The Indian Lake Trilogy
A Reflection on Stephen Graham Jones’s three novel Indian Lake trilogy
Stephen Graham Jones took me to school and back with his Indian Lake trilogy. Straight up I have to say I never thought of myself as a slasher fan, since I didn’t feel I levitated towards body horror in movies. There were the odd exceptions – the Scream series, Halloween series, Nightmare on Elm Street movies and of course the Scary Movies because my other half and I both found them hilarious. But I’ve never seen any of the Friday the 13th or Saw franchise for example.
I also never felt I was missing anything either until I read the Indian Lake Trilogy and was introduced to the concept of the Final Girl, and more specifically Jennifer ‘Jade’ Daniels. That is to say perhaps my preference is for slasher stories in books and not on the screen and these three novels certainly drew that leaning out.
What’s It All About (spoiler free)
The trilogy consists of three novels – My Heart is a Chainsaw (2021), Don’t Fear the Reaper (2022), and The Angel of Indian Lake (2024).
The story centres around the character of Jade Daniels, a Native American teen struggling to navigate life as an outsider in a small town in Idaho, adjacent to Indian Lake, called Proofrock. The town is no stranger to violence, racism, and especially deeply buried secrets. Jade uses her extensive knowledge of Slasher fiction, especially movies, as armour to help her negotiate the world she finds herself in and particularly when her home town falls victim to a series of serial killers.
When she tries to warn adults and the authorities she is dismissed because she uses the tropes of the slasher movies to put the killings into a context that explains the motives and methods of the killers. Even though her perspective is entirely accurate.
As the violence escalates across the years Jade must confront real life challenges of abuse, family trauma, and a system that is unjust and often steeped in prejudice.
While absolutely a wild ride across the slasher genre these novels also shine a light on Jades journey into adulthood, the impact of the outcomes of the murders on herself and her community, and even blow holes in the canon of the Final Girl as it’s defined throughout horror fiction.
Final Girl Job Description
Unlike other slasher stories the Final Girls in this trilogy are not defined as pure (virgin), morally upstanding beacons of hope, justice and the American way, who survive to the end and defeat the serial killer. More Buffy than Barbie.
Instead of the traditional, innocence Jones’s Final Girls are forged through trauma and resilience. They use their knowledge of the genre as a weapon and are not cast into the role but choose it by valuing action over the genre narrative or tropes.
Indian Lake Final Girls are flawed heroes that take on the mantle reluctantly, often as a last resort, and pay the price long after the killer has been dispatched. That applies even more so for the final Final Girl.
The Bones of a Slasher
Slashers in the past (Voorhees, Myers, Kruger, etc.) were mostly motivated by revenge, rage, or evil. In the Indian Lake novels Jones deepens the motivation to include colonial violence, indigenous genocide, racism, and downright injustice. This often subtle but significant change allows for the villain to be more sympathetic, when most of the victims are steeped in privilege or complicity of some description, raising the question of whether they’re just a monster or a product of trauma and injustice. Indian Lake slashers are more an embodiment of local historical guilt and buried past crimes than a simple monster to haunt your dreams or an urban legend to be whispered about around campfires.
This enhances the tension because despite the constant references to slasher tropes, the change in slasher motivation and construction means we never know to what extent they will conform to the norms. Indeed at significant times they absolutely do not and require the final girl to adapt to survive.
Using Slasher Rules & Tropes
Jade Daniels’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the Slasher is more than a plot device in these novels, it’s a weapon to wield, a repository of slasher canon law, and a survival guide.
In her Slasher 101 conversations within the novels Jade describes a series of rules and tropes that must be adhered to –
- The Final Girl must be reluctant to get involved, resourceful, under-estimated, directly confront the killer, and above all else she must survive.
- The Slasher must have a mask or at least an iconic look, a signature weapon, and a relentless ability to survive attack and come back.
- The Slasher must have a backstory that makes re-emergence and revenge killings inevitable.
- The body count must escalate as the story progresses to build fear, and the victims must die in creative and often gruesome ways.
- The location must be capable of being isolated from help and the ‘real world’, like a cabin in the woods, trapped by snow, or one of the favourites – a summer camp.
- The common morality requirements (no sex, no drugs and avoid arrogance) are non-essentials as far as Jade is concerned. The Indian Lake murderers are secular, equal opportunity killers.
- Foreshadowing and red herrings are must-have elements.
- The final confrontation must see the killers signature weapon nullified by the final girl, and the killer, while “killed’, must have some chance of a return. Sequels can be money spinners after all.
- There must be a legacy from the encounter (even if it’s just an unspoken agreement never to talk about it again).
To a great extent these elements show a pretty strong adherence to the Hero’s Journey structure outlined by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero Has a Thousand Faces, but that’s a conversation for another day.
The Unique Style of SGJ
To be honest I wasn’t going to go here because I don’t feel qualified to examine this aspect of the novels, but it was so integral to the experience of sharing time with the Indian Lake characters that I felt I had to at least try.
I first encountered Stephen Graham Jones (SGJ) when he was interviewed by Neil McRoberts on his Talking Scared podcast, when My Heart is a Chainsaw was published in 2021, but before I read that novel I read his earlier book The Only Good Indians (2020). Therefore I was somewhat familiar with SGJ’s writing style when I embarked on the journey to Proofrock.
His writing is often borderline conversational and very modern in its cadence. This can at times make it a little difficult for me to navigate, but you must keep in mind I’m a borderline Gen X / Boomer, CIS, White, Irish Male and that has to have an impact. Having said all that I had no trouble getting completely engrossed in the story and easily lost myself while I read these novels.
Despite writing within the horror genre (if that even exists) the style of writing never leans toward the easy formulaic, and given the characters constantly recite slasher rules and reference pop culture movies, you’re never dragged out of the story and into real life. The immersion is constant and this means you have no trouble getting caught up in the emotional rollercoaster from terror, through humour, to broken hearted sadness (or feeling all the feels as one of our granddaughters likes to put it).
The voice in these novels is current and makes the dialogue fast, real, witty and even profound at times. Especially when we get to relive the historical crimes and past trauma recounted by the characters. The books manage to be entertaining and literary at the same time (synonymous for some but not always for me).
The best example of this style is on display in My Heart is a Chainsaw in a scene where Jade is delivering an oral report to Mr Holmes’s history class, where she frames local history through slasher mythology, while adding sarcastic asides, braiding timelines between history and slasher lore, and showing her knowledge while still remaining vulnerable because of her personal trauma and social isolation. A complexity way beyond simple horror fiction.
It’s About the Characters Stupid
We all know that the best writing is all about the characters and the Indian Lake trilogy is fully onboard with that. The plot can be simple – it is slasher fiction to some extent – but when you make the location, the historical trauma, and the buried secrets characters too, you elevate the whole thing to a literary level that is very satisfying indeed. The underlying theme of guilt, redemption and personal growth is present and visible but because we care about the characters, and certainly Jade, it’s never intrusive and never takes you out of the story – after all we’re here to be entertained and being informed too is an extra added bonus.
With a Bow on Top
Okay, so what did I think of the novels?
I really enjoyed them, no surprise there, but I particularly enjoyed the final instalment – The Angel of Indian Lake. SGJ managed to provide a successful standalone novel and still wrap up every thread from all three novels: something my other favourite author Stephen King (oh yes SGJ is right up there on that short list) does really well too.
I can’t wait for the movies, if only to see the body dump scenes toward the end of each novel and especially the final instalment. If Jade Daniels doesn’t take her rightful place alongside the other iconic Final Girls then we’ll have another tragic injustice to haunt our dreams and I won’t be responsible for the consequences (cue horror theme music).
