I honestly don’t know what to say about this book besides it did not hang together very well. I just could not get into it. I think the main character (Jade) was kind of insufferable for most of the book. And the interludes in between those chapters didn’t help me to stay engaged. I think this was what I said about the other books of Graham Jones’s that I read. Good thoughts, but bad execution. I put this book down several times this year because it just wouldn’t hold my interest. I finally did finish it this past week, but it went down like cough medicine to me.
“My Heart Is a Chainsaw” is the first book in the Lake Witch trilogy (oh joy…two more books to go). Jade Daniels is a lover of slasher movies (nothing wrong with that) but honestly this is Jade’s entire personality. When Jade starts to realize that there may be an honest slasher movie happening right before her eyes at Proofrock, Idaho she starts to identify what can be coming next, and she even thinks she has identified Proofrock’s very own “soon to be” final girl, Letha Mondragon. In between readers following Jade, in between we get I guess notes on slasher movies from Jade that she is writing to one of her teachers.
I will say that the first part of the book that shows what seems to be sleeping/hiding in the lake has a go at a couple of tourists was great, but honestly that was the highlight of the book. Everything after that was downhill for me. I agree with most of the reviewers who said that getting through this one was a chore. Jade has a lot of problems, you find out quite quickly what they were. I just guess I never really got the love for slasher movies that Jade had. It just felt tacked on to her. Instead of manic pixie girl, we got slasher movie girl. It doesn’t help when Jade tries to force Letha to fulfill her destiny.
The writing was just so so after a while and as I said above, the flow was awful for a good 2/3 of the book. Things don’t pick up enough to the last 1/3 of the book.