My Heart Is a Chainsaw

Content Warning: This novel includes depictions of death by suicide, child sexual abuse, rape, murder, and debilitating alcohol addiction. It also discusses bigotry and violence against Indigenous Americans.

A young couple from the Netherlands, Lotte and Sven, pause on their road trip across America on the shores of Indian Lake in Proofrock, Idaho. The far shore of the lake is a national forest, but Lotte sees lights across the water. Lotte and Sven strip naked and decide to go out onto the water. They notice the light at the end of the dock flickering