The Only Good Indians

If you're into mythology, character-driven horror, and basketball, this is your jam!

Jones's novel blends a supernatural revenge horror story with commentary on cultural identity, traditions, and racism. The four main characters are all members of Blackfeet tribe who deviate from what is expected of them culturally, to disastrous consequences. It all started with a hunting trip. Like most tribes, the Blackfeet are hunters, and like most hunters, they have norms about how to hunt honorably. When those norms are violated, the characters seem to be cursed and their lives slowly start to unravel.

It's a very interesting novel with great characters and commentary that bites without feeling preachy. And the villain in this story is unique, something that could only come from a tale written about this particular culture.

All of that was great. The problem is that the horror aspects don't work. It's not scary, has little tension until the end, and the antagonist, though interesting, is more goofy than intimidating.

Still worth a read if you want to experience a horror story from a Native American point of view.

This book was a mixed bag for me. Whether it would have been better as an eyeball read, I'm not sure. I picked it up as I wanted to broaden my horizons, so to speak. In 2021, I wanted to read/ listen to books that were outside of my normal genres and also that had characters that were not primarily white. So this seemed like a perfect a choice. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me. At times, it was hard to follow the story. To know whose head we were in and when. It felt like it was dragged out longer than it needed to be. That being said, it was entertaining, definitely creepy, and thought-provoking.

The narration was good, I felt the Shaun Taylor-Corbett had a lot to contend with, and he handled it well. His performance was engaging and he gave everyone a unique voice. I'd definitely listen to him again. Unfortunately, the production had some issues and I'm not sure how it got through QA there is static sound throughout the entire audiobook. It was distracting and almost caused me to DNF a few times, but I pushed through as I wanted to see how the story would end.