“You don’t get to pick your genre”

I love Jade Daniels! Not to bits and pieces, as would be Dark Mill South’s preference, but enough. As far as I’m concerned, she was final girl material long before the events of My Heart is a Chainsaw. You don’t survive what she has without being able to think on your feet, trust what your gut is telling you and learning how to outmanoeuvre whoever’s playing the role of Big Bad today.

Jade’s love and extensive knowledge of horror movies helped her make it to the sequel with a heartbeat. While Jade spent her life prior to Jaws Night praying for a slasher to bloody up Proofrock, she’s not actively trying to conjure up a sequel. Having now lived through a reddening, Jade is only too aware of how it feels when fiction becomes reality.

“The girl she used to be would have been thrilled about all this, would have had her black pompoms out, to cheer it on.
She’s different now, though. This isn’t exciting to her anymore. It’s exactly as terrifying as it should be.”

Despite the absolute kickassness she displayed in her first Proofrock massacre, Jade still doesn’t see herself as a final girl. She probably never will. But I see you, Jade, even when you’re calling yourself Jennifer.

“But you’re still you. Different name, same girl.”

While I really liked Letha in the first book, she ramped up her badassness in this one. I would distract Dark Mill South to give this woman a better chance of surviving the slaughter.

Initially, I only wanted to hear from Jade. And maybe Letha. It wasn’t long, though, before the multiple perspectives won me over.

I missed Jade’s history essays so much! They were entertaining, insightful and obviously well researched. I need every horror movie to come with a Stephen Graham Jones commentary.

I attended some of the most difficult appointments of my life last year and, in preparation, someone suggested I choose a book character I could channel to get me through them. I chose Jade Daniels. Before every appointment I’d reread all of the sentences I highlighted in My Heart is a Chainsaw. I’d think about Jade’s strength as I walked into every appointment and would borrow what I needed.

When I love a book the way I loved My Heart is a Chainsaw, the prospect of a sequel both thrills and terrifies me. I can’t wait to spend more time with the strangers turned kindred spirits I met in the first book. At the same time, I worry that a sequel won’t be able to replicate the magic I found there. Don’t Fear the Reaper exceeded my expectations.

Now I’m worried about the third book, but only because it’s the final book in the series. I never want to say goodbye to Jade Daniels. She’ll always be my final girl.

Quote that hit me the hardest: “I was a scared little girl, I thought - I thought if I knew all the rules, if I knew all the rules, then that would mean - that would mean nothing would happen to me!”

Come to Proofrock, the town that’s gonna need a bigger morgue. The snow is red this year, the movie references are prolific and your insides can become your outsides, even though it’s slasher off season.

“They’re-they’re all dead, I think. Including … me.”

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I enjoyed My Heart Is a Chainsaw... eventually. Jade's POV was a chaotic, slasher-reference-filled stream of consciousness I found hard to follow. She made decisions that baffled me. Picking up 4 years after the events of the first book, Don't Fear The Reaper was a much more straight forward (in my opinion) thriller. Jade is older, more in tune with herself, and either because I ended the last book really rooting for her or because she matured in the interim, I found she was a much more coherent POV character. Plotwise, this is a really satisfying follow up to the events of the Independence Day Massacre. Even if you only somewhat liked My Heart Is a Chainsaw, Don't Fear The Reaper is worth checking out both for what it adds to the characters and the perspectives you gain on the first book, but also for how enjoyable the new carnage is in its own right.

I received this ARC for free on netgalley in exchange for a review.

𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 & 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐕𝐈, "𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭." 𝗪𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤'𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨!

My Heart Is a Chainsaw altered my slasher, buzzing heart last year, and seeing everybody getting their DRCs for the sequel taunted me almost every day. Just like Michael f***ing Myers, my hope & prayers don't die, and fortunately, my request for the DRC on NetGalley got accepted and it starts my chainsaw heart again.

Jade Daniels, our beloved final girl is back in this bloody & intense sequel belonging to the slasher, Lake Witch Trilogy. Stephen Graham Jones, an expert of the genre even more than Randy & Kirby ever be, completely abided by & nailed the rules of the sequel Meeks mentioned in Scream 2.

𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫

Yes, there's that but damn! What a mind SGJ has because I'm in love with the character development & exploration he did in this book even with the minor characters who only appeared for about 2-3 pages. It features a huge cast, mostly returning characters and it's so satisfying to get a taste of pieces of these distinct characters' lives & minds with different POVs SGJ utilized. I'm a slasher for in depth of the characters I'm introduced to and SGJ delivers my needs. As busy as this book gets in juggling everything, it does not forget to remind the reader, that Jade Daniels is the center and she's always been. My number 1 final girl in the literature.

As for the plot, the book starts at the peak of a mountain of madness and it grips and brings me up & up, higher to the sky, leaving me no chance to inhale & exhale the air at all. It is fast-paced, intense, and engaging that I can't stop reading though I promised myself to slowly savor the rich & unique prose SGJ wrote along the way as always. The nuances are fantastic, I'm so obsessed!

𝟐. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞, "𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲!"

This book is also a love letter to the horror genre, this time SGJ serves gory & elaborate death scenes that at the same time are an homage to a cult classic like SCREAM to modern horror like HAPPY DEATH DAY. I couldn't help but giggle at some of the references SGJ planted for horror avid like me. Oh, the world building & the setting, it's freaking good that SGJ managed to take my imagination game to the next level with the atmospheric December winter, the strong wind slapping my face, and cold seeping to the bones, it was a struggle catching my breath not knowing what would happen next in the fogginess & blizzards. I'm so rereading this book soon!

𝟑. 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝

It kills me that sometimes I got confused with what's happening in the book as it can be too frantic that it saturates my mind but it does not take me away from the high adrenaline experiences of facing twists & turns at every corner. The whodunit mystery in here had me at the edge of my seat, though the monster (a human) Dark Mill South, SGJ brilliantly crafted and introduced to us, in the beginning, was brutal & bonkers slasher in the same height as Freddy Kruger & Jason.

I am overjoyed to have been granted an opportunity to read this highly anticipated sequel this soon, thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Might as well follows Annie Wilkes' steps in Misery because I'm now desperate for the final book in the trilogy, I'm left wanting for more & more especially of Jade.

Thank you again, Stephen Graham Jones for this another masterpiece.

Don’t Fear the Reaper by best-selling author, Stephen Graham Jones is the follow-up to My Heart is a Chainsaw and the second book in The Lake Witch Trilogy. This series is a slasher/horror fan’s delight. Anyone who grew up in the 80s/90s era of horror will no doubt love this unique series. It’s not the most fast paced book and like the first the writing style takes a while to get used to. I loved the tough as nails main character and interesting premise. I could see this appealing to a wide audience due to the mash up of horror and unique prose. The storyline is quite complex and I’d recommend reading the first book before diving into this one.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an arc.

A sequel that towers above it's already great predecessor. A masterpiece of slasher lore.

This was one of those books that I have been dying to read since I first read My Heart is a Chainsaw, so then I got accepted to read this as an ARC copy and my excitement went sky high. Often in these situations where expectations are so high, the reality of the thing doesn't quite tally with the expectation. I can safely say this novel exceeded my expectations, hit them out of the park, wrote a new rule book or set a higher bar. This is My Heart is a Chainsaw after years of bulking up. Getting bigger, faster, stronger and more efficient, a juggernaut of a novel.

I wrote pages and pages of notes and highlights about this book. So rather than process them into a condensed filtered version I'm going to just leave a number of them below in an unedited version. That way some emotion might bleed into this review.
-This book focuses on the current story and breathes more light on the happenings of My Heart is a Chainsaw. At times even fills in the back stories of certain characters , which helps build an understanding of their actions.
-The conversations and thoughts of all the characters are so sharp and witty throughout. An absolute delight.
-Stephen Graham Jones' intricate writing and observation's are simply breathtaking, deeply descriptive and the action scenes are both brutal and beautiful.
-Much easier to follow than it's predecessor (I had moments in the first book where I had to read some passages over and over to make sense of things) but there were still a couple of those moments in this book. I put that mostly down to a lack of cultural knowledge or just the subject matter that was being dealt with.
-Gory and bloody but still leaving enough to the imagination.
-The relationship between Jade and Hardy was extremely touching and breathtaking at times.
-Jade is a legend. I love that girl!
-Simply breathtaking.

Move over Jason and Freddie, Dark Mill South is in town.

I stab my daughter repeatedly, quite often. Sometimes she sprawls on the floor afterward. Other times, if I come up behind her unexpectedly, she will fall back into my arms. Eyes closed, unmoving. I always wait a few heartbeats until I feel my work is done. Then her eyes open. She shouts "I Live!" and stabs me in return.

She's 3. It's cute.

This psychopathic yet wholesome ritual, along with some others, has only developed after reading My Heart is a Chainsaw. The world is a fucked up place. Is it ever too early to prepare your daughter to be a possible final girl?

Don't Fear the Reaper was my most anticipated book this year. Stephen Graham Jones is a fantastic writer. I read a shorter work of his this year to reintroduce myself to his style. To wet my whistle on the blade of that knife. When Don't Fear the Reaper came across to me, I made a scene in public when I shouted enthusiastically that my whole year had been made. I'm easy.

The book itself, I have mixed feelings. Due to circumstances, you don't replicate everything that made the first book great. Jade is no longer in high school. Things have changed. Her POV is regulated to one of many. While there were many great moments early on, it felt slightly off until a little past the halfway point of the book. I can't quite place what it is exactly, but it didn't feel like I was fully reading a Stephen Graham Jones book for the first half. Some chapters, sure. There was also a rushed feeling to getting everyone reintroduced, which may be the issue itself. Once it kicks into high gear, it falls back into familiar My Heart is a Chainsaw territory. Getting to that point was a bit of a rough ride. There are also some poetically beautiful lines in there. I wish I had written them down to throw them up here as quotes.

I can see where the final book in the trilogy is possibly heading. We have some loose threads. I'm particularly curious about a character who was ever-present during the book but largely regulated to the side. Time will tell. And I'm ready for it.

Don't Fear The Reaper is the sequel to Stephen Graham Jones's My Heart Is A Chainsaw, picking up four years after the events of the first book. Jade Daniels, now going by Jennifer, has been released from prison after what happened in the town of Proofrock previously, but unfortunately this is timed with an even more memorable sequence of events for the town, as serial killer Dark Mill South escapes his prison convoy and ends up in Proofrock. Jade has sworn off her slasher-film-obsessed past, but the deaths seem to be reminding her of something, and with her remaining allies in the town, she must fight through snow and blood to work out who is the final girl this time.

I enjoyed My Heart Is A Chainsaw, with its distinctive combination of horror film obsession and dark realities, so I was excited to read Don't Fear The Reaper. Stephen Graham Jones has such a distinctive writing style, which occasionally I get lost in, but I found this one easier to orient myself even, even with a range of perspectives. At its core, the plot is fun and clever, playing with horror tropes as should be expected from a book series with a protagonist who overthinks them all, but also a bloody slasher story, with a lot of dead teenagers and some gory moments.

This one focuses less on Jade's emotional wellbeing than the first, but shows her attempts to throw off her past and then realising that she still needs to harness who she was as well as who she now is. Unlike her loner self from the first book, by this point you can see the connections she has with people (it's deeply sad that she believes that Letha is only her secret best friend, as if she doesn't even want to admit that), but this all comes through the reality of her being in prison for some of the killing from the previous book for multiple years.

What Stephen Graham Jones manages to do is create a horror sequel that really does engage with the aftermath of the first one and how behind the slasher tropes, there's a likelihood that the hero still gets in trouble. This is stylistic horror with notable writing (it flows better for me than the first, maybe because it isn't punctuated by Jade's essays on slasher films this time) and a classic plotline of short time frame, bad weather, and lots of dead bodies.

Four years after the events of My Heart is a Chainsaw, Jade Daniels returns to town. Her timing is terrible as it seems to trigger a new round of killings. And there just happens to be an escaped serial killer in the area, and a big storm is isolating the town. And there is a lot of slasher movie references. Somehow SGJ has managed to avoid the curse of the trilogy by providing a second volume that is even more enjoyable than the first.