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Loading... Jackalby Erin E. Adams
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Someone is killing the black little girls in Johnstown. Every year, on the summer solstice, a black little girl goes missing. Liz, came home for her best friend's wedding. During the reception, she was watching her friend's daughter, Caroline. Caroline ran off and went missing. Liz is determined to investigate what happened with Caroline and all the other missing girls. I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning. It was a bit slow for me. Towards the middle it picked up and became suspenseful. However, towards the end, it was very confusing. There were so many characters, and it was hard to keep up with who said what and who did what. I did like how Erin tackled racism, sexism, and domestic violence. Her imagery was beautiful as well. This book was imaginative and creepy. It was so compelling and readable that I carved out extra time in my day to read! Packed with social commentary I can see where some people wouldn't vibe with this, but I loved it. This book is just as much about classism as it is about racism. The pacing was great. The characters had depth, and the author did a great job making the reader understand where they (the characters) were coming from and therefore made the characters seem more real. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes social horror. An Edgar Award finalist for best first mystery novel Jackal has many strengths. It has a unique plot with Black girls turning up missing in a wooded area near Johnstown, Pennsylvania over a period of thirty years. Some of the bodies are found missing their hearts. So, that is an attention getting premise and we do ultimately get to the root of the mystery of what is happening. My problem is the almost total lack of all branches of law enforcement in a crime spree this spectacular. The primary sleuths are local private citizens from the area/ Really? no reviews | add a review
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"A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white Rust Belt town. But she's not the first-and she may not be the last. . . . It's watching. Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn't exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward and passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the bride's daughter, Caroline, goes missing-and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood. It's taking. As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: a summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She's seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart missing. Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can't be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town's history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls. It's your turn. With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Very well done.
Ostensibly a story about a monster in the woods taking the hearts of young black girls, but really more about fear,hatred and racism.
The author does a great job weaving together the folktales with the real life stories of the dead girls to create a nice creepy atmosphere .She deftly creates a trust no one atmosphere as her protagonists suspicions change and grow until the finale
Especially impressive as this is a nominee from the first novel category ( )