Indian Lake is an artificial reservoir; the remains of a Christian church and other town buildings lie beneath its surface.

Indian Lake abuts a national forest, which is being developed into a new neighborhood called Terra Nova by a group of wealthy businesspeople.

After a fight with her father, Jade attempts suicide by cutting her wrists and jumping into the town canoe, imagining herself as Alice at the end of Friday the 13th.

She is rescued and released from a psychiatric hold, and Sheriff Hardy returns her effects along with the Dutch tourists’ phone, assuming it to be Jade’s.

Jade tries to convince everyone that the killer will strike on Saturday during the town’s Independence Day party, and runs away from home, but is tackled and arrested by the sheriff.

Reviewer Noah Berlatsky states that killers such as a Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees can be read as metaphors for "the nightmares of an abused child", and that "if you’re a kid, grownups really do seem unfathomably powerful, perhaps unstoppably destructive".

According to Jade, a movie which "suggests that violence is senseless or that the strong target the weak simply because they can" does not deserve to be called a slasher.

According to Simmons, a final girl who is left alone with a monster for too long will begin to take on some of the killer's properties, leading to a bloody confrontation.

Iglesias praised the novel for its inclusion of complex themes including "child abuse, alcoholism, discrimination, and gentrification" in addition to the horror elements.

[8] A review for The Washington Post praised Jade's characterization, including "[her] awkwardness and insecurities, her intractable obstinacy, her refusal to behave in a socially acceptable manner".

[9] Rolling Stone praised My Heart Is a Chainsaw for being "both an homage to this trope and a big old “fuck you” to the concept that only good girls can prevail".