Good Enough is Enough

Ten years ago, four young Blackfeet men went hunting on land that's meant to be reserved for elders, and accidentally shot a pregnant elk. Trying to make up for their transgression, they swore to use every bit of her meat and hide, with nothing going to waste. But years passed, and the last piece of meat lay in the back of someone's freezer, its significance long forgotten... until two months ago, when they finally threw it away. Now the four men find themselves stalked by an entity that's bent on vengeance, blood for blood.

Wowwww this book was so good. It's grounded deep in the realities of contemporary Indigenous life; the character studies alone would be worth the read. It vividly paints the ambivalence and complexity and frustration of feeling drawn to tradition but also disconnected from it—fumbling towards it, or trying to hold it at arm's length. It's a story about how the past comes back to haunt you, both the deep past of your ancestors and your own mistakes that can't be taken back.

The style is intense, visceral, and raw, moving quickly as the hunters are hunted down one by one. It's part creature horror and part revenge thriller, as you get the perspective of both the humans and the elk-entity. She's a fantastic villain, playing the humans against each other and driving them to madness, but also an empathetic hero of her own story as she metes out her own form of poetic justice for what was taken from her. The conclusion wasn't what I expected, but I found it very satisfying.

The book has graphic gory deaths of people and animals (including dogs) so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. But I'm not much for gore myself, and I found the violence essential to the story and not gratuitous. I'll definitely look for more of Jones' work.