Kate’s Review: “The Angel of Indian Lake”

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Book: “The Angel of Indian Lake” by Stephen Graham Jones

Publishing Info: S&S/ Saga Press, March 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror novels picks up four years after Don’t Fear the Reaper as Jade returns to Proofrock, Idaho, to build a life after the years of sacrifice—only to find the Lake Witch is waiting for her in New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones’s finale.

It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend Letha and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation, and the town, have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma from the Indigenous to the townies rooted in the mountains of Idaho. It is a story of the American west written in blood.

Review: Thank you to Saga Press for sending me an eARC of this via NetGalley!

When I first picked up “My Heart Is a Chainsaw” by Stephen Graham Jones, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought that it would at the very least be a fun meta horror story with an abundance of references to the genre I love most. And it was. BUT, it was also the start of a trilogy that would expand upon and defy conventions of the slasher genre while still showing complete adoration for it. And we have now come to the end of Proofrock, and the end of Jade Daniels, final girl for the ages, with “The Angel of Indian Lake”. By the time I had it in my hands on my Kindle, I was very, VERY excited to start it, but also nervous. Was Stephen Graham Jones going to stick the landing of this series? What a fool I was for questioning him. Because “The Angel of Indian Lake” is a worthy end to a love letter to slashers and their final girls everywhere.

Jade Daniels remains the MVP of not only this trilogy, but one of Jones’s best characters of all, and it was so great seeing her character arc from the beginning of the trilogy up until and through this book. I love how she has persevered, how she is still a HUGE weirdo in her own way, how she is still scrappy but vulnerable and goes beyond the expected qualities of a heroine in a slasher film. In “The Angel of Indian Lake” she is trying to live a normal life as a teacher, she is going to therapy, she is acting as a godmother to her best friend Letha’s daughter Adie. But Proofrock’s demons keep pulling her back in, and as a whole new cycle of horrific murders, as well as a new gentrification cycle, AS WELL AS A FOREST FIRE, threatens the town, Jade, once again, has to step up. And this time you can tell how weary she is, even if she is always going to go forth and fight.

In terms of the horror action, there is a LOT in this book, almost like there are just so many slasher beats and meta themes that are all fighting to come through. There are cursed objects, decapitations, the return of previous killers, things rising from the lake that are long thought dead. Like I said, it’s a LOT, and it can skew towards chaotic, but it’s done in a way that feels like a wink and nudge to the way that the end of a trilogy (before the reboot or requel, of course) needs to pull out all the stops to keep a fan on their toes. My head was spinning a bit, partly because of all the curves and twists, partly because Jones’s writing style can be steeped in more literary styles that I like but have a harder time parsing through for whatever reason. But it’s also very enjoyable and worth the parsing out.

And, of course, the horror references. I’m repeating myself a bit here as in each and every “Indian Lake” book there are so many references to slasher films and horror tales in general, and “The Angel of Indian Lake” keeps that tradition going. I like to think that I am more versed than the average horror fan in the genre, but man, Jones always puts me to shame while also filling me with awe, not only with the flat out reference points that Jade alludes to, but also with the story devices and character choices and moments that ALSO made references. But in this final entry to the trilogy, many of the references feel almost bittersweet as Jade has to face so many demons, be they supernatural beasties wreaking havoc in the town, or the trauma and despair that she has had to face over and over again, only to keep on fighting while not quite accepting that she, too, is worthy of the final girl title. Jones knows what he is doing with his genre choices, and Jade is a final girl inside and out, and even beyond what that generally means in the broader trope. It’s just so meaningful, how he ties it all together.

“The Angel of Indian Lake” is a gory and emotional final tale for Jade and the town of Proofrock. I don’t generally get choked up during slasher stories, but Stephen Graham Jones has put so much heart into this I was absolutely crying by the end. What an accomplishment this trilogy is.

Rating 9: A complex and multilayered end to a trilogy that is a Valentine to a sub-genre that isn’t known for complexity, “The Angel of Indian Lake” brings Jade Daniels full circle, and redefines what it means to be a ‘Final Girl’.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Angel of Indian Lake” isn’t included on many Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “Slasher Fiction”.