Which new book should you read this month?

Until maybe a month ago, I hadn't picked up a horror novel in, like, twenty years. Thrillers, yes, but bonafide horror? I couldn't get enough as a kid, but that desire to be scared faded as I got older — until the Coronavirus reading slump. Horror was the only thing that could wake my brain up and grab my attention, and now, once again, I'm always itching for more. Stephen Graham Jones's The Only Good Indians really hit the spot.

Jones is a veritable, award-winning master of horror; his latest is a bone-chilling account of Lewis, Gabe, Cass, and Ricky — four Blackfeet men facing the consequences of a youthful indiscretion. While out hunting elk one snowy day, the young men are frustrated when the herd retreats to land reserved for elders. They disregard the community law but the trip quickly turns chaotic, and one elk puts up a fight, taunting Lewis as he tries again and again to bring her down. Years later, after all of the young men have moved off the reservation, Lewis sees that elk again — or something evil that's taken its image.

As she trails him, Lewis becomes paranoid and unhinged, convinced she's back to enact revenge for not only trespassing years ago, but more broadly for turning his back on his Blackfeet heritage. It's a haunting and gory piece of horror lit, but also a shrewd and darkly funny commentary on the cruelties of assimilation. Pre-order your copy. —Arianna Rebolini

Read Receipts:

Texting with our favorite writers 📲

This week, we're chatting with Jenny Lee about Anna K, her fresh, funny, and captivating retelling of Tolstoy's classic Anna Karenina. Check out the first chapter here — or get your copy.