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Jackal: A Novel

RECOMMENDED BY GILLIAN FLYNN ON THE TODAY SHOW 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. . . .

“I read this thriller that is Get Out meets The Vanishing Half in one night.”—BuzzFeed

“Extraordinary . . . A terrifying tale of fears and hatreds generated by racism and class inequality.”—Associated Press

EDGAR® AWARD FINALIST BRAM STOKER® AWARD FINALISTSHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD NOMINEE PHENOMENAL BOOK CLUB PICK

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Esquire, Vulture, PopSugar, Paste, Publishers Weekly ONE OF COSMOPOLITAN’S BEST HORROR NOVELS OF ALL TIME

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, passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the night of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the newlyweds’ daughter, Caroline, disappears—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 Liz’s high school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart removed. 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.

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Published Sep 5, 2023

352 pages

Average rating: 6.92

172 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *Jackal* by Erin E. Adams offers a unique, atmospheric thriller with strong themes of racism, identity, and belonging, set in a vividly de...

Daebug
Jan 18, 2024
7/10 stars
I needed to know what in the heck was going on. Needed to solve the mystery. Definitely a page turner
Harrietaspy
May 04, 2025
4/10 stars
Boy, this was a huge miss for me and it honestly started off as a 4 or maybe even 5 star book. I told my husband how much I was loving it at the beginning and they had me totally wanting to know what happened with the mystery. (And I don't often discuss books with him.) And then it took a turn into a horror book that honestly was not as well written as the first half of the book. So frustrating
Tstraw01
Apr 02, 2025
9/10 stars
This book was so good and had me looking over my shoulder in my own house! Bone chilling.
carraujo
Feb 25, 2025
8/10 stars
4.25/5
Tye Price
Dec 11, 2024
2/10 stars
Started out well but then took a horrible turn that didn’t make any sense.

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