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.

Can't ddcide between 2.75 or 3 stars 🥴
Okay...this was a swing and an overall miss for me. A good chunk of this story dragged for me. The final 100 pages (or so) were fantastic, but I felt like I had to cut through a lot to get there. I also wasn't a huge fan of the way it was written. The semi-stream of consciousness/2nd person narration didn't really work for me, except for in the last 2 sections.
I loved the creepy elements, lore, and the building sense of dread, but was completely pulled out by the sheer amount of basketball that was being played and described in the novel. I think I understand what Jones was trying to do, but it didn't land for me at all.

So...my rating is very me and not very this book.

The book is well written.

I was not prepared for it to be horror. So scary. Very much a psychological thriller. You will probably love it.

The book follows characters 10 years after an incident that seemed to have broken them. It's painful and poignant.

I was worried the whole time but kept expecting something lovely to happen. I do think that the ending was magical, and after all the time waiting for a different sort of magic to happen, I was able to let go of my breath.

Initial thoughts posted immediately after finishing:
What an incredible book. That ending was just.... wow.

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After sitting on this book, consuming reviews by Indigenous reviewers (check out Native Lady Book Warrior, Et Tu, Brody?, and Weezies Books!),and just surrounding myself with this book I want to come back with some concise thoughts.

SGJ does an incredible job slowly seeping fear into your veins. He brought a new take to the ‘entity/slasher comes back after x amount of years and the group of friends still hasn't resolved their issues' trope.

Within the first act, we get an understanding of what happened during that Thanksgiving Classic and how it touched every other part of their lives. I loved how SGJ toyed with us as readers and gave us a moment to question whether what Lewis was experiencing was real or not. He does not stray away from being gruesome already.

The tension during the second act is wild. There is just this foreboding sense of dread over everything that the guys are doing and they don't even realize it yet. You are just waiting for the shoe to drop.

DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT ENDING! I didn't know how he could possibly end this book. I did not expect tears and my heart rate skyrocketing.

I am looking forward to reading his whole backlist because what a ride! SGJ can freak me out any day.

This is classified as horror, but for me, it fits better as straight fiction. I didn't think this was scary, but it is gruesome and there is a huge supernatural component to the entire story. Maybe that is the definition of horror.

ANYWAY, I enjoyed this book and the story of why these men are being haunted/stalked by an elk which becomes much more impactful as the story progresses. I appreciated the blending of traditional and modern perspectives on Native American culture and the reconciliation of these modern Native American men dealing with their past and how to handle not only this supernatural force, but life as a Native American in the 21st century.

Stephen Graham Jones is a feat of an author. There's so many elements to this novel that still pops up in my mind randomly and for me that's a sign of a great book. However, his writing style outright gives me a headache. I can't pinpoint my finger on it exactly unfortunately and there's plenty of smarter people than myself that can push through the nuance and fully immerse themselves in it but I found it taxing. I will continue reading his work but this and now his novel ‘My Heart is a Chainsaw' and that being a similar experience I will just take my time to pick up the others.

I am so in awe and in love with this book. I almost bailed a couple times because animal death is very tough for me, and this book has A LOT of it, but I'm glad I persevered. I think on some level, it's a better book if you do have that soft spot in your heart.

This is one of those books where you root for everyone, even as you know everyone is flawed, and that not everyone can persevere. You even root for the “antagonist.”

I wondered for a long time who was meant, on the non elk side, to be the protagonist, and then it became clear, inevitable, preordained. A test of skills and wills.

Sometimes anger covers pain, grief, and longing, I realized at the end, as I cried. This is some good next level horror!

The narrator was terrific.

Please take the time time to read and prioritize reviews by OwnVoice reviewers, of which I am not one. :)

What a satisfying read and ending! Also appreciate that this story was partly inspired by an episode of Masters of Horrors, a show I grew up watching with family. I didn't get some of the basketball terminology but that didn't take away from the story whatsoever. It turned out to be a pretty big deal, actually.

I see that a lot of people found this book scary and put it into the horror category, but to me it feels more like a mediocre slasher movie. There is a lot of gore described in great detail, but most of it just makes me question how it even happened. I'm also not a fan of Stephen's writing style in general.

If anyone has read H.P.Lovecraft's “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” they will know about a chase scene that happens in it. I found that whole story a lot creepier than this book, but the chase scene in particular, was in my opinion done a lot better by Lovecraft.

