Jawbone

YVONNE C. GARRETT, THE BROOKLYN RAIL

"... rife with gothic body horror and the darkness of the jungle and within ourselves ... This is not just a tale of young female friendship gone too far, it's a warning about the dangers of allowing desires to grow uncontrolled and unquestioned, of ceding one's self to another's dark impulses ... there are real forces at work in the novel as well—it's not all just horror stories and scary games, abandoned buildings and encroaching forest ... Although critics reference Lovecraft and Shirley Jackson, Ojeda is a strikingly singular voice, combining basic teen angst with stark madness and the power of teen girls to push back in a world that tries to make them powerless."