Lia is from a small town in Pennsylvania, She was one of the few black people in town and doesn’t have the best memories of growing up there. One thing that haunts her was her senior year, at a party near the woods, one of the other black girls from her class goes missing and was later found dead. Her heart has been ripped out of her body.
Present day, Liz is coming back for her best f friend’s wedding. Her best friend Mel, who is white, is marrying Garrett, who is black. They have a little daughter Caroline and Liz is her godmother. Liz adores Caroline. Unfortunately, the wedding is at a farm on the outskirts of the woods and Caroline goes missing. The sets in motion a horrifying tale that weaves together past and present. What follows is such a menacing and dreadful tale. You get the feeling that something is not right, but you’re not sure what. Little by little more and more stories of missing black girls are revealed. I don’t want to say too much more about the plot and give anything away.
I loved the character of Liz. She was a strong, black woman. I also liked the way the author explained the history of the town and how that had a lot to do with the story. The themes of race and class were very well detailed. I will definitely read more books by the author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Jackal by Erin E. Adams in exchange for an honest review. What an excellent thriller/mystery. Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. It pulled me in and kepty interest peaked to the last page.

I don’t read horror. I don’t read fantasy. .I don’t read science fiction. I read good mysteries, redemptive stories, political novels, feminist literature . . Yet I just read one work that encapsulated all of this and more. . An overwhelming sad and realistic story plays out to illustrate the racism, sexism and poverty on a small community where young girls disappear, authorities dismiss them and their mothers grieve. Powerful and revealing, this one will stay in your head and eyes.

What a DEBUT!
It's very challenging to assign this novel a genre, as it encompasses several and does so very well.
I was hooked from the start and was invested.

Liz is a young African American woman who comes home, with doubts, for a friends' wedding. The day of the wedding comes, and her best friends' daughter, Caroline, goes missing. There was one clue, a bloody piece of fabric.

As the mystery unfolds, Liz realizes there is a pattern happening and over the years, several African American girls have gone missing in the same woods!
What starts out as a slow burn, quickly picks up and I loved it!

Thankful to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine. Great read!

Jackal by Erin E. Adams was a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions for me. There were so many important messages about historical and structural racism that were conveyed, and I feel that the author did a good job of addressing those topics. The author also did a good job with incorporating some racial and cultural contexts that made the Black characters feel more real and relatable. The monster aspect of the story was interesting and the writing was giving me the creepy factors that I'd expect from a thriller or suspense story. However, the outcome of that aspect of the story threw me off and left me feeling confused more than anything because the story seemed to be going in a certain direction but detoured to something else and never returned to that path. Overall, it was an interesting story to read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jackal was a wild ride wrapped up in beautiful prose and fantastic commentary on racism throughout Appalachia. I loved the twists and turns it took, and how so many aspects of its horror were rooted in reality. This was the kind of thrilling horror I love most - tied to its landscape and its people in a haunting sweep.

“Jackal”, by Erin E. Adams, immediately, enthralled me because of its genre bending nature. There was a little of everything: horror, historical fiction, and mystery.

“Jackal” is an atmospheric novel that places the reader in the woods where we see shadowy figures and hear unknown voices. This setting is an integral part of the book that revolves around Liz.

Liz Rocher reluctantly returns to her hometown to attend her friend's wedding. Woods surround this town, in Pennsylvania,, which is a place of mystery and fear because Black young woman have gone missing for years.

The story also introduced serious issues, such as racism and poverty. Adams was successful at intertwining these topics into the story and avoiding informational dumps. The read learns of the history behind the small town and injustices experienced by the Black girls.

There are so many layers in this story. It kept me guessing until the end. “Jackal” was an exceptional #ownvoices debut novel. I am eagerly awaiting more books by this author. With that being said, this will not be the book for everyone. Please be mindful of that when you pick it up.

I love a book where the plot is built around a history. Jackal takes a real place and its real history and builds a striking work of social horror. The main character, Liz, returns to her hometown (also the author's hometown) for her best friend's wedding. The familiar setting brings back old memories of a night in the woods at a party when a classmate went missing. On the night of the wedding, the bride's own daughter goes missing in those same woods. Liz was the last one to see her and feels responsible. As Liz helps search for the girl, the past begins to catch up with her, as she learns that Black girls have been disappearing every year on the Summer solstice. Of course she can't find Caroline on her own but she has no idea who in town she can trust. The book was great about leaving breadcrumbs around various leads, and how it jumped back to give insight into the other missing girls over time I thought was very engaging. I loved reading the author's note at the end--it really sealed the book for me.

This is an odd title to review. The themes are very reminiscent of Ace of Spades and Razorblade Tears but it didn't quite hit the same spot as those titles. I do not find the abstract way racism was addressed here. I personally find hiding behind metaphors did it a disservice to talking about race and race motivated crimes. It made me not understand the motivations behind the crimes and "just because they're black" isn't convincing enough in a modern setting.

I found the characters compelling and the background/lore to be a cool concept (again, the abstractionism lost it for me). It has good discussions and themes. The writing if very easy to follow.

If you enjoyed Razorblade Tears or Ace of Spades, this is worth putting on your list.

