Going into this, I had no idea it was a sequel, a part two, revenge of something you didn’t quite kill the first time around. It is and it isn’t. Really, it’s a continuation. If you haven’t read The Only Good Indians—I mean, what planet are you on?—it’s okay, you can still enjoy the hell out of this, it works perfectly as a standalone. If you have read The Only Good Indians, though, not only are there easter eggs galore, but you’ll find yourself at a crossroads of sorts, asking, “Can a part two be better than the original?” Remember Aliens? T-2? That second Godfather movie? Enough said, even though that’s like comparing a sunrise to a sunset. What I’ve found is, your favorite SGJ novel is always going to be the one you’re reading right now.

The bones of The Only Good Indians are here, kind of a blueprint, really, but the skin and eyes and mouth are totally new. We begin with theft, a trespass, to be exact, because you need a trespass to get that revenge boulder rolling down the hill, flattening everyone in its path. Two friends looking down a slope, scoping their prey, an A-frame cabin probably owned by some rich assholes. Sound familiar? Be careful who you steal from, though. There’s stealing, as in ‘thou shalt not,’ capital S, then there’s stealing like you just took too many tootsie rolls from that glass jar at the bank. What Nate and Sebby do? It’s more the tootsie roll thing, in my opinion, but they just had to smash the toilet, didn’t they. Mini buck and doe tried to warn them. Then SMASH! There’s an accident.

Hospital time. Nate’s alive and Seb’s hanging on by a shoelace. Meet Nurse Seine, the stealer of shiny stories, the magpie. Great lines here: ‘Half the stories he traded her for smokes were about his dead father. It was his main currency, was all he had to draw on for the rest of his life.’ And, ‘the horses didn’t ask for any of this.’ SGJ’s been in the hospital, for sure, the grippy socks (I always keep them) and disposable razors and rooms are spot-on, felt a bit like a rehab center. Now comes the vow, the blood pact, dull scissor-drilled dots across the forearm like a red constellation, an arrow. So much heart in this scene. Gave Exorcist 3 vibes when a dinosaur—a T. Rex, specifically—shows up. Remember those flash newspaper headlines from The Only Good Indians? They’re neon signs now, pay attention.

Time to make good on that vow of pulling Sebby out of his coma, time for a road trip! You need wheels, though, and Mooch Lomas (aside from Nate, my favorite character) has a running RV, a Sundancer. For the rest of this journey, we’re going to be in this RV, a complete world unto itself, a ‘kaleidoscope being shaken fast and hard.’ Christian’s driving, cracked rearview or not, removable studded tongue locked and loaded, Mooch is sucking down Icees, holding that ice pick, waiting for her son to land that big jump—“My husband’s in that movie!”—and Seine is playing nurse, just trying to find that boy’s bones and set everything right again. She has no idea how much superglue is in that RV. Remember that motorcycle from The Only Good Indians? the one that loved long hair? It’s kind of back again, in dirt-bike form, packed in the back of the RV like a secret passenger.
The description of that Love’s, when you really really have to pee, is perfect, and Nate, well, he kind of has a problem with pee. You’ll see. All I know is, I kept saying to him, “Man, please, just let it rip!” Buck and Doe show up again, the little people, in a diorama, and we get a great line here: “…even if she had ever been a mother, still, no arm is strong enough to stop a boy from flying away if he wants to fly away.”

There’s a chapter with a pool match, a game of nine-ball that I wanted to last as long as that game of basketball from The Only Good Indians, but alas, it didn’t. That’s just me, though. But reading, “You don’t call in nine-ball,” had me through the roof. Those two guys playing? I felt like they were tricksters, like they meant something other than what they were saying, and I’m pretty sure Doe shows up here, thick black eyeliner and all.
Remember that chapter in The Only Good Indians that switches everything up? That 40% mark where you think it’s second person but it’s really dramatic monologue? Hindsight is that chapter here, and man, it’s all high speed and sixth gear and no looking back from there. That sixth gear, alternately down-shifting with humor, POV switch (does that deftly mid-chapter sometimes), the subjunctive, and dipping into character development, it’s totally SGJ territory, and nobody does it better. He puts you in that RV. You have to look.

