Jackal by Erin E. Adams

e-Audio, 10:30:22
Narrated by: Sandra Okuboyejo & William DeMeritt 
Release Date: October 8, 2022
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: October 26-27, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: LibroFM (I received the audio copy of this book from LibroFM and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Death, Violence, Racism, Gore, Kidnapping, Child Abuse, Animal Death (Off page, aftermath described)
For Readers Interested In: Horror, Thrillers, Sparkly Covers, Anxiety rep, Mystery, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Adult

       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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I wasn’t going to review this because it felt like it was too long after Halloween to review it. But I also know regardless of what I was feeling, I knew that there’s no right time to read/listen to horror. It’s universal and can be done all the time. So, here we are lol

So the mystery in this was really good. Well at first. It felt like a bit of a Lifetime movie in the beginning, but when they started trying to figure it out, over time it got a bit repetitive. But even still, I found it easy to be swept up into this story. If nothing else to see how it ended. Because this was too crazy not to. I think it seemed like a Lifetime movie also because it was told in mixed media. And y’all know how I am about mixed media books. It’s like articles and police reports, which isn’t as cool as like podcasts etc, but still I liked it.

This has some of everything in it. It started as mystery, but it also had some horror elements in it too. And the horror elements were really good, but it kind of sounded like a mindset or a shadow? Which I gotta admit had me confused. But I still thought it was good. Nothing really to write home about tho. Nothing I would have been like telling anyone about this tho.

The narration was great tho. I looked them and they actually have a few titles under their belt of all ages, but I haven’t listened to any of them. But her performance was good enough for me to write down the titles and look more into it.

Overall, I give this