The Only Good Indians is a horror novel written by Stephen Graham Jones. In their youth, four Blackfeet men killed a herd of elk illegally, including a pregnant mother. Now, years later, a mysterious elk spirit, Po'onoka, has arisen to take revenge on the men by killing them and everyone they love, the way they did to her.
The novel is notable for its distinctive, somewhat surreal style that blends horror with literary fiction. The novel won a Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction.
List of tropes applying to this novel:
- The Alcoholic: Gabe. He's not a bad guy, but it only contributes to his irresponsibility and his chaotic life.
- Anti-Villain: Po'onoka is certainly ruthless, but she's ultimately motivated by grief for her dead child and herd, and chooses to spare Denorah in the end.
- Bathos: Lewis's horrific Sanity Slippage is peppered with his darkly comic sarcasm and speculations on how the media will react to whatever he does, even as he starts murdering people.
- Bittersweet Ending: Denorah and Nathan survive, and Po'onoka retreats back into the wilderness with her resurrected child. However, countless people are still dead from her rampage, all of whom didn't really deserve to die.
- Deadpan Snarker: Lewis is quite sarcastic, although mostly in his own narration.
- Decoy Protagonist: The first half of the book largely focuses on Lewis, but shifts over to an Ensemble Cast after Po'onka drives him into insanity and murder, and he's subsequently killed in turn by a lynch mob.
- Evil Poacher: Averted. Gabe, Cass, Ricky, and Lewis went poaching because they were poor, starving, and desperate. They're presented more as decent people who made a mistake, making the events of the novel more tragic.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The four poachers weren't evil, just poor and starving kids who made a terrible decision and are paying for it. Meanwhile, Po'onoka is motivated by the death of her herd and child, but is willing to kill innocent people to get her revenge.
- Revenge by Proxy: Po'onoka wants to kill not just the four poachers, but everyone they love so her revenge will be complete.
- Sanity Slippage: Lewis gradually goes insane as Po'onoka stalks him, culminating in him killing Shaney and his own wife because he believes they're the elk woman in disguise.
