Scan barcode
roxanne_blythe's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I love this book for all of the commentary that it makes about race, gender, and relationships.
This book is about a bunch of black girls that go missing in the woods. And it’s very interesting that this town. nobody talks about the fact that so many black girls have gone missing in the woods. It gets swept under the rug.
And as Liz is trying to uncover the lore of the town, it becomes supernatural???
Like I knew that there was someone doing this, but also a hinted at a supernatural being in Liz’s dreams.
I still don’t understand the symbolism of a shadow being taking the souls of black women. Like the way, I understood it was that these girls black girls in general or creators of the culture. That wouldn’t be an American culture without the contributions of black women. And how people just take and take and take and from black women until there’s nothing left.
That’s the way I interpreted it, I don’t really understand why she picked a jackal of all creatures. Also, Anubis? Don’t know where that’s coming from. Like one of the girls and her mom had a fascination with ancient Egyptian history, so maybe that’s where it came from??
Honestly, everybody in this town is a suspect all white people were suspicious to me. I did think Nick and his father had to do with it. And then I realize Doug had something to do with it when it was revealed by Kerstyn, his wife that his father lost a job at a steel mill, and I was had a book started.
Chris also a suspicious to me but he turned out to be innocent. Actually I take that back. Nobody in this town is inside the fact that everybody was complacent in the kidnapping and murder of these girls. Pisses me off and it’s actually really upsetting because this happened in real life.
I think we’re the book kind of lost me was once Lucy was revealed so this shadow being existed since the 1920s, but they didn’t actually start taking girls until 1985. What didn’t really make sense to me was if Lucy was a black girl or not because her narrative was giving very much white girl… or I could just be Jack but I’m reading as a white woman.
I can’t really give this book a rating just yet but I did really enjoy it. I think I kind of lost the plot. When’s Lucy was revealed, and we found Caroline.
Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Animal death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
nrogers_1030's review
3.0
Graphic: Murder, Classism, Death, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Blood, Racism, and Child death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape
cadigits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Animal cruelty, Racism, and Domestic abuse
clarkg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Stalking, Child death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Confinement, Excrement, Sexual assault, Vomit, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Suicide, Grief, and Sexual content
sargasso_c's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Racism, Animal death, Gore, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Stalking, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Minor: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Vomit, Abortion, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Bullying
tey_lynn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Death, Grief, Gore, Racial slurs, Animal death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Blood, Racism, Confinement, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping
kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
chefboyavi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence
kwaeisig's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book does not end with a complete “happy ending”. There’s something to be said about small towns across the US that are heavily segregated with many “folk tales”. There are truths in every tale we are told if we take time to decipher them and trace their origins.
I will be purchasing a copy of this book for my personal library, I loved it so much!
Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Torture, Rape, Mental illness, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Cursing
archaicrobin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Jackal started off very strong with interesting characters, excellent commentary on the double standards between missing white girls and missing black girls, and the deep rooted racism that permeates small southern towns.
I was really into this for the first half of the book but unfortunately half way through, the story begins to get out of hand. There’s a lot of possibilities thrown around that aren’t ever really brought up again or are explained with knowledge that Liz shouldn’t realistically have. There was also a supernatural turn to the story that was very sudden, didn’t make any sense, and wasn’t really explained well. Along with the supernatural twist there was also a weird romance thrown in without much background and it was essentially a throw away storyline inserted to have yet another, red herring in this already jam packed mystery. I feel like the author has a great handle of the story at first but as it progressed things just got a little out of hand.
Along with the drawn out and confusing second half there are also quite a few typos that took me out of the story. One in particular that really got on my nerves was the switch between Liz referring to Mel as Melissa sometimes randomly for no reason with no context. One line she’d say Mel, two lines later it was Melissa before being Mel again. This inconsistency was minor but it really disconnected me from the flow of the story.
Overall, this was great at first and had a lot to say but lost it towards the halfway point. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a thriller with weird vibes and doesn’t mind a pivoting storyline but not for fans of thrillers or those looking for a tight mystery.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Animal death, Racism, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, and Gore