Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
In Don’t Fear the Reaper, Stephen Graham Jones returns to the world of Proofrock, the poverty-stricken Idaho Indian reservation from his previous novel, My Heart is a Chainsaw. Four years after the bloody massacre that served as the climax of the prior book, Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is released from prison after her wrongful conviction is overturned.
She returns to Proofrock and reunites with her old friend Letha. As teenagers, the girls defeated Stacy Graves, aka The Lake Witch, a vengeful supernatural specter who instigated an Independence Day massacre and nearly destroyed their entire town. Jade and Letha continue to bear the physical and emotional scars of that traumatic battle.
The supposedly reformed Jennifer, who is now a young woman, has resolved to move on with her life and leave her slasher-obsessed past behind. She now has gaps in her horror movie knowledge after four years in prison and doesn’t understand references to recent genre films. Of course, a new evil soon comes to town, and Jennifer must turn back into Jade in order to save Proofrock once more.
Meanwhile, Letha has become a wife and mother. She is married to Bannon, a local police deputy who was a minor character in the previous book. In My Heart is a Chainsaw, Letha was clueless about horror films. In an ironic twist, she has now become a scary movie buff. She even names her infant daughter Adrienne, after Adrienne King, the actress who played the final girl in the original Friday the 13th.
In the first book, Letha was described as a stunning beauty. She now has a mangled face due to an injury sustained in the bloody final battle of My Heart is a Chainsaw. Although her circumstances have changed, Letha is still just as gutsy and courageous as she was in the previous novel.
Don’t Fear the Reaper is thankfully written in a much more accessible style than its predecessor. My Heart is a Chainsaw was filled with rambling run-on sentences that simulated Jade’s scattered, confused state of mind. It was often difficult for the reader to decipher what was occurring.
This time, Jones alternates between the points of view of several different characters. Jade is still the main protagonist, and rightfully so. She is just as interesting and compelling as she was in the first book. We also get to see events from Letha’s perspective, as well as several other characters.
The new villain is Dark Mill South, a serial killer who recently escaped from prison. South is a hulking monster who seems loosely inspired by Michael Myers and/or Jason Voorhees. He is ostensibly seeking revenge for 38 Native men who were hanged in a notorious mass execution. This real-life historical event occurred during the Dakota War in Minnesota in 1862.
Although it’s significantly less perplexing than its predecessor, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” is still a difficult read at times. It is filled with obscure allusions to numerous horror films and other elements of pop culture. These are fun, but will be bewildering to readers who aren’t familiar with the films being referenced.
Another source of confusion is a storyline involving twin teen girls, Ginger and Cinnamon, who play a key role in the novel’s climax. Jade and the other characters have a difficult time distinguishing between the sisters, and readers will too. I can’t say more without spoiling a major plot twist, but the twin storyline may have been inspired by ’80s slasher movies like “The Initiation.”
Stephen Graham Jones writes in a rambling, informal style, like he is telling the story to friends. He often switches between multiple character POV’s in the same chapter. This can be disorienting. At least it’s better than My Heart is a Chainsaw, in which nearly the entire book was from Jade’s perspective. Teenage Jade was a highly unreliable narrator.
Rating
Don’t Fear the Reaper is a worthy follow up to My Heart is a Chainsaw. It continues the story of Jones’s horror-loving heroine Jade in a way that is more straightforward than its predecessor. Jones continues to deconstruct the slasher genre in an entertaining way.
7.5/10