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Now, the thing that annoyed me during this whole reading experience is that this book could have been about any regular kind of white trash and with minimal changes, the plot would've stayed the same. Essentially, Native Americans could have very easily been “spared” the pointless bad light that this book shines on them.

For starters, The Only Good Indians doesn't actually have many good people in it. It focuses exclusively on a group of poor, fairly uneducated Native Americans driving beaten up trucks and wasting their lives away in bar fights. This might be a somewhat accurate representation of todays youth growing up in the reserves, but without the social commentary on why this is so, I feel like this book simply uses them as a sensation.There are no rituals here, besides one towards the end, that is only used as a convenient plot setting. There is no real folklore, there are no tattoos, no tales, these guys don't even follow their own clan rules. In fact, they don't seem to know much of anything related to their roots. Word “Indian” gets repeated a hundred times in this book, but besides protagonists thinking of themselves as such, there are no other indicators that they are.It's worth noting that the author himself is an Indian so I wonder why he chose to write this book the way he did. If anyone should be aware of both folklore and modern social problems, it should be him. And if anyone should feel the obligation to showcase the beautiful traditions and abilities of a certain group of people, it should be one of them.

Either way, I doubt that most Indians would like to be portrayed in this light. And I also doubt that the wider audience will gather anything positive or useful from this portrayal of Natives.

The Only Good Indians is a good monetization of author's roots, but one that, in my opinion, comes at a moral cost.

I'm giving it a 3.5 stars. It started good, then Lewis' part was a bit hard to follow and confusing. I did like the ending for that part of the story but I felt like it dragged a bit. I really enjoyed Gabe and Cassidy's section of the story. The last act felt a little dragged out too me, but overall I enjoyed the story with the blending of cultural relevance and horror.

Pros: very tense, interesting characters

Cons: is a bit gory at times

Ten years ago four friends went into the forbidden elder's section of the reservation for their end of season elk hunt. Now the spirit of one of the elk they killed is back for revenge.

This is the first contemporary fiction book I've read in years so it took me a while to get into (in part because I'm not conversant with the shorthand for car names so spent some time trying to figure out what the character was talking about). The book is split into 4 sections, each dealing with a different point of view character involved with the elk event.

I wasn't a fan of Ricky and Gabe, but really enjoyed reading Lewis and Cassidy's stories, hoping they could shake the horror coming their way. The pacing was great, really ratcheting up the tension in all the right places.

In the first sections the author makes you doubt what's going on, especially with Lewis. Is there really an elk spirit or is he having a psychotic break from reality? Either way things get horrifying fast. I almost stopped reading it was getting so intense.

While the horror is mostly one of anticipation, there is some gore. Thankfully the descriptions aren't overly graphic. Part of the earlier horror is simply seeing the level of everyday, casual racism natives face. The characters are constantly double checking their surroundings for danger, ignoring slights, conscious of how ‘native' their actions appear, due to criticism from others: natives and non-natives alike, for being both too native and not native enough. There's a strong undertone that no matter what the characters do it will never be ‘enough', whatever ‘enough' even means. Because the characters aren't just up against the supernatural, they're against the biases and prejudices of themselves and everyone around them.

I was shocked by some of the people who died. Which made the ending, that last section, very tense. I DID NOT want that character to die. Not this way. I was on the edge of my seat urging them on, not to give up, just one more step.

The ending fits the story.

If you can handle horror this year (no shame if you can't, 2020's horror enough for a lot of us), this is a good read.

DNF @ 52%

Just not interesting whatsoever. When I reached the halfway mark and realized I cared about nothing happening, or anything that could happen, and that there was nothing that could salvage this experience of pure boredom, I had to pull the plug.

However, I do think the way Jones explores the indigenous experience is good, I just think ghost Elks are not scary, and these characters are not compelling.

One thing I love about Stephen's writing is that it really feels different reading his work, he makes his horror uniquely indigenous and I think that creates really compelling stories. This story is no different it tells a horror story that feels very unique to indigenous people and yet feels like it doesn't alienate non-indigenous readers. The characters weren't necessarily good people but they were interesting and complex, and were all in different stages of growing through trauma. The horror aspect was a little out there and a bit wild but was still enjoyable. And I found the pacing to slow in some places but the end was done very well. 4.5*

Stylistically, it can be a bit hard to follow, but the story is strong and propulsive. The characters are haunted by past actions that are so specific to their culture that at first, I didn't think that what they did was a big deal. But the journey to understanding why it was a big deal for them is exactly why I love reading.