December 12, 2019, four years after the massacre at Indian Lake, Jade Daniels returns in the midst of a blizzard just as serial killer Dark Mills South murders his armed transport team and escapes. For the next 36 hours, the town of Proofrock, Idaho, will be forced to relive its trauma as killers out for revenge go on a bloody rampage. Armed with her slasher-movie knowledge, indefatigable spirit, and strong moral center, Jade will need to embrace her final-girl status if there is any hope of making it to Friday the thirteenth. Building off My Heart Is a Chainsaw (2021), Jones gets right into the terrifyingly gory action, a pace that only sporadically allows for gulps of air. A multitude of voices get a chance to be heard and ultimately set the stage for Jade's return. More than the slasher it presents itself as, this is a contemplation of the allure of the genre itself, a novel that acknowledges the well-trod ground upon which it stands while ingeniously burrowing new tunnels straight into readers' nightmares. A superior example of twenty-first-century horror with a strong, emotionally heartfelt core where every detail matters, delivered by an author at the top of his game.

This sequel to Jones's My Heart is a Chainsaw is a textbook example of a sequel exceeding expectations. Four years after the Independence Day Massacre, Jennifer "Jade" Daniels returns home. She wants a fresh start, but there is still unfinished business in Proofrock, Idaho. When a snowstorm paralyzes the town and releases a serial killer with a passion for slashing, Jade must once again be the final person to save the day. Or, perhaps, is there someone else ready to take up the machete? If Chainsaw was Jones's love letter to slashers, this story reaffirms that love with deep levels of callbacks and brutal kills. However, the story's real draws are Jones's dazzling prose and his compelling characters given life (and a series of unique perspectives) by a massive cast of voice actors, including Isabella Star LaBlanc and Jane Levy. VERDICT This story, full of heart and hemorrhages, emphatically proves that literary beauty and gory kills aren't mutually exclusive. Jade Daniels could be the horror heroine who will have both Freddy and Jason checking under their own beds.--James Gardner

Jade Daniels and her encyclopedic knowledge of slasher films return for another blood-soaked romp in Jones's superb sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw. It's been four years since Jade--now going by Jennifer--survived the Independence Day Massacre that devastated her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho. Jennifer is trying to put her traumatic past behind her when Dark Mill South, a legendary hook-handed serial killer, escapes captivity on the outskirts of Proofrock during a once-in-a-century winter storm. When gruesomely gutted bodies pile up around town, Jennifer's reflexes and genre savvy kick in and she must once again rally her friends and the local authorities, while using her familiarity with cinematic slaughter to save them all from victimhood. The only problem, as she deduces from the killer's unstoppable onslaught, is that "he knows all the same movies we do." Jones expertly blends snappy graveyard humor with nail-biting suspense, and he gives his characters distinctive personalities that distinguish them from the underdeveloped body fodder common to most slasher scenarios. This characteristically clever gore-fest proves Jennifer to be a horror heroine worthy of many more adventures. Agent: B.J. Robbins, BJ Robbins Literary. (Feb.)