JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile
The interplay between the narrators’ performances—the layered tension of Sandra Okuboyejo's voice and William DeMeritt's deliberately authoritative yet mysterious presentation—creates a chilling listening experience. Liz, a Black woman in her 30s, returns to her hometown of Johnstown for a friend's wedding. Johnstown is a deeply segregated place with a history of mysterious, violent deaths of Black girls. During the wedding, Liz loses track of the bride's daughter, Caroline, who goes missing, triggering a new wave of fear and recrimination. Okuboyejo's voice captures the mounting dread and determination that drives Liz to find answers. DeMeritt delivers the alternating chapters, providing an eerie memorial to the victims that slowly reveals dark secrets. The result is a compelling mix of mystery and justice. S.P.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 08/22/2022
Liz Rocher, the Black narrator of Adams’s stellar debut, an unforgettable gut punch of a horror thriller, returns reluctantly home to Johnstown, Pa., a largely white rust belt town, for the wedding of her white best friend, Mel Parker. When Mel’s mixed-race daughter, Caroline, disappears in the woods, Liz’s attempts to find Caroline lead her to the discovery of years of police cover-ups of the deaths of Black girls in the woods, their hearts neatly removed, and the revival of her own memories of hiding in the woods the night a fellow Black teen was murdered. Adams’s careful plotting impresses with the subtle organic feel of embedded clues primed to emerge as relevant much later. The girls’ thoughts are included at various points, and the reader is thrown off balance when the narrative shift to the point of view of the supernatural killer at the moment of violence. At the same time, Adams skillfully presents changing theories about the possible humans involved as Liz struggles with who to trust and navigates dreamscapes that seem increasingly real. This novel is a masterful and emotionally wrenching gem of Black storytelling. Agent: Kerry D’agostino, Curtis Brown. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
A heady, page-turning, all-too-relevant reinvention of the return-to-home horror story—truly gut-wrenching and frightening.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club
“Real horror surrounds us in plain sight, nestled in the hearts of fiends who hide behind the barest of masks. Erin E. Adams takes you on a breathless ride with Jackal, revealing the courage it takes to stand up to monsters.”—Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor and The Hunger
“A thrilling blend of detective story, turn-all-the-lights-on-in-your-house-while-reading horror, and social commentary about how often women of color, especially Black women, go missing and get little attention . . . It’s an impressive and thoughtful debut.”—Megan Giddings, author of The Women Could Fly
“Jackal is both a gripping thriller about missing girls and the dangers lurking in the woods, and a searing and brilliant dissection of what it means to be the ‘only one’ in a small town and a Black woman in the United States of America. Liz Rocher will stay with me for a long time.”—Stephanie Feldman, author of Saturnalia
“Vicious, sharp, and inventive—Jackal grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go. Erin E. Adams lures readers deep into the woods with electric prose and then cuts through the dark with a monstrous and haunting tale.”—Deb Rogers, author of Florida Woman
“Jackal is a visceral, poetic read of mythic proportions. Adams’s no-holds-barred mysterious plunge into the shadows is both tender and thrilling, buoyed by her incandescent prose and an unforgettable hero. Don’t miss it.”—Meredith Hambrock, author of Other People’s Secrets
“This book will raise your blood pressure. It’s a searing and achingly raw exploration of what it means to be Black in white spaces, of the contortionist act we are required to perform, the innocence stolen, and the monsters among us, all wrapped up in a suspenseful thriller that will fill you with rage and leave you trusting no one. Adams has created a masterpiece that will keep your neck firmly beneath its foot long after its final word.”—Lane Clarke, author of Love Times Infinity
“[A] stellar debut . . .an unforgettable gut punch of a horror thriller . . . This novel is a masterful and emotionally wrenching gem of Black storytelling.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Harrowing horror with a side of searing social commentary . . . Plentiful twists, keenly rendered characters, and atmospheric prose keep the pages turning.”—Kirkus Reviews
Library Journal
08/01/2022
DEBUT Liz Rocher, a Black woman, has warily returned to her Rust Belt hometown of Johnstown, PA. Growing up, Liz never felt comfortable in her predominantly white town but has come back for the wedding of her best friend, Melissa. During the evening wedding reception, Melissa's daughter Caroline disappears in the forest but leaves behind a piece of her dress covered in blood. As the police and the town race to find Caroline, Liz remembers when Keisha, the only other Black girl at her high school, was found murdered, with her heart removed from the body. Liz starts researching her town's history and notices a terrifying pattern begin to emerge. Johnstown has a history of girls disappearing, and all of them are Black. The mysterious sounds from the forest support Liz's feeling that something sinister is lurking in the shadows. VERDICT The examination of racism in a small town, along with the horror elements, make Adams's debut chilling and memorable. Fans of Gillian Flynn and Jordan Peele will enjoy the fast-paced storytelling, compelling characters, and spine-tingling conclusion.—Anna Kallemeyn
JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile
The interplay between the narrators’ performances—the layered tension of Sandra Okuboyejo's voice and William DeMeritt's deliberately authoritative yet mysterious presentation—creates a chilling listening experience. Liz, a Black woman in her 30s, returns to her hometown of Johnstown for a friend's wedding. Johnstown is a deeply segregated place with a history of mysterious, violent deaths of Black girls. During the wedding, Liz loses track of the bride's daughter, Caroline, who goes missing, triggering a new wave of fear and recrimination. Okuboyejo's voice captures the mounting dread and determination that drives Liz to find answers. DeMeritt delivers the alternating chapters, providing an eerie memorial to the victims that slowly reveals dark secrets. The result is a compelling mix of mystery and justice. S.P.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-07-13
Someone—or something—is hunting Black girls in this Appalachia-set debut.
In 2017, Liz Rocher—32, Black, and newly single—reluctantly revisits her hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for the wedding of her White best friend, Melissa Parker. Though Melissa's racist family tolerates Liz, they oppose Melissa marrying Garrett Washington, who is Black, though the couple has a 9-year-old daughter, Caroline. After the ceremony, Liz takes a break from watching Caroline and her cousins play outside to get a drink and flirt with the bartender. When she returns, Caroline is gone. Liz combs the surrounding woods but finds only a bloody scrap of Caroline's dress. The reception becomes a search party, which also turns up nothing. Some assume Caroline wandered off and got lost, but Liz can't help but remember Keisha Woodson—a Black classmate who vanished 15 years ago and was then found with her heart missing and her guts strewn about. Authorities claimed Keisha died from "a very bad fall compounded by animal activity," but according to Keisha's mother, each June for the past three decades a Black girl has disappeared, with little attention paid by the media or police. Every recovered corpse is absent a heart. Determined to stop the cycle, Liz launches her own investigation, unwittingly making herself a target. Chapters narrated by an initially unidentified being memorialize previous victims. Paranoia mounts and suspects multiply as Liz realizes the depth and breadth of Johnstown’s bigotry. The tale’s crime and supernatural elements don’t quite mesh, but plentiful twists, keenly rendered characters, and atmospheric prose keep the pages turning.
Harrowing horror with a side of searing social commentary.