Jade's had enough of her alcoholic and abusive father. She's had enough of Proofrock. She attempts suicide, and fails.When her items are returned to her, something else has been mixed in. A phone. With a video of two Dutch tourists dying on the lake.
Jade's noticed something: the town of Proofrock, Idaho, is changing. The new neighborhood of rich people, carving out a place in the national forest, the local legends of witches, and the recent death of two Dutch tourists on the lake.
It all seems so familiar. It's the start of a slasher. Jade, obsessed with the genre, knows the rules. She knows she's helpless. She's not a final girl. But maybe someone else is.
And maybe, the town deserves the slashing.
The Vibe
Some, I can tell, even find it exciting. As if it were a game, all this murder.
For a book so fixated on slasher movies and slasher lore, it's remarkably restrained. Until it turns on a dime, and isn't. It gets gory, brutal and, like any good slasher movie, bodies start flying. Combined with spending the whole book in the mind of a depressive, abused, suicidal 17-year old? It's quite a bit.
4 candles.
My Heart Is a Chainsaw demands things from its readers. Patience, concentration, and knowledge of slasher-movies. It's not for everyone. In fact, it's likely to be either a love it or hate it kind of book. The writing is prone to rambling (Jade is 17, after all), the slasher meta-commentary is ever-present, and the story is a slow burn.
If the story lands for you, it's going to carve out a space in your mind for a long time. But it doesn't always, and at times feels overly long.
3 stars.