Off the Reservation
novel · First published 2026
Nate Yellow Tail is one of the survivors of the deadly revenge murders of Stephen Graham Jones's breakout bestseller The Only Good Indians. Five years after the massacre on the Blackfeet reservation, Nate finds himself in the hospital after a terrible accident that should’ve killed him and that nearly killed his best friend Sebby, who is hanging onto life in a room a few doors down. Nate’s life is out of balance, so when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up, again. This time it’s into a camper van that is almost as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of the lone Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where many Indigenous children were abused, and repatriate this boy home. The problem is, when they get the bones, something terrible has escaped with them. Jones has crafted another American Indian novel for our times, shining light on the dark corners of this country’s history while also showing the desperate choices people make when they’re put up against a wall.
