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

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Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

13 reviews

edoherty's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

I didn't think this was quite as strong as My Heart is a Chainsaw, but it still grabbed me and pulled me along for the ride. For all their flaws, I like Jennifer (Jade) and Letha and (most of) the other inhabitants of Proofrock Lake and I care about their fates. While I preferred the slower buildup -> explosion of violence of MHiaC, I appreciated the gonzo approach of Don't Fear the Reaper: there was certainly no waiting to find out when the violence was going to start!!

I have two main reasons for rating DFtR slightly lower than the first book:

1.

I thought I could follow the identity-swapping between Ginger and Cinnamon, even up until the end. The final reveal with the wigs in Cinnamon's room, though, was one twist too far: I'm no longer sure I know which twin survived, and - more importantly - I'm not sure why it matters from an overall trilogy perspective. Whichever one survived, will, I'm sure, be an antagonist in the final book, but I don't know what I'm expected to conclude about that.

I didn't think the supernatural element worked quite as well. I figured out the identity of the ghost elk at about the earliest possible point, and it was interesting and had emotional resonance, but I didn't feel like it connected to the book as well as the appearance of Stacey Graves did in the first book.</spoiler?

Content Warnings

starrysteph's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

Oh, yes - this is the continuation that I craved after finishing My Heart is a Chainsaw.

We pick up back in Proofrock four years later, where kids have grown up and loss has reshaped the community … but some things never change, do they? There will always be a killer lurking around the corner, ready to hunt down unsuspecting locals.

Jade Daniels - who goes by Jennifer now, thank you - is returning to town for the first time since the events of the first book. With this new distance from her home & trauma, Jennifer has reframed her point of view a bit and no longer sees the world exclusively through the lens of slashers (as she once had to for her own protection) - but that doesn’t mean she’s left her great depth of knowledge behind.

And when the power & phone line goes down and a serial killer escapes his convoy … Jennifer & Letha have to team up once more to save their town.

We have a massing scattering of perspectives here, and things aren’t always told in a linear fashion. It’s fascinating but can also feel disjointing - I struggled a bit at times to recall which characters and pieces of information were a continuation from the first and which were brand new.

Jones has such a unique bite and style of writing. It’s gory and horrifying and then unexpectedly emotional - and each narrator’s way of storytelling is distinctive, even those who only get a few paragraphs to shine.

However, I did miss Jade. She’s here, and she shines, but the focus is split so much that I was left wanting more from her arc. We’ll see where the third book goes.

The pace is much faster than the first, and I found myself catching breaths alongside the characters’ brief reprieves. There’s more guts and more gore. There’s identical twin mindbenders and chilling scenes with elk and monsters that were painfully human.

There’s a great blend of slasher nods and winks and references alongside horrifyingly creative all-new kills. I’ve seen my fair share of slashers but I’m sure there were also clever & specific references that went right over my head - Jones does a nice job of explaining just enough.

I personally preferred Chainsaw for its deeper emotional story and focus on Jade - but Don’t Fear the Reaper was still a wonderful sequel. And if you found Chainsaw to be too slow … you won’t be disappointed here.

CW: murder, death, gore, blood, child death, animal death, animal cruelty, body horror, pedophilia, adult/minor relationship, drug use, abuse, gun violence, self harm, chronic illness, mental illness, medical trauma, cultural appropriation, racism, classism, vomit

(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

Content Warnings

danaslitlist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

Thank you to Stephen Graham Jones, Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Rounded up to 4 stars.

I had read My Heart is a Chainsaw (from here on abbreviated to MHiaC) and I really liked it. First time I rated it 5 stars, eventually brought it down to 4 after more thinking. But overall I thought it was wonderfully written.

So when I was approved for ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper” I was both surprised and also scared that I wouldn’t like it as much. And for the first half the book I was a bit hesitant because I wasn’t sure where it was going. The thing is: Don’t Fear the Reaper, while distinctly a Stephen Graham Jones book, is different from MHiaC. This is a slasher story from the start whereas the first book in the series is slow burn. The slow burn here comes at the halfway point and revolves around the entire cast of characters instead of just Jade, like in the first novel. And that is where the main difference lies.

This is a story that hinges on a full gang of people. And that changes the motives, the reasons, the lines of where morals are for some characters. Everything that happens in ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ is because of someone’s choices. Whether that’s just or not. And that works incredibly well.

I loved seeing how different Jade is now while maintaining her core personality. She has grown a lot in the four years she’s been away and not only has she done some reflecting, she’s also taken steps to change her behavior that she realized she didn’t like. That was super valuable and important, because she was an unlikable character in the first book, and while that fit the story then, she desperately needed to have some growth in order for us to be able to root for her again. I was surprised by her but never in a way that felt unbelievable. It was seeing Jade become who we as an audience knew she could be.

I’m glad that SGJ continued Jade’s relationship with Hardy in the sequel. They had such a good dynamic in MHiaC and I enjoyed it just as much here. Their relationship was by far one of the most endearing aspects of the book.

I loved the subtle reference to the Scream movies by having Galatea act as the information spreader like Randy. And the references to “supernatural” slashers such as Jason and Michael in the character build of Dark Mill South. This being used throughout heightened the tension and raised the stakes

We also get some great call backs to Jade letters/essays to her teacher via the sections of the novel written be an “unknown” individual to the new history teacher at Proofrock. The amounts of hints, references and head nods felt balanced enough that they never felt to be “too much” and often worked as include information or rehash things we needed to know.

I love this way of sharing additional information that our main characters wouldn’t have access to or necessarily feel the need to talk about. It’s a clever way of sharing exposition without being boring or too on the nose

The juxtaposition of having this set in the middle of a snow storm compared to MHiaC is great as well. It sets a claustrophobic tension from the start. It gives the book the opportunity to avoid the trap of falling into the same premise of the first book. We have a group of main players who already believe and know there is a killer on the loose and who it most likely is, that also plays into the immediate tension and suspense.

The twists here were also full filing and entertaining. I think it’s easy to go “oh well that’s too cliche” but it worked for me.

I feel that if you enjoyed MHiaC you’ll love this addition to the series and if you didn’t care for the first novel, you may end up liking DFtR because of its differences in pacing, style and themes.

The white elk symbolism and being a connection between Jade and Dark Mill South = chef kiss. Dark Mill believes seeing that elk is a sign of luck and of his divine fortune, meanwhile we were introduced to the idea in the very beginning that the Elk is tied to Jade; it is a symbol of her return. And in the end…the reveal of who the White Elk is and that they not only getting revenge but also protecting Jade for someone else…..was just beautiful and impactful. I had to mentioned it as it was one of my favorite reveals of the book.

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