The Angel of Indian Lake is the last book in an amazing trilogy. The trilogy begins with My Heart is a Chainsaw (read the review here) and continues with Don’t Fear the Reaper (read the review here) before wrapping up with this one.
What more can happen to Jade Daniels? What more can really be done in a town as small as Proofrock, Idaho? Apparently quite a bit as it turns out. Jade has fully stepped into the shoes of her beloved Mr.Holmes as the high school’s new history teacher. This is in spite of a severely checkered past and a record but that’s nothing Letha Mondragon’s money and influence couldn’t overcome. Letha and Jade go way back at this point and Jade is “Aunt Jade” to Letha’s daughter. On paper, things have really improved for Jade. Off paper, Jade is barely keeping herself together when things start to happen again.
Like in the earlier two books, it isn’t a singular murderer or supernatural force attacking Proofrock. This time though, it took me much longer to parse what all was going on and who was doing what. I mean that in the best possible way. The national forest gets set on fire AGAIN. There is a multi-bear rampage. I audibly gasped when that happened. There are zombies. We finally get to the bottom of why Rexall is the way he is (and get some satisfaction in that regard). There is so much more. Things move at a breakneck pace but the action is still punctuated by Jade’s thoughts and visits “to the video store.”
I am a big fan of a trilogy. Three is my goldilocks number of books in a series I think. Like any really solid trilogy, you need all three of these. Each book brings something new, something essential, and Jade is a new flavor of herself as time and the story wear on. I think the idea of picking a favorite book out of three that belong together is pointless but I will say that this third version of Jade is my favorite. I believe her. Something I have appreciated about Graham Jones’s writing throughout is the authenticity of his characters. How they react and change after all the violence and trauma makes sense for human beings. Jade is the best example of this. She’s pretty poorly adjusted but masking like a champion and trying her damnedest to just live some kind of life. Even when things kick off again, her continued vulnerability is what makes her worth reading about. She is not a Sarah Connor or Ripley. Who would be? She is damaged inside and out with fewer toes than she started all this with. She’s broken in ways that make sense while still trying to move forward and I find that really endearing.
This book is going to break your heart in more than one place. And yes, I know the second one did too. The first one also. But this one really did me in a couple of times. Trust me though, It’s worth it.
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