We pick up another passenger: The Road King; quick nod to Jason and the Argonauts. And little by little, the dominos start falling. I’m skirting spoilers here, so I’ll just say: this is the best set of characters I’ve encountered in a while. The big bad, it’s all of them, sure, but it’s also none of them. Each one is a hero in their own eyes, totally gray territory, and they’re so tragic at times. From Nate’s perspective: “It was like everything was working against him: a cat-lady with an ice pick for a magic wand, a driver who dressed like a priest but couldn’t preach, and a cousin who thought she was a weasel.” And in true dramatic fashion, they all either slowly make their way off the stage, or are ruthlessly pushed. Another great line here: “It was probably in a wagon someone else was dragging, so it would always be ahead of him. Maybe that’s all death was: people pulling things with them, unable to ever let them go.”

Off the Reservation is a bonfire some kid and his grandmother built to pull a lost hunter in, a lit cigarette set horizontally in your hand, passed over to a friend you’d do anything for. It’s two thumbs up, way up, higher than a flagpole standing on a pile of bones. It'll rip your chest open, superglue it back together, rip it open again, then suture you up with boot laces. And that bullet thing at the end? Chef’s kiss, man. “Sturrrrgis!”

Big thanks to Netgalley, Saga Press, and SGJ for such a wonderful story. Catch you on the flip-flop.

Thank you horror gods (and your Saga vessels on earth) for blessing me with a copy of Off the Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones — available Oct 13!

» READ IF YOU «
🖤 want me to think more highly of you
🦌 loved the vibes of The Only Good Indians
🦖 are craving violence mixed with hilarity
🚐 have ever been on a terrible roadtrip

» SYNOPSIS «
Travel back to the world of The Only Good Indians to join Nate Yellow Tail on a fraught cross-country roadtrip, in a run-down RV with a bunch of characters who might be genuinely insane. Their mission? Rescue the bones of the only Blackfeet boy murdered at the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School. But since nothing can be quite so straightforward in an SGJ story, you better buckle up…

» REVIEW «
Oh, Nate. It’s impossible not to empathize with his particular plight, but you’ll still spend the whole story questioning his every decision. In fact, since so many of the decisions made in this story are absurd, it’s best to just lean in and enjoy the chaos. And, dear readers, easter eggs abound, so keep an eye out for those if you’re an avid SGJ fan…

Anyway, it should come as no surprise that this is a five-star read for me. I am, admittedly, not objective when it comes to his books, but I do think that this particular Jones story is a perfect complement to the time we spent with Elk Head Woman in 2020. She’s actually never left the dark corners of my psyche, but you may have a new (or additional?) specter to haunt your dreams once you finish Off the Reservation.

I don’t know how he achieved it, some 6 years later, but the tone and rhythms of this book are a perfect match to those of TOGI, so you will be dropped right back into that space and time, almost like you never left. And? Things just get wilder from there. What do superglue, dinosaurs, blue icees, studded tongues, and creepy dolls all have in common? Well, come on down and find out.

Thank you, Stephen, for always writing stories that entertain the heck out of us, sometimes scare the bejeesus out of us, and often make us look more thoughtfully at the world around us. Don’t miss this one on October 13.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was really looking forward to this novel. It is a sequel to The Only Good Indians, carrying the story of Nate Yellowtail forward. If The Only Good Indians was the vengeful spirit, and Buffalo Hunter Hunter was the vampire, then this one is the possessed. Attempting to save his best friend, Nate takes off with a motley trio in a ragged motorhome to repatriate the bones of a Blackfoot boy. This bizarre road trip is loaded with action, supernatural occurrences, and weird characters - and it wouldn’t be Stephen Graham Jones without elements of a slasher. There were some gag-inducing moments, and I was really nauseated at least once. To be fair, I wasn’t feeling great to begin with, but I want to caution anybody with a weak stomach. This one is loaded with body horror, body parts, and body fluids. There are a couple of plot points I have questions about, and urination as a plot point is a weird flex - one that really, really worked. As always, SGJ tells a helluva story with immaculate prose, nary a word wasted. The pacing is perfect, and there isn’t any time to spare for being bored. Check the trigger warnings and have fun!

