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REVIEW: The Angel of Indian Lake (The Indian Lake Trilogy #3) by Stephen Graham Jones

March 12, 2024 by Seanchalant Leave a Comment

Rating: 11/10

SYNOPSIS

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

How do you follow two of the best slasher novels ever written? Well, I couldn’t tell you, but somehow Stephen Graham Jones did it with this beautiful, heart-breaking finale to The Indian Lake Trilogy.

Our final girl, Jade Daniels is back and in the last place you’d ever expect her. Once the bodies start dropping again in Proofrock, it’s up to her to embrace her love of slashers once again to save the town and everyone in it, no matter how ungrateful some may be.

Stephen Graham Jones turns it up to 11 for this epic conclusion. With so many moving pieces, I did get worried at one point about how this would all come together. But I should never have doubted the master, as I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion.

It is so hard to talk about this novel because I would be heartbroken if I spoiled something accidentally. Every scene, sentence and word is vital to the story and I wouldn’t want to ruin any of them for future readers.

We see believable growth from the characters who survived the previous two entries, with more than a few surprises and some wonderful new characters as well. One of the rules of a slasher trilogy, as laid out by the late, great Randy Meeks, is the past will come back and bite you in the ass. It most certainly does in this final chapter of Jade’s trilogy in many unexpected ways. Whether or not the other rules are adhered to, you’ll have to read and find out.

The one thing I’ll touch on is The Angel of Indian Lake is the least slasher of the trilogy. What is it exactly? I honestly couldn’t tell you, but it is absolutely action PACKED. If you thought Don’t Fear the Reaper was relentless, this one will leave even more breathless and racing towards the end.

The emotional stakes are raised higher than ever as Jade has to reckon with her past, and what her future could possibly look like after this. Nothing and no one will be the same at the end of this book, this reader included.

With The Indian Lake Trilogy, Jones has given us a horror epic I never thought I’d get. It’s a love letter to not just slashers, but the entire horror genre. Jones’s love for the genre bleeds from the pages and infects you with child-like glee. Reading these books takes me back to staying up late and sneaking episodes of Tales from the Crypt. It felt like I was experiencing horror for the first time and falling in love with genre all over again. I can’t praise these books enough, or thank Jones enough for them. They will be with me for the rest of my life and handed down to the next generation of Conley’s. They are as essential as all the classic (and not so classic) horror films of the ’80’s, or on the literary side, Stephen King. The Indian Lake Trilogy represents the past of horror, while painting an exciting picture of what the future could look like.

The Angel of Indian Lake is the perfect conclusion to a perfect trilogy. Stephen Graham Jones subverts and pays tribute to the horror genre and has written one of the greatest final girls of all time. Put Jade Daniels in the Hall of Screams right there with Laurie, Nancy, Sidney, Alice, Ripley, and Ginny.

Jade Daniels will ALWAYS BE my Final Girl.

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 26th, 2024

Filed Under: Fear For All, Monsters, Reviews, Slasher, Supernatural Tagged With: Book Review, Horror Books, Jade Daniels, Saga Press, Simon & Schuster, Slasher, Stephen Graham Jones, The Angel of Indian Lake

About Seanchalant

Sean Conley (not Connery) aka Seanchalant is an proud father of three little nerds, AnaMaurin Victoria, Landyn Lawrence, and Raylan Aviendha Mae. He is a stay at home dad while his hardworking and wonderful fiancée,
Gabriella Oropeza brings home the 🥓 and he always has a book on his person. On the autism spectrum, he has a tendency to become an encyclopedia on things he enjoys. Raised on horror films (The Evil Dead series is #1) and Stephen King, his love of fantasy was born from Army of Darkness and Tad Williams; cultivated by John Gwynne and Mark Lawrence. He enjoys everything from epic fantasy to urban fantasy, grimdark to high fantasy. His favorite bands are blink-182, The Beatles, and Wu-Tang Clan.

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