Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Jackal

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Jackal by Erin E. Adams

81 reviews

roxanne_blythe's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective 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

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.

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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cadigits's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

The book started off strong. As a black woman it felt more like horror than thriller. As the ending approached, it got weird. I still don’t think understand what happens.

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clarkg's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Overall, I found this book to be a pretty compelling thriller with a decent twist ending. It's explorations or race, class, gender, and the geography and topography of the land were unlike anything I have read before and I valued Erin Adams' unique creative vision. That said, some moments felt heavy-handed and trope-y, which took me out of it a bit. Even with that caveat, I would still recommend it.

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readingindc's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense

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

3.5

God this was dark! I enjoyed the first half a lot, I just wish this had landed the ending a bit better… I’m also now slightly afraid of the dark?

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marinnelilly's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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natofthecreeps's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Jackal is a thriller with a definitive message and point of view. What begins as a pretty straight forward mystery blooms into something much larger and much more meaningful, and the novel truly shines when it is tackling head-on themes of racism, community, and personal growth. Our main character Liz is well-rounded and has a very clear path of growth throughout the novel, not something always seen in mystery-thrillers, and this makes the story very personal and emotional. Adams really does a great job of frustrating readers and imbuing much of this story with the sort of crazed helplessness Liz is feeling, and I think that really adds to the racial commentary in this story -- it's impossible to not be angry at the gaslighting and micro-aggressions that Liz is uncovering and faced with.

The ending here is sure to be polarizing and reminded me of Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey in terms of the melding of trauma and the supernatural. I didn't mind this, and it led to a good reveal near the book's end, but it did feel a little incomplete.

My main critique of this book is that while certain aspects of it are really well done and Adams has filled this book with excellent descriptions and is able to keep things in suspense, the plot itself feels a little clunky. Liz's internal monologue is a bit redundant at the book's start, and when we get to the parts of the novel that start unpacking some of the town's and Liz's personal secrets, I feel like we're left wanting. There's many loose threads, and I don't know if they're tied up in the most effective way at the story's end.

Overall though, this was inventive and moving, and that cover art is just gorgeous.

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karenreadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.5

This book is a thriller, a mystery, and a horror story. It's important to realize that before going into the book so you'll know what to expect. I found the story compelling and a quick read because I didn't want to put it down.

A small town. Racism. A history of "the flood" but no one really seems to know the full story of what happened there (or at least it's not a story that gets told). Girls going missing, those found have been brutally killed. Black girls. So the stories are swept away as accidents or animal attacks. But there's also something supernatural happening with the disappearances.

The ending comes together rather quicky so it would be easy to miss details of the final review. I listened to this on audiobook and rewound the final part to hear it again to be sure I caught everything.

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calamitydane's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious

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

5.0

I was in love from the jump. This is a wonderful mystery and an honest depiction of a black girl growing up in a mostly white southern town. I spent the whole time trying to guess who could have done it. There were so many potentials with good evidence to support them. I was texting my partner with guesses and reasons every five minutes

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earl_grey_without_lemon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

I pretty much read this book in one sitting! It hooks you quickly, and I love the trope of searching for loved ones in thriller/horror. Full of twists and turns that kept me on my toes trying to figure out who took Caroline. I also loved the relationship between Liz and her mother, and the complicated ways that race and class and the way they are both publicly perceived impacted their relationship as mother and daughter (disclaimer that I am not Black, and therefore will miss many of the nuances in this relationship, and with Liz’s relationships with every other character in the book). The POV chapters of all of the girls who had gone missing previously were gripping, and I really liked that they gave life to each of the girls through the brief snapshots we see of them. The prose is easy to read and not overly flowery but effective. Pacing is excellent throughout the book, although I think I would have preferred a more drawn out resolution, and it does feel a little like some of the larger themes (especially regarding the history of the town and the man and his shadow) are not explored as fully throughout the book as they could have been. Overall, a really interesting and good read that had me at the edge of my toes (literally got off work and then read for three and a half hours). Erin E. Adams has crafted a compelling story that weaves horror, history, and social commentary that I would highly recommend and left me for sure interested in reading further works by her!

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