Book Review: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Title: The Only Good Indians
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Pages: 320 pages
Published July 14th 2020 by Gallery / Saga Press
Source: NetGalley

GoodReads Description: "The creeping horror of Paul Tremblay meets Tommy Orange’s There There in a dark novel of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones.

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way."

The Only Good Indians was a brilliant character-driven horror story that was rich in culture and legend.  This was my first book by Stephen Graham Jones, but it won't be the last! 

One thing is for sure, Jones writes characters wonderfully.  This was a very character-driven novel - which is my favorite kind.  But in the beginning he is almost dealing with one character at a time, developing their story and how they deal with this curse and then moving on to the next one.  Then he throws in the point of view of this... "entity" instead of it being sort of just a concept. And that threw me a bit.  But then it all wraps up neatly at the end... well, not neatly - it was pretty messy actually - but... it wraps up.

The plotting was original.  Going through each of the four friends and telling their stories almost separately, though inexplicably linked.  And the very end felt like we were coming full-circle, which was satisfying.

MY RATING:
Story: 4
Characters: 5
Overall: 4.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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