It isn't unusual for a second book in a series to achieve more success than its predecessor, the first one having already separated the wheat from the chaff among readers and having established a backstory and setting for the protagonist. Solely people who accept and enjoy the terms set in the first book will stick around for more. The first book My Heart Is A Chainsaw (Chainsaw) of the Indian Lake series and its follower Reaper are no exceptions.
When Chainsaw came out in the summer of 2021, it truly dropped like a bomb into horror circles. Even though there had been indigenous representation in the genre, (not the least thanks to Jones himself and his riveting ghost revenge story The Only Good Indians, but let's not forget names like the iconic Owl Goingback or Rebecca Roanhorse in fantasy) this was arguably the first mainstream horror success that helped the trope catch the attention of a demographic group which today still makes or breaks success in horror, especially in USA - young adults, if we define them as people in their late teens and early twenties.
The main reason for this interest is, besides the first installment being set in a high school environment, doubtlessly main character Jennifer Daniels, aka JD or Jade, who tries to make sense of the world through her encyclopedic knowledge of slasher films, not being fully aware it is her way of dealing with her personal trauma. In little interludes entitled "Slasher 101" Jade displays all her knowledge on horror fiction, specifically slashers, in the form of little essays written for her history teacher Mr. Holmes, who in a world hostile towards an indigenous girl, is the only person who sees JD's potential at greatness. Just as an aside - It is also Jones himself who flaunts his knowledge of the subgenre here, academic or popular, and those chapters are a true delight and impressive to read.
This kind of dealing with the world and its horrors with the help of fiction, especially horror fiction in which you have a very definite set of rules in a world that knows only chaos, is very relatable especially when you are younger. Some do it with music, some with books, some with games, but it is there and in my experience, it is what saved my life as a teenager. Now JD is especially interesting in the sense that although she can speak to that spot in younger readers, the knowledge she possesses, especially for a genre that saw its prime some twenty years ago, she can also scratch that itch in older readers, say above the age of 35-40. I find this kind of important because the Slasher 101 interludes are actually what keep this book from being pure YA, making it intellectually accessible to a wider age range.
Despite her age and her snappiness, I personally liked JD and felt with her, even related to her a lot - her backstory; her struggle to leave her past behind, to forget her pain; her strong and unflappable belief in horror; her inability to see, that even though she does not comply to the rules in the slasher book not being the prettiest, hottest, athletic, smartest, sexy final girl, that she still is a survivor, a final girl, a final girl who has a passion - a passion which saves her and the whole town of Proofrock, in the end of Chainsaw.
I think it is fair to credit Jones himself for the invention of "the final girl with a passion" as he used it before in The Only Good Indians with lead character Denorah being a highly skilled basketball player and showcasing those skills in a lengthy and even epic showdown scene of a basketball match against the elk woman - this may sound ridiculous to uninformed ears but the scene which left many readers speechless and dumbfounded, a fact that cracks me up every time I think about it, is in fact extremely meaningful and Jones' way of emancipating his main character, not through her looks, not through her smarts but her interests. As much as I liked JD though, this was still set too much in teenagerdom for me to fully enjoy, so I was curious how Reaper would further the trilogy.
So much about Chainsaw, let's go over to Reaper.
Everybody down here has PTSD, you know?
Reaper is again set in Proofrock, in the aftermath of the lake witch massacre which lies a couple of years behind now. The massacre has left its mark - it is in the games young people play, in conversations, in its culture and, most importantly, in people's thinking and acting. So much so that the passion mentioned above which saved all has contaminated everyone. It has been accepted as a kind of protection, a kind of prevention, a remedy to the collective trauma which sometimes takes religious dimensions. We have Galathea, the high school nerdy girl who gives us academic analyses. Letha Mondragon who took a heavy blow from the massacre and is left disfigured and dependent on drugs, did her homework and caught up with all the movies which could have given her the chance to protect herself. Mr. Armitage, a little ambiguous new character, the history teacher, so in awe with JD's letters to her late teacher that he wants to do the same with his students. Even Sheriff Hardy seems to have gained a certain appreciation. Everybody in Proofrock is a hobby horror expert now. Proofrock has become JD. Now everybody tries to see patterns and signs of the strict slasher formula to prevent the worst before it is too late. And the worst is, incidentally, on his way - infamous serial killer Dark Mill South who, with an inhuman persistence, carries out teenager murders.
The effect of this horror expertization of Proofrock is, in my case, a sweet one that puts a smile on my face even now when I think about it. It's the town's bow to JD as their queen, imitating her like a child would imitate older people, it is respect for experience, it is the town acknowledging this woman as the kickass final girl she is.
It's about two girls making it across the ice together.
Which brings me back to the character of JD, or, as she now wants to be called in Reaper, Jennifer, and her character arc. If she was enjoyable as a teenager just think of her as a young woman, an adult (This somehow comes across very wrong. I don't really have anything against teenagers, I just can't with books written about them. You may ask if I myself never was one, and I was. But I was adult even as a child, I think that's another trait I share with JD, and those were kind of hard times.)
Jennifer who comes back to Proofrock in December after a four-year court ordeal and is still on probation, is sheer awesome now. The insights she gained in life, her horror enthusiasm slightly broken but still there, having gained a certain distance as half an outsider but still one from Proofrock and finally her friendship with Letha... I get emotional just writing about it, they both turned out perfect. Letha and Jennifer. The bond that endured the carnage, the distance, became something like a sort of companionship, a sort of solidarity between the two women, now even more valuable with their gained maturity reaching a whole different level. If for nothing else, then it is worth reading Reaper for this friendship. Plus, Letha has a baby now, Linnea Adrienne, named for two horror icons Adrienne King and Linnea Quigley, and I can't wait to see how she will turn out to be!
Fucking December, [...] Couldn't he wait for July, like a respectable slasher?
So Jennifer is back for what is about to be Black Christmas and besides her and Letha's line of story, we are also following a group of teenagers who will actually live through the main slasher, with their own final girl and all, but who to me felt like somewhat sidekicks in the presence of JD. Jones packs a punch here, he throws in everything that make up his signature style - mental illnesses, freaky twins Ginger and Cinnamon (aka spice girls), mannequins, winter storms, endless references to 80s horror films, the indigenous lens, add to that familiar faces like the pervert janitor Rexall - it's all here. The resolution of the story is anything but simple, this is a really complex and entangled story in which not everything might be what it seems, so read carefully.
All in all, Stephen Graham Jones made it again and made it best this time, in my humble opinion - a kind of a slasher, as self-aware and highly complex as ever, with more than one story lines intersecting, more than one main character, more than one hero across generations and genders, saving the day or not. If Chainsaw is good, Reaper is sublime and goes once again to prove that Jones has a literary gift he doesn't tire of sharing with us. A gift, the ardent horror reader will accept readily and fondly, always.
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