The Only Good Indians has been on my too- read shelf for at least a year now (I got an ARC and then promptly forgot to read it until after the book had been published). Then, someone on Cannonball reviewed it and reminded me how excited I was to read it originally- so here we are.
The only Good Indians is about a group of friends and former friends literally haunted by a shameful act from their past. I am hesitating to describe more because part of the spookiness of the book is wondering what the HELL is going on and dreading what may happen next. There was one part in the first third of the novel where I was so wrapped up in a couple’s daily life and I KNEW something horrible was going to happen- because you know, horror novel, but I really really didn’t want it to. That to me is the mark of an excellent horror story.
My favorite horror are the stories/movies where I am introduced to the participants and they get me to CARE immediately. Original Amityville Horror did that. 30 seconds with that loving family moving into that old house with all their hopes and love and I was deeply invested in their fates. It’s part of the reason I’m so hooked on the Conjuring series. Sure it can get hokey, and sure IRL Ed and Lorraine Warren were fraudsters, but in the movie? Damn I love that family.
The Only Good Indians succeeds in pulling you in and making you care not once, but multiple times, as it introduces you to the friends then and now and their lives. And then horrible and scary things happen.
It’s the highest praise I can give anything in the horror genre.