Jade Daniels is a horror-obsessed, half-Indian teenager living in Idaho under the roof of her abusive, alcoholic father and completely ignored by her absent mother. The town outcast on the verge of graduation but falling behind, Jade attempts to make up schoolwork in order to graduate in the only way she knows how: to write essay after essay dissecting the brilliance and boldness of classic slasher films, from character and plot development to staging and sequels.
After a particularly terrible day and borderline maniacal monologue about horror films, Jade spontaneously slits her wrists in a showy suicide attempt, surviving and therefore further alienating herself. But when her increasingly gentrified rural lake town of Proofrock begins exhibiting signs of classic slasher movies –violent, murderous, and suspicious things –Jade is the only one prepared to see the signs and take action. But she’s no final girl. Or is she?
No one is as knowledgeable as she is when it comes to slashers, but with no one taking her seriously, not even the Sheriff or the “real” final girl carefully selected by Jade’s calculations, Jade must uncover her own traumas in order to discover her path to healing and save the entire town. But she’s going to have to wade through and step over a few bodies first.
A brilliant, genre-bending work of fiction, My Heart Is a Chainsaw is just as triumphant and terrifying as Stephen Graham Jones’ other national bestseller, The Only Good Indians. As ever, Jones’ social commentary is perfectly blended with incredible storytelling and, of course, horror. Strongly recommended for fans of Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group and Survive the Night by Riley Sager.
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