Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Jackal

I feel incredibly torn on this book. I don't know what this book wanted to be, and I don't think it did either.
Jackal follows Liz Rocher, who is returning to her small hometown for her best friend's wedding. While there, her best friend's young daughter (who is mixed) goes missing. This sets Liz on a mission to find her best friend's daughter, but in the process Liz discovers a harrowing pattern--young Black girls going missing every summer for decades.
This book is beautifully written. Let me start with that. Jackal does not shy away from race, class, and gender, and I have many sections highlighted because of how beautiful and poignant they were.
That being said, the overarching plot is relatively simple, but the supernatural twist didn't really add anything to the story, and rather took away from it. There were chapters about the girls who went missing from Jack's perspective, which was highly confusing (as it uses the same POV as Liz).

This book addresses police indifference to POC missing persons cases, the small town covert racism (and overt as well) through the lens of Liz, who is a complicated person. She's hard to read for a good chunk of the book--and we're in her head, but as her story unfolds, her personality does as well.

I think this book set out to do too much--the combo of real-life horror and supernatural horror didn't blend well here as the rest of the book was more based in the real world.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me this e-arc in exchange for my honest review!:)

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Book Details:
-Genre: Horror
-Publication Date: October 4, 2022
-Setting: Johnstown, PA
-features creepy woods, a dark shadow, an eerie rhyme about the woods, and missing children

This horror novel contains many real world discussions, as many of the horrifying things that are happening are based in racism. It is an own voices author and I recommend looking to own voices reviews of the book as well.

It was a very creepy atmosphere. The author managed to blend more paranormal horror and real life horror. It was genuinely a very scary read.

Told through many time periods, we get an interesting multiple POV storyline and get to see the experiences of many characters. This was one of my favorite parts of the novel, especially as it is unclear who the narrator is in sections (at first).

Overall, if you are looking for something that is more horror (rather than thriller) and contains real world horrors, then this book would be a good fit for you.

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