(REVIEW) Don't Fear the Reaper

Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


First off, I love Stephen Graham Jones. He is one of the absolute coolest people I’ve met. His novels Mongrels and The Only Good Indians are fantastic. His short story collection After The People Lights Have Gone Off is one of my favorite short story collections out there.


But right now, let’s talk Don’t Fear the Reaper.

If I had to describe it in one word: frustrating. I’ll go into that a bit more in a minute.

I was not a huge fan of Jade in the first book, but I totally loved her in this one. I love that Jones took her and tried to force Jade to be Jennifer. I loved it because it felt real. People do it all the time. They try to adjust to the life around them and even try to be someone that they are not. In the end, we get the real Jade back, but I loved the choice of trying to make her change. And you know what? I’m ready for Jade to be Jade in book three!

I loved the serial killer (Dark Mills South). I enjoyed that entire aspect of the story, and it really is what kept me glued to the pages and pushing through the slower parts of the book. I had to see DMS v Jade. I loved most of the death scenes save for the one that I still don’t understand but won’t mention because of spoilers.

Now, personally, I would have liked to have seen a couple of characters (I won’t say who so as not to spoil things) get killed. I like bigger characters meeting their untimely demise in books and movies. I think it adds another dose of reality to these crazy horror stories.

So what’s my deal? Why am I frustrated by this book?

Why? Because of the unbound potential for Don’t Fear the Reaper to be one of the most amazing books of the last decade. Much like its predecessor (My Heart is a Chainsaw) this book is just too long and too drawn out to really stab you right in the face with its awesomeness. In spots, like the beginning and most of the climax, this book is a killer that has you at the edge of your seat. BUT there are chunks (and chunks and chunks) of not super important info and redundancy. If maybe a hundred pages were cut here, I would be raving about this book. I get why he wrote these long passages and sections, you need to really construct your characters and know them inside and out, but as a reader, I only need about twenty-five percent of that. Again, this might just be me. I know a lot of people love both books in this trilogy, and that means they have no problem with what made the final manuscript.

Overall, cut out some of the fluff and this is just a brilliant book. Jones doesn’t have to cut out anything, of course. He’s just putting it all out there and it is working for him. I just prefer the less is more approach in most books. So sue me. I don’t care that I’ve three-starred books one and two. I am honestly looking forward to book three and going in with high expectations. I know Jones can deliver. And even if it's less (or way more) than I want, I HAVE to see how Jade’s story ends.

I give Don’t Fear the Reaper 3 stabby stab stars.



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