Book Review: THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones (Gallery/Saga Press, January 2021) Trade paperback, 310 pages. ISBN # 1982136464 / 9781982136468  Literary Awards: Bram Stoker 2020 Award for Best Novel; Locus Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel; Shirley Jackson 2020 Award for Novel; Los Angeles Times 2020 Book Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction (Ray Bradbury Prize); ALA Alex 2021 Award; British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Horror Novel (August Derleth Award); Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Horror; Ignite Award Nominee for Best Adult Novel.  

Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Ricky, Gabe, Lewis and Cassidy are men bound to their heritage, bound by society, and trapped in the endless expanses of the landscape. Now, ten years after a fateful elk hunt, which remains a closely guarded secret between them, these men and their children must face a ferocious spirit that is coming for them, one at a time. A spirit which wears the faces of the ones they love, tearing a path into their homes, their families and their most sacred moments of faith.

The Only Good Indians, charts Nature's revenge on a lost generation that maybe never had a chance. Cleaved to their heritage, these parents, husbands, sons and Indians, these men must fight their demons on the fringes of a society that has no place for them.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS is one of those novels that I want to return to in the future, to read more slowly, making notes, and learning how Stephen Graham Jones so successfully pulled me into this story with characters that I have nothing in common with to compare. 

     If I look back on my favorite horror novels, the common factor is rich characterization, so good that the empathy I felt made me anxious and actually feared for them as I read along. 

     There are four major characters in this novel, although one of them doesn't get as many pages devoted to them. However, even in the short prologue I was worried for his fate. Kudos to Jones for evoking those feelings in me. These are all flawed characters, but I had no trouble empathizing with each one and experiencing what it means to walk in their shoes. In fact, I worried for every member of their family, wives, children, cousins and acquaintances. 

     A side benefit of reading this is the insight provided into modern native American life, the Blackfeet Indians, and the conflict arising from breaking away from cultural and tribal traditions and the price for doing so. 

     "Elk are just elk, simple as that. If animals came back to haunt the people who shot them, then the old time Blackfeet would have had ghost buffalo so thick in camp they couldn't even walk around, probably."