Reviews with content warning for Death - Don't Fear the Reaper

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

50 reviews

megandherbook's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad 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

The second book in the Indian Lake Trilogy did not disappoint. In fact, I think I enjoyed this read better than the first.

Jade Daniels, now going by Jennifer, returns to Proofrock after spending the past 4 years in prison due to the infamous events that people call the 4th of July massacre. Right when she returns, a convicted serial kill named Dark Mill South escapes his prison transfer convoy right near Proofrock during an intense blizzard. Jade (or Jennifer) is thrown right back into the world of slashers and will have to use her vast knowledge of horror movies that she's tried to forget to save her and the others in this town. But as before, Proofrock and Indian Lake are never quite what they seem.

First, I want to say that if you are a fan of horror movies, especially slashers, at the very least you'll appreciate the vast knowledge Stephen Graham Jones includes in this series. It's a dream for horror aficionados - I even wrote quite a view titles down that I wasn't familiar with.

While I enjoyed the first book, it was exhausting being inside Jade's head the whole time. Sometimes it was hard figuring out what was fact and what was just in Jade's head. I very much enjoyed how this book jumped between narrators. While it may seem confusing (and could be at times) I felt like I had a better understanding of what was going on. It also really allowed me to get a sense of just how impactful the Lake Killings of 4 years prior were to the town and people in it as a whole. The amount of characters are a lot, however, each one serves an important purpose and helped the many moving parts of this book to come together. This book also solidified my love for both Jade and Letha.

Overall, I highly recommend this horror series. To fully appreciate Don't Fear the Reaper I recommend reading the first book My Heart is a Chainsaw first.

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val_so_'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

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sarah984's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

5.0

I preordered this book and then proceeded to not read it for months. "Chainsaw" had what I consider the perfect ending and it was hard to imagine what a sequel could bring to the table. Now that I've finished the book I regret not giving it a chance earlier.

While Jade is still the star of the show, this book expands to show other characters' POV, and all of these characters just feel so perfectly human. One of the early victims' internal monologue stuck with me for the entire rest of the book. There are a lot of moving parts and things going on in the book, but somehow it all slots together in a way where you couldn't take any of it out.

I really loved this. Fantastic sequel.

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bananafreckles's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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turtleofhades's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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chloseencounter's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was so excited to get my hands on this novel and it did not disappoint, I felt as if a lot of the things I wanted more of in My Heart is a Chainsaw where delivered to me on a silver platter in this sequel. More slashing and more Jade and Letha being a duo. The book was actually longer than the first and yet I flew through it in no time. My Heart is a Chainsaw sort of dragged a bit in the middle but it all paid off in this sequel because I already went in loving these characters, which made it all the more enjoyable. As a slasher girl myself I have such deep love and empathy for Jade as a MC and I was so happy to hear from her again, like an old friend, (actually, we graduated the same year so we would’ve definitely been friends in high school.) There were literally moments in this book that made me internally cheer for my girls! Jade and Letha will always have my heart. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the end of the Indian Lake trilogy and of Jade’s journey.

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siobhanward's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I love Stephen Graham Jones but I was a little let down by this book. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as his other works. This definitely felt a lot like the middle book of a trilogy - extending some events from the first book and setting things up for a third.

Like My Heart is a Chainsaw this book had a lot of references to horror films, specifically slasher movies. While the references do get explained, I feel like I would have gotten more out of the book had I seen any of the movies that were mentioned. I'm excited to see what happens in the third book and I hope it's a little stronger than this one.

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