Only Good Indians

Paperback

ISBN:
978-1-78909-529-6
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4 stars (54 reviews)

Ten years ago outside Browning, Montana, four Blackfeet shot some elk, and then went on with their lives. It happens every year, it’s been happening forever, it’s the way it’s always been. But this time it’s different.

Ten years after that fateful hunt, these men are being stalked, are being hunted themselves. By who? By . . . what? And why?

Some hunting expeditions, they’re never really over.

This one’s just beginning.

6 editions

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Ok I struggled. Like a lot. I nearly went with three stars. Part of me wants to give it only two. This was waaaaayyyyy harder to read than it should have been. There’s just… too much writing. Lol. The parts that were good were really good, definitely innovative, and had something to say (despite the gore). But man….. too much. It could have been half the length it is and it would have been so much better. I don’t think I could recommend this to many people. Stephen King fans might like it though….

Maddening

4 stars

This is such a slow burn & I felt it all over! I could not put this down - until, suddenly, I just dropped it...because the madness of it all got to me.

Highly recommend for those who want something a little raunchy - I will have to revisit! Such a captivating blend of realism and downright horror. There is so much to learn through this text, but also, it's simply an enthralling storytelling experience like no other.

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

My rating for this one is with the context that this is a HORROR novel. Initially I was tempted to rate it lower because it was not what I expected (I hadn't read the jacket), but after reflecting, it's solid for it's genre. I definitely was left with some questions, so now I need to go scour the comments/questions section of Goodreads to see what other readers made of this book. I'm glad I listened to the Acknowledgements at the end, which were read by the author.

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Brisk and thoroughly entertaining, this horror novel centers on four Native American men stalked by a vengeful spirit ten years after shooting a pregnant elk.

The pace and narrative are both extremely engaging, but the highlight for me was the characterization. The characters grapple with their ethnic identity, poverty, lifestyle choices, and feelings of obligation to and entrapment by the reservation from which they all originate. Their view of the world vividly comes across through the prose and choice in metaphors.

The only real issue I had was close to the end of the book, where an incredibly tense and bloody sequence is followed by…an extended one-on-one basketball tournament. While I understand what the author was trying to do, it wasn’t very interesting for this non-sports fan and killed much of the momentum built up during the preceding chapter. The book still has a satisfying conclusion, but the basketball stuff …

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

CW (for the book, not the review): lots of animal violence and gore, including on dogs.

I enjoyed my first proper #spooktober read a whole lot. This fits squarely into the "group of friends did something bad in their youth and now their past catches up to them both metaphorically and literally" subgenre of horror. I thought it was really well executed, with very little if any hesitance to follow through on the threats it cares to telegraph. Safe to assume if something bad can happen, close to the worst, most gut wrenching version of it will happen. The setting is also really interesting, adding both flavor and substance to the story and horror elements, and portrayed beautifully and thoughtfully, providing a vision of native american life alongside it's anxieties and realities that feels heavy and real.

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book was so much more intense than I expected. The body horror is very well done without feeling gratuitous. That's impressive because, as a reader, I don't love body horror and find most of it gratuitous. Jones wields tension masterfully, keeping me hooked and on the edge of my seat, but also dreading flipping the next page. It's a book that makes you uncomfortable where you are, but afraid to move forward, in all the best ways.

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Bring it, Denorah says in her head, and drops another through the net. If the only good Indian is a dead one, then she's going to be the worst Indian ever.

This was a tough one to review. Do not mistake the three stars as me feeling neutral; I have strong feelings about this story, but the things I liked and the things I didn't ended up canceling out and this is where I landed.

At its core, this is a revenge story where it's hard to root for anyone involved: either the aggrieved party or the aggressors. At face value that sounds intriguing to me because I love a good moral gray area, but it didn't turn all the way over for me here. I think it was primarily the pacing that threw me off; there are scenes where things go from perfectly normal to almost comically catastrophic way …

Review of 'The Only Good Indians' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

I loved the first half of this book, and the theme of revenge.
Years ago, four Native Americans went hunting, and their lives were forever changed.

Has revenge manifested as a supernatural being? Or perhaps the weight of living under this oppressive cloud of guilt is so heavy that it has caused paranoia to set in. The guilt has certainly become a pervasive and tangible thing. Palpable, visible. inescapable to the end, and I loved it. I enjoyed the characters. flaws and all. I enjoyed the slow build up and the ever increasing creeping fear. However at about or right before the halfway mark there was what seemed to be the climax and then instead of ending it felt almost like the start of a different book. Slower, more drawn out, even draggy in parts. Especially for people like myself who don't care a thing about basketball. I think the …

Review of 'Only Good Indians' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

The Only Good Indians is a horror story of bloody revenge and patient inevitable retribution; full of psychological horror for the protagonists, mystery for the reader, and gore for everyone. A viscerally creepy read with fantastic characters.

The narration is great, gradually shifting between POV characters as needed to maximize sorrow and suspense. The backstory is revealed gradually, with each piece coming in just in time to keep me on my toes without feeling misled. I consistently felt unsettled in a good way, only getting stressed enough to pause reading a couple of times. The ending felt perfect, the last section was extremely creepy and dark, and I genuinely wasn't sure which way it was going to go.

I was nervous about reading this book because some types of horror novels freak me out pretty easily and I didn't already know what kind this would be (I have a relatively …

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