Overview:

This sequel to Stephen Graham Jones’ excellent My Heart is a Chainsaw, and middle book in his Indian Lake Trilogy,* continues the tradition Jones began long before he sat down to pen the first draft of Chainsaw a decade ago. With the now out of print Demon Theory, Jones not only started experimenting with form but also the meta-analysis of the “slasher” subgenre of horror, an undertaking that reaches near perfection with the first book in the Indian Lake Trilogy. Don’t Fear the Reaper picks up where Chainsaw left off, combining with its predecessor to present a sort of masterclass in slasher theory. Working from a comprehensive, but by no means complete, selection of films within the genre, Jones utilizes both character and plot, as well as epistolary interludes, to discuss and dissect tropes that have come to seem formulaic in the comfort of their convention. But he doesn’t stop there. Jones’ meta-awareness is compounded by his willingness to admit that what he is doing isn’t exactly new. Paying homage to a similar trend that began to take shape in the slasher films of the 1990s, he seeks to first establish the rules of the game and then subvert them in ways that are both novel and somehow familiar.

Thoughts:

Don’t Fear the Reaper is a fun read regardless of whether you are a die-hard genre fan, or if you are just dipping your toe in the water (I swear there is no one there, just below the surface, ready to grab you by the ankle and drag you down if you decide that one toe in Indian Lake isn’t quite enough). Jones provides enough twists and turns to make any familiar elements new, and he does so in a way that takes the genre beyond the well-worn cheap thrills of jump scares and gore, instead settling into a tale that is simultaneously cerebral and immensely entertaining.