Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Jackal

This book had me in a chokehold. I finished it in a day. I couldn't put it down! It is gripping. Liz goes home again for her best friend's wedding. She hates going back to her small hometown. The woods are eerie. Nothing ever feels good about it. Everything goes wrong at the wedding.... SO WRONG.

The beginning has a slow build to it, and it's worth it. I'm still debating with myself how I feel about the very end of the book. I loved how all the characters were involved and the twists. However, the other elements threw me off and pulled me out of the story a bit. Overall I loved the book, but I'm debati if I loved that ending.

Content Warnings

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

incredible!!!! defies genre boundaries and is provocative, creative, and brilliantly structured. i wanted to read it again already right after finishing

Content Warnings

taratearex's review

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was so good! When I first saw this book I was interested because the cover is gorgeous and it was adult horror. I read the back, but by the time I actually read this I'd pretty much forgotten what the back said, I just knew it was a social horror about a woman who goes back to her hometown and a young Black girl goes missing and she wasn't the first young Black girl in that town to go missing. For a horror/thriller/mystery I really like not knowing much about the book going in so I'm not going to say much else about the plot.

I listened to the audiobook for this and it was EXCELLENT, like top best audiobooks I've listened to. There are two narrators and they are both PHENOMENAL, I was so engaged and so creeped out, and I just could not put this down. The beginning does take a bit to get the story going, but the writing and narration really kept me interested.

The social commentary on racism and the lack of care and attention to the missing Black girls is woven throughout and makes this story even more horrific as it represents a real problem, the way this true horror is woven into the story is so well done.

I found the ending to be SO SO GOOD and so satisfying. I honestly feel like that is so hard to do in a thriller and I'm so glad I knew nothing going in because the twists and turns as we got to the ending kept me engaged and guessing and wanting to know! Edit: Just want to add, I'm seeing some reviews who didn't like the ending or thought it didn't make sense, I just want to say- there are clues about the ending throughout the entire book and I think it's too big of a spoiler to say anything more :)

Incredible debut and I can't wait to read more from this author!

CW: Violence. Racism. Child death. Body Horror. Domestic violence. Gore. Alcohol abuse. Eating disorder. Animal death. Kidnapping. Off-page SA. Off-page violence against children

Content Warnings

halfbloodprincess_hogwarts's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

My feelings toward this novel are complicated. I enjoyed the suspense, mystery of the missing Black girls and the identity of the Jackal, referred to as Jack.

In this town, 95% of them in my opinion are shitty. Which brings me to the real world problem of the lack of coverage missing Black girls receive. This is the main premise Jackal highlights, as the recent Black girl to go missing is 11- years old and biracial. Her mom is caucus, furious that her child became missing on her wedding night and that she is not receiving an urgency of importance from the police because they view her as a Black girl, thus unimportant.

The narrative gave a spotlight to the reality of this truth. That Black women are the most unprotective class, period. How disheartening society is and ostracizes the very queens who walk this earth. There will be a change to it, I know it.

Thankful I switched from the ebook to its audio.

Content Warnings

remie's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

elizabethknaub's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

map_to_neverland's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...