This is my honest review of a digital ARC. My thanks to SGJ, Saga Press, and NetGalley for this opportunity.

Road trip x possession story. Seems like a recipe for success to me.

I didn't think The Only Good Indians needed a sequel, but I sure am excited it got one. I don't think you need to read the first book to enjoy the second, but you should, because it's excellent.

Off the Reservation definitely has some creepy moments and lots of gore. I think my expectations were just super high for a sequel to one of my favorite horror novels.

My takeaways - 1. it's always time for a blue icee and 2. stay away from super glue.

Off The Reservation takes us back to the world of The Only Good Indians as its companion novel that stands confidently on its own, weaving together a road trip from hell and the enduring traumas of colonial violence into something both emotionally resonant and deeply unsettling. While readers familiar with the previous novel will appreciate Nate Yellow Tail's return, Off The Reservation offers a complete story in its own right. Five years after surviving unimaginable tragedy, Nate is searching for purpose and a series of events leads him to join a small group of Blackfeet traveling to recover the remains of a child taken to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. What begins as a mission of repatriation gradually transforms into a terrifying supernatural journey where the weight of history refuses to remain buried. Jones excels at creating characters who feel richly lived-in. The cramped confines of the RV become an intimate stage for grief, humor, conflict, and compassion, allowing each member of this group to emerge as a fully realized person. Their relationships and secrets drive the novel just as much as the horror, making the inevitable violence all the more affecting. The supernatural elements are inventive and insanely impactful, offering a fresh take on possession that is rooted in Indigenous perspectives rather than usual genre conventions. Yet, the novel's greatest horrors come from the history itself. The legacy of residential schools, cultural erasure, racism, and the complex question of what makes a "Good Indian" permeate every page without overshadowing the story's momentum. Jones balances moments of genuine warmth and hilarious moments with relentless dread, creating a novel that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. Off The Reservation is another remarkable example of horror being used not only to terrify, but to confront historical injustice and the ghosts that nations too often refuse to acknowledge. Thank you Saga Press Books for getting me an ARC. SGJ fans will rejoice, as this is him at his very best. Make sure you preorder your copy wherever you buy your books. Off The Reservation publishes October 13th, 2026!

A continuation of Graham Jones' previous book The Only Good Indians, this book does not miss a beat. Complex characters learning about each other in the RV, each with their own trauma and lived experiences as Blackfeet, you really get to know what makes the characters tick. Suspenseful and engaging, I recommend this to any horror fan or just avid book reader!

A tale very dark and dramatic. Very much Stephen Graham Jones. One of his best. Follow if you dare, this unlikely band of travelers… The destination is not as important as the journey.

Nate Yellow Tail's had a string of terrible luck that's wrecked his body and his faith in humanity. Following the events of "The Only Good Indians", Nate's attempts to rob a house nearly kills him and embroils him in a road-trip journey to shed light on a horrific school and it's buried past. "Off the Reservation" is classic Stephen Graham Jones with a funny, wry narrative voice, stream-of-consciousness musings and observations, and of course – it's very, very scary too. I really enjoyed this one and think it's a great follow up to "The Only Good Indians"; its cast of unique characters (with two older female protagonists, which is so undeservedly rare in fiction!) are a great found family that you really care about, so when the horror kicks into first gear, you really hope everyone makes it out okay.