Book Review: My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

My Heart is a Chainsaw

by Stephen Graham Jones (Jones)

 

My Heart is a Chainsaw mixes realistic contemporary fiction with horror, slashers in particular. Jade is on the verge of graduating high school in a small lake town in Idaho. She’s been obsessed with slasher films for years. She’ll talk about them at any perceived opportunity and goes on at length about slasher film elements and history in her homework. She’s convinced all the elements are right for a local slasher event. There WAS a long-ago slasher event at the summer camp on the lake where Jade sometimes hides out to avoid her home. Plus, there’s the preacher who died rather than abandon his drowning church when the dam created the lake. And there’s a local witch legend about a Native girl like Jade.

 

If all this history weren’t enough, a group of wealthy people have decided to make a new luxury development across the lake, on top of what was once a burial ground. When one of these rich girls joins Jade’s senior class, Jade knows: she’s found the Final Girl who will stand up to the slasher. It’s a good thing Jade is so ready to prepare her for the coming blood bath. And, yes, there ARE a number of odd deaths happening. Is it really a slasher cycle starting, or is Jade deluded?

 

This book is not itself tightly paced like a slasher film. When I checked other reviews, this seems to be the main complaint from people who expected that. Instead, it’s leisurely paced with maybe ten short, scattered chapters that are literally Jade’s history class essays about slashers, local history and legends, and interviews she’s done with people in town about their experiences. This is a book for people who like extended editions DVDs and watching the special features. And, yes, there will be blood.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, or When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole.)

 

( official My Heart is a Chainsaw page on the official Stephen Graham Jones web site )

 

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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