Erin E. Adams

Erin E. Adams is an American author, playwright, and actor. A first-generation Haitian American writer, she is most well known for her debut novel Jackal, a horror thriller set in her hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Adams is also a dramatist and writer for theater. Her work often explores issues of race, class, and identity through the lens of horror.

Early life and education Adams grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where she was one of only a few Black students in her school. It won the 2020 New Light New Voices award from the New Light Theater Project.

Adams's debut novel, Jackal, was published by Bantam Books in October 2022.

Adams’s second novel, titled One of You, is slated for publication by Penguin Random House in 2027.

Plot The novel follows Liz Rocher, a young Black woman who returns reluctantly to her predominantly white hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to attend her best friend’s wedding. During the outdoor reception, Liz’s best friend’s daughter, Caroline, goes missing in the adjacent woods. Years earlier, when Liz was in high school, her Black classmate Keisha Woodson disappeared in the same woods and was later found dead with her heart removed from her chest. As the community searches for Caroline, Liz learns that similar disappearances have occurred in Johnstown over the years. Black girls have been vanishing in the woods around the town for decades, often on summer nights during local events, explained away as runaways, accidents, or animal attacks. Determined to save Caroline and uncover the truth, Liz researches Johnstown’s history and speaks with families of the missing girls. She discovers an eerie folktale passed among Black residents, that an entity in the forest preys on those who stray too far into it. Liz confronts this evil force - and the complicit human hostility behind it - in order to rescue Caroline and put an end to the cycle of violence.

Themes As a horror novel, Jackal doubles as a social commentary on racial injustice and communal guilt. A central theme in the book is the phenomenon of missing Black girls whose cases are downplayed or ignored by authorities and media. The narrative also addresses generational trauma, suggesting that the violence perpetrated against marginalized communities can linger and manifest in new forms. For example, one critic argued that the monster in the forest can be seen as both a literal creature and an embodiment of the town’s collective sins - the "monsters" created by fear, hatred, and complicity. Adams also employs folk horror elements, such as ritualistic settings (a summer solstice bonfire in the woods), rhyme and legend, and the specter of a shape-shifting creature, to underscore the novel’s exploration of community evil. A review in AP News compared the novel's blend of suspense, racial commentary, and occult horror to Jordan Peele’s film Get Out.