The Jackal is Erin Adams’ debut novel and what a debut it is. Mirroring the author’s return to her hometown, the main character, Liz Rocher, is returning to Johnstown PA to be a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding. After the wedding, her friend’s young daughter Caroline vanishes in the woods just like many other black girls have disappeared over time. The bulk of the novel is very atmospheric and has a True Detective vibe, as Liz undertakes her own search for Caroline and the fates of the other lost girls, and to understand what made her special. As a black girl, why was she never taken? There are many possible suspects, but the novel transcends the thriller genre by going deep into the historical race discrimination existing in Johnstown (especially around the time of the Tulsa massacre). It also has a more spiritual/horror aspect involving Anubis, the Egyptian god of lost souls (the three sections of the book are “the heart,” “the feather” and “the scales”) and the Jackal in the title. While perhaps the most spiritually profound, the final showdown in the book was simply too implausible for me, and seemed more like the world of H. P. Lovecraft than a profound statement about surviving rage to reach justice. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary advance copy of this book.

When I first read the blurb for this book (and saw the striking cover), I thought this would be a great book to read around Halloween. And I did intend to read this book on or around Halloween. But life gets in the way, and I ended up pushing this book off until mid-January. However, I am glad that I read it when I did. Jackal was a disturbing book, and honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to handle reading it around Halloween.

Some prominent trigger warnings come with this book. I had googled it when I got the approval from Random House, so I knew what I was getting into reading it. The trigger warnings are racism (explicit), fatphobia (moderate), domestic violence (detailed in one scene), alcoholism (explicit), anxiety (explicit, it triggered mine in places), death of a child/children (all explicit, I had nightmares), and kidnapping (moderate to explicit). If any of these trigger you, I recommend not reading this book.

Jackal takes place entirely in the mountain town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is a fast-paced book that kept my eyes glued to the pages. I could see similarities to where I am living now, as sad as that is.

The author did not write the characters in Jackal to be likable. I don’t know how to explain, except I could see these characters walking the streets of my town. Out of the introduced characters, I liked Liz and Mel the most. Something about them struck a chord with me, and their characters stayed with me long after I finished the book.

Liz—She was a freaking mess. She didn’t want to come home to Johnstown and, in fact, had spent almost all of her adult life avoiding traveling there. But she came home because Mel, her best friend, was getting married and Liz was in the wedding. When Caroline was kidnapped, and fingers began pointing to Liz, she was desperate to find her. Her detective work wasn’t the best, but Liz did find some good leads (even when the cops didn’t and wouldn’t). All the while, she depended on the one cop she trusted to help her. I loved how she connected Caroline to the other missing girls.
Jackal fit perfectly into the horror genre. At first (and I had to read Tanisha’s chapter a few times to get it through my thick head) because I didn’t understand what was happening. But the author was able to drop enough hints and build it up so that I did understand. Add in the racial tensions and the tensions over the kidnapping, and this book exploded. There was a mystery angle that added extra depth to the storyline. I liked figuring out who took the girls (all teenagers/pre-teens) and the motivation. I thought that I knew, but yeah, I didn’t.

The author amazingly wrote the storyline with Liz, Caroline’s kidnapping, and the other girl’s murders and how it ties together. The author kept me guessing who the kidnapper was, and she had me think of one person when it was someone else. I loved that the author wrote short chapters about each of the girls who were killed from 1985 and on. I also loved how she tied those killings to Caroline’s kidnapping. There was a part in the book explaining why each girl was killed, and it blew my mind.

The storyline with Liz, the Jackal, Caroline, and the killers was terrific. It went in-depth into the racial and class division in Johnstown. It also explained the Jackal and the motivations behind the killings.

Several smaller sub-storylines added extra depth to the main one. Those more minor storylines explained why Liz was the way she was. They also illustrated several other things brought up in the book. Put it this way; I will never look at a baggie of popcorn the same way again. Talk about disgusting!!!

The end of Jackal was interesting. I will not say a lot, but Liz was fantastic. The author explained the Jackal’s roots (and it did surprise me). There is also a small scene at the end where Caroline lists every girl killed. But other than that, I can’t say anything more because of spoilers.

I recommend Jackal to anyone over 21. There is language, violence, and non-graphic sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warning above.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam, NetGalley, and Erin E. Adams for allowing me to read and review Jackal. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

This story kept my attention long enough to finish but I found myself confused and less invested during the last 25%. I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions but didn’t feel I knew the characters well enough to really care what happened.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Maybe it was the pacing, maybe it was Maybelline.

For real though, I had high hopes and this fell flat. I felt my memory of this on fading as soon I set this down.

Brilliant debut!! Jackal is layered suspense that almost makes it into the horror fantasy category. Caroline, a young black girl goes missing in the woods and her god mother Liz tries to piece the clues together. Liz remembers her teen years in the town and when she digs into the town’s history more, Liz learns about the dark side. This is where the “Get Out” part comes into play. The characters are layered and the story progression is very detailed and the woods add a creepy element that I loved. Some parts were slow that read like a woman’s fiction, but a good read overall.

Thank you Ballantine PRH for the arc via Netgalley!

I gave this a four out of five stars. I really enjoyed this book, it totally was different than I thought it would be. I totally recommend picking this up and reading this.

3.5
Jackal started and ended strong, but the middle failed to capture my attention. I don't like the trope of everyone blaming one person, then that person trying to prove their innocence, and that is exactly what this devolved into. I was also not a fan of the somewhat romance that happened. I did love the ending. It was weird and beautiful, and everything I have come to expect from horror. The writing was great and I'll be looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the advance copy. The idea behind this book was interesting, though the premise reminded me very much of the story in When the Reckoning Comes. There were good themes and interesting historical tidbits about the Johnstown flood.

For me, the story was a bit all over the place, with confusing writing at times too. The red herrings were numerous and pretty well done - I suspected everyone throughout the book! But I did guess the killer before they were revealed. The supernatural part was also kind of confusing and not very scary to me.