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A review by ladymacbeth_1985
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
dark
emotional
tense
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
4.0
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
A dark, menacing, and addictive read, Don’t Fear the Reaper takes what was started in My Heart is a Chainsaw and ramps it up to eleven.
As with Chainsaw, this novel pays serious homage to 70s-90s horror movies (mainly slashers, but we also get some movies in other sub-genres referenced, all of which, brag brag, I’ve seen). This book is full of the over-the-top deaths you see in a Friday the 13th iteration (people being impaled on things, for example) and even a slight bit of a creature feature (my preferred genre of horror).
The book is about more than just abject horror though (in fact, while it’s tense, it’s not really scary - but that could be because I find ghosts scary, not hulking dudes. Cause, you know, if it bleeds I can kill it). Like Chainsaw, this is a story about a young woman fighting. In Chainsaw, she was fighting for herself, for identity and to find the self buried under trauma. In this one, she’s fighting for those she loves, and she’s fighting to have a life, to save other lives.
In terms of whether this book is better than the first, I’d say it’s on par. Just like the setting in Chainsaw was an homage to summer camp horror, this one is whiteout horror; the storm is what allows the massacre to happen, almost as if the earth were helping Dark Mill South with his plans. Given Jade, the final girl, survived last time, the stakes had to be higher in this one than just her escaping, which means a tougher environment and more at stake, namely, Jade’s friends.
That being said, Jade seems to take a step back in the middle of the novel, where the first book was all about her. While I was still quite addicted to reading it, the midpoint lost some of its steam. It didn’t drag, but for a while, I was wondering where the story was going. There is an attempt to bring in multiple POVs, which I enjoyed, as it added to the “everyone is separated and thus a target” aspect. There is also a part with Jade’s mom that was excellent and added some emotional heft.
One thing I also loved was the background for why Dark Mill South was a psychotic killer. It was a brief explanation, but it was extremely poignant in that it didn't excuse his actions, but showed how systemic abuse essentially broke a boy of his humanity and warped his psyche beyond repair.
On that sad note, I will wrap this up to say that if you enjoy slasher films and if you enjoyed Chainsaw, you should check out Don’t Fear the Reaper.
A dark, menacing, and addictive read, Don’t Fear the Reaper takes what was started in My Heart is a Chainsaw and ramps it up to eleven.
As with Chainsaw, this novel pays serious homage to 70s-90s horror movies (mainly slashers, but we also get some movies in other sub-genres referenced, all of which, brag brag, I’ve seen). This book is full of the over-the-top deaths you see in a Friday the 13th iteration (people being impaled on things, for example) and even a slight bit of a creature feature (my preferred genre of horror).
The book is about more than just abject horror though (in fact, while it’s tense, it’s not really scary - but that could be because I find ghosts scary, not hulking dudes. Cause, you know, if it bleeds I can kill it). Like Chainsaw, this is a story about a young woman fighting. In Chainsaw, she was fighting for herself, for identity and to find the self buried under trauma. In this one, she’s fighting for those she loves, and she’s fighting to have a life, to save other lives.
In terms of whether this book is better than the first, I’d say it’s on par. Just like the setting in Chainsaw was an homage to summer camp horror, this one is whiteout horror; the storm is what allows the massacre to happen, almost as if the earth were helping Dark Mill South with his plans. Given Jade, the final girl, survived last time, the stakes had to be higher in this one than just her escaping, which means a tougher environment and more at stake, namely, Jade’s friends.
That being said, Jade seems to take a step back in the middle of the novel, where the first book was all about her. While I was still quite addicted to reading it, the midpoint lost some of its steam. It didn’t drag, but for a while, I was wondering where the story was going. There is an attempt to bring in multiple POVs, which I enjoyed, as it added to the “everyone is separated and thus a target” aspect. There is also a part with Jade’s mom that was excellent and added some emotional heft.
One thing I also loved was the background for why Dark Mill South was a psychotic killer. It was a brief explanation, but it was extremely poignant in that it didn't excuse his actions, but showed how systemic abuse essentially broke a boy of his humanity and warped his psyche beyond repair.
On that sad note, I will wrap this up to say that if you enjoy slasher films and if you enjoyed Chainsaw, you should check out Don’t Fear the Reaper.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Murder