This was my first read by Nick Medina, and I think this was a case of unmet expectations. What I thought I was getting into was a fast-paced thriller, instead Indian Burial Ground is a character driven ‘supernatural horror’ story with a mystery mixed into it. From a horror perspective and it’s much more an atmospheric paranormal creepy read rather than thriller scary. While I found it to be creepy rather than scary, if you don’t tend to dive into this genre there are some pieces of the story that could really give you pause. Trigger Warnings for this include unpleasant deaths, child death, animal death, suicide, and mental health issues.

The story itself is divided into two narrators: Noemi’s and her uncle Louie. While Noemi’s perspective sticks to the present, Louie’s jumps back and forth between past and present and I had a difficult time determining which one we were in when it came to his narration. The representation from each though is heavily skewed towards Uncle Louie’s view and honestly, I didn’t find that Noemi’s added anything to the actual plot. I would have much preferred to have just had Uncle Louie’s two timelines only. In addition, the very first narrator we hear from, we never hear from again or really even referenced again after the first chapter/prologue. That felt weird to me and left me with lots of questions.

The plot is certainly interesting but Indian Burial Ground didn’t fully deliver what I was expecting. Maybe if I had gone into this blind, I would have enjoyed it more. However, the slow burn pacing, the unclear indigenous mythology (which since the tribe is fictional, I wasn’t sure if the myths were fictional), and with a more character driven plot this one just didn’t ‘wow’ me and I found it a chore to finish.

AMAZON | GOODREADS |★★★

Indian Burial Ground is out now. Thank you to Berkley for my advanced copies in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.