Don't Fear the Reaper

Written by Stephen Graham Jones

Narrated by Stephen Graham Jones, Isabella Star LaBlanc, Jane Levy and 13 more

A Locus Award Finalist
NATIONAL BESTSELLER

December 12th, 2019, Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this “superb” (Publishers Weekly) sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.

Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over.

Don’t Fear the Reaper is the “adrenaline-filled” (Library Journal, starred review) sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Feb 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797141299

Stephen Graham Jones

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Reviews for Don't Fear the Reaper

[Stephen Brown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though it was ultimately satisfying plot-wise, with the twists in the ending reigniting my nearly extinguished interest, the meta-horror throughout relied too intensely on knowledge of specific films, rather than tropes, in a way that seemed to miss the point of the original novel's usage. They were no longer Jade's internal coping mechanisms for the horrors of her own traumas, but simply the insane fixations of several characters in a town that desperately needs group therapy. Which is to say, it dragged in the middle. The claustrophobic, inescapable atmosphere built by the blizzardy setting did a lot to amplify the horror, and the evolution of Jennifer/Jade was interesting to follow, but this, somewhat inevitably, is the lesser sequel to a derivative but memorable slasher.

[Chauncey Mabe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not quite as tight as My Heart is a Chainsaw, but a five-star audio book nonetheless, and an excellent sequel as far as sequels go. Some excellent characters—Jade Daniels is the equal of Ripley or Laurie Strode or any Final Girl you want to name—and some of the relationships are rich enough to transcend genre. Nice new developments in class conflict, too. I don’t usually approve of series that go back to familiar locations or tropes to harvest favorite thrills—but dagnabbit, I can’t abide the pickle jar Jade is left in at the end of the book. So there *has* to be a third one! Jones is among the five or six best genre writers around, so I’m sure he can pull a third Jade Daniels book out of his a—ahem, well, you know, wherever they come from—

[Jim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Even better than the first. You'll be Dying with questions about Final Girls. It's cold out side, so warm up inside with this wild story.