Erin E. Adams

This book was imaginative and creepy. It was so compelling and readable that I carved out extra time in my day to read! Packed with social commentary I can see where some people wouldn't vibe with this, but I loved it. This book is just as much about classism as it is about racism.

The pacing was great. The characters had depth, and the author did a great job making the reader understand where they (the characters) were coming from and therefore made the characters seem more real.

I would show more highly recommend this book to anyone that likes social horror. show less

I would characterize Jackal as a horror novel, which is normally not my cup of tea at all. But the author did an amazing job of combining horror/suspense with thought-provoking questions about racism and class differences. Liz, the main character, returns from NYC to the small town she grew up in for a friend's wedding. When the friend's young daughter disappears, parallels are drawn to the unexplained disappearances of other young black women from the town over the years. While clues are show more dropped along the way, the ending really took me by surprise.

This book really stuck with me, The author did a great job of drawing vivid characters, especially Liz and her mom.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC! show less

A Black woman returns to the flood-scarred town reluctantly to attend the wedding of an old friend, but is caught up in a mystery when a girl goes missing - and she learns she's only the latest Black girl to vanish into the woods, one taken on every summer solstice.

For me, this was a mixed bag. I found the narrative voice compelling and the way the setting and its history was explored was fascinating. That said, I'm not a horror fan, and there is a strong element of horror and the show more supernatural in this story. Certainly the history of white supremacist violence is horrifying, and here the author uses horror to explore the nature of this evil. Interesting, but for this reader it didn't totally work. For horror fans, it would likely be a success. show less

Jackal was a fascinating horror that kept me guessing the whole time. I really loved the Appalachian folklore and creepy vibe. The relationships Liz maintained, developed, and questioned throughout the book made for a good addition to the social and paranormal horror of it all. My only complaint was the ending seemed to leave a couple things as loose ends but I am not generally a fan of ambiguity in endings, so that's a bit of a personal knock on it. The writing was great and I am very much show more looking forward to reading other content by this author. show less