The Only Good Indians

Stephen Graham Jones

Jul 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From USA TODAY bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a “masterpiece” (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition. Labeled “one of 2020’s buzziest horror novels” (Entertainment Weekly), this is a remarkable horror story that “will give you nightmares—the good kind of course” (BuzzFeed).

From New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience. Fans of Jordan Peele and Tommy Orange will love this story as it follows the lives of four American Indian men and their families, all haunted by a disturbing, deadly event that took place in their youth. Years later, they find themselves tracked by an entity bent on revenge, totally helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

Ratings and reviews

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. Well.. this book is certainly original. You will not read anything else like it. It is a slow burning horror novel, takes awhile to get going. I found it difficult to read, it felt like it was all over place in some areas and it didn't have the best flow to it. I am not even sure how to accurately describe this novel. It is a combination of Indian heritage, revenge elk, a woman with an elk head and.. basketball? I would really have to read this book a few times to make any sense. I wish I enjoyed it more but alas, I did not. I will post my review on Netgalley, Goodreads, Amazon and Google play.

Thanks to bookishfirst for the free copy of this book in exchange for a review. I was really looking forward to this story. It is an ownvoices story of native Americans and supposedly it is also a horror story. The story involves some members of Blackfeet nation- four young men who hunt an elk illegally and ten years later something is back for revenge. I read over half of the book and it was a bit of a struggle. I had such a hard time getting into the writing style, and it didn’t stop being confusing for me. I wasn’t compelled to keep reading, just frustrated. I am disappointed that this wasn’t more enjoyable for me since I was really looking forward to it. I think this book may be a great fit for others. Just was not for me. I appreciate the author’s point of view and the sharing of the culture so much.

The Only Good Indians is a very original horror story that is, at its heart, a tale of revenge. I read this book with the Horror Fiction Book Club of the Prince William Public Library as our selection for March. Four Native American/American Indian men experience a disturbing event together in their youth. Years later, this event comes back to haunt them - an entity is tracking each of them and is determined to make them pay for breaking with and disrespecting tradition. The premise of this story is so creative and original - I definitely haven't read anything quite like this before. I really enjoyed that it was an #ownvoices story that introduced us to members of the Blackfeet tribe, some of their culture and some of the struggles that they are facing. These stories are not being told or read nearly enough - I'm so glad that this book is getting the attention that it is. You could feel a lot of the sadness and frustration that was associated with life on the reservation, and life after the reservation for those who left. There was a lot of discrimination and prejudice that the characters were being endangered by and were suffering from. The first half told their stories one by one, first Ricky then Lewis, both of whom had left the reservation, then the last half told the story of Cassidy and Gabriel together, who both remained on the reservation. I enjoyed the story of Ricky - it was fast paced and pretty heart wrenching. I really enjoyed the story of Lewis. It was longer and was a slow burn. It really took me for a ride as Lewis's life and mind steadily deteriorate. These parts were really pretty impressive with the horror they offered, both in creepiness and shock value. Then I didn't really enjoy the section of Cassidy and Gabriel as much. I was not noticing a lot of differentiation between the characters, so I was struggling to keep track of who was who. This section was also just generally more confusing to me. There were times that I was struggling to figure out who was narrating, or who the narrator was speaking to. I wasn't sure if that was by design, but I was definitely confused. It seemed be the author's style to jump around a lot and for me personally, it left me a little frustrated. Everyone else in my book club enjoyed it very much, so I think it was just not a good match to my taste and I absolutely recommend it to horror lovers. I will note, there was one thing that I really disliked and that was animal suffering. I totally understand that this is an effective device to create horror, but this is a soft spot for me - and I think a lot of other people, which is why I'm mentioning it. It had its place in the story, and it felt extremely real and authentic. It made me really sad and I would rather have not read it. I gave this book 3 stars because there were definitely some good points that I did like, but also some that I really didn't. I liked it but I didn't love it.

About the author

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.