Book Review - The Babysitter Lives by Stephen Graham Jones

Title: The Babysitter Lives
Author: Stephen Graham jones
Genre: Horror
Published: 2022
 
Description: When high school senior Charlotte agrees to babysit the Wilbanks twins, she plans to put the six-year-olds to bed early and spend a quiet night studying: the SATs are tomorrow, and checking the Native American/ Alaskan Native box on all the forms won’t help if she chokes on test day. But tomorrow is also Halloween, and the twins are eager to show off their costumes.
 
Charlotte’s last babysitting gig almost ended in tragedy when her young charge sleepwalked unnoticed into the middle of the street, only to be found unharmed by Charlotte’s mother. Charlotte vows to be extra careful this time. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horror that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. Charlotte has to admit that every babysitter’s worse nightmare has come true: they’re not alone in the house.
 
Review: “The Babysitter Lives” is an atmospheric and psychological horror novella that keeps the reader in a stranglehold from the first page.
 
Charlotte is babysitting the Wilbanks twins and plana on studying for the SATs once the kids are in bed. What was supposed to be a quiet babysitting gig, turns into a claustrophobic nightmare. She discovers that a gruesome murder took place in the house years ago. As the evening progresses, the house literally begins to change and the children are behaving strangely.
 
Author Stephen Graham Jones is known for his ability to delve deep into the human psyche, and in this shorter novel, he uses the well-worn horror cliché of the babysitter in a creepy house to create something very modern and unique. The way the story builds atmosphere is definitely the strongest point. Jones creates a claustrophobic and feverish atmosphere in which the line between reality and paranoia constantly blurs.
 
Although the story excels in suspense and atmosphere, due to the novels length the plot doesn’t always get the space it deserves. As the story approaches its climax, the pace accelerates drastically that the finale feels rushed. And much of the interesting mythology and the background of the supernatural elements remain superficial.  
 
“The Babysitter Lives” is a clever, terrifying ride that ends just a little too soon, but is still worth the time due the original and creepy plot and strong ending.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5

Book Review - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Title: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Genre: Horror/ Historical Fiction
Published: 2025
 
Description: This chilling historical novel is set in the nascent days of the state of Montana, following a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab as he haunts the fields of the Blackfeet Nation looking for justice.
 
It begins when a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discover within a wall in 2012. What is unveiled is a slow massacre, a nearly forgotten chain of events that goes back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow, told in the transcribed interviews with Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar and unnaturally long life over a series of confessional visits.
 
Review: The book begins in the year 2012. An academic finds an old diary hidden in a wall. This diary was written in 1912 by a minister named Arthur Beaucarne. The diary contains interviews with Good Stab, a Native American man from the Blackfeet tribe. He is also a vampire who cannot die. He hunts the men who killed the buffalo and his people. The story revolves around a real, horrific event in history: the Marias Massacre of 1870.
 
I love vampire stories, especially when they are a bit unusual. This one is original, wild, raw and connected to nature. But the real horror isn’t the blood-sucking, but the grim history of colonization. Stephan Graham Jones writes about this with great respect and cultural sensitivity.
 
Be prepared that this is a very bloody, gory book, with lots of violence and death. Jones does not shy away from it, but it somehow is necessary to depict the real horror of these events.
 
“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” does require a lot of patience though. It’s a very slow book and given the almost 500 pages it takes some time to get through it. But trust me, it’s absolutely worth it. Once you get through the first 100 pages, you will thank me.
 
This is a heavy and dark book. It’s not a lighthearted story to read or one you pick up just for fun. If you love deep horror and history, you should definitely read this book. It’s a bloody but beautiful history lesson with strong horror elements. My favorite Stephen Graham Jones so far.
 
Rating: 4/ 5
 

Book Review - My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Title: My Heart is a Chainsaw (Indian Like Trilogy # 1)
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Genre: Horror
Published: 2021
 
Description: You won’t find a more hardcore eighties-slasher-film fan than Jade Daniels. And you won’t find a place less supportive of girls who wear torn T-shirts and too much eyeliner than Proofrock, nestled eight thousand feet up a mountain in Idaho, alongside Indian Lake, home to both Camp Blood – site of a massacre fifty years ago -  and, as of this summer, Terra Nova, a second-home celebrity Camelot being carved out of a national forest.
 
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though – this Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedia recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but… will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening. Does she even want to?
 
Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?
 
Review: Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with a violent father and an absent mother. And her town wants to have nothing to do with her. She lives in her own world, a world where her safe space is a little unconventional: horror films, preferably the slasher. And Jade tells the quirky history of Proofrock like it is such a film. But when actual bloodshed starts happening in the waters of Indian Lake, Jade uses her knowledge of the genre to unfold how the plot will develop.
 
Stephen Graham Jones is a fantastic writer, no denying there. It’s very clear he is a horror fan and an avid watcher of the slasher genre. Aside from the story he’s telling with Jade as the main character, we also get some chapters that are called “Slasher 101”, which is basically Jade’s know-how on the slasher film. I especially loved these chapters. As a film fan myself I could appreciate reading about a fellow nerd and the book itself was filled with pop culture references.
 
Jade is not particularly a very likeable person. There is a reason that most people in Proofrock try to avoid her or want nothing to do with her. But somehow Jones managed to write her in such a way that you are on her side. I believe I could have endless conversations with Jade.
 
This book is a very slow burn, the pacing is very slow. And as a slower reader, I hated this. If I wasn’t so much into the thematic of the book, I would have DNF’ed it, for sure. But I still wanted to keep reading, never had the urge to DNF. It’s slow because, at first, I had to adjust to the writing style. And the plot developed really slowly too. One thing I always hate about books is long chapters. That makes a book slow sometimes too. Towards the end, it becomes a bit faster and those final two chapters were so action packed. I really enjoyed the ending.
 
I knew that “My Heart is a Chainsaw” would be somewhere in the middle for me even before starting it. I will continue reading Stephen Graham Jones’ novels, because his writing is so interesting. And I love his love for horror films. But “My Heart is a Chainsaw” didn’t hit me the way it should’ve.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

Book Review - Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

Title: Night of the Mannequins
Series: -
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
 
Description: A contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?
 
Review: The idea than an inanimate but human-looking object could come to life and kill you really scared me. The synopsis for Stephen Graham Jones’ “Night of the Mannequins” really got me excited, even though the description is still a bit vague. The idea of a mannequin coming to life and killing teenagers.
 
WARNING! THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW
 
Our main character and first person narrator is Sawyer, a teenager in a group of friends who like to play pranks on each other. Sawyer and his friends found a mannequin and they name him Manny. They think of the perfect prank: dress him up and set him in the movie theater one of his friend works at. But the prank goes wrong, when Sawyer sees Manny get up an walk away.
 
What follows is a story that reads like a slasher film, with lots of weirdly deranged action, a very funny narrative voice, and lots of ambiguity about what exactly is happening to Sawyer and his friends, and whether ot not a mannequin has come to life. A warped perception of what’s real and what’s not. Sawyer is an unreliable narrator, so you never really know whether it’s really happening, it’s in his head or it even is him doing it.
 
“Night of the Mannequins” is a strange book, but it’s definitely worth picking up if you enjoy strange horror themes. It’s a quick read and a good way to discover Stephen Graham Jones’ writing.
 
Rating: 3,5/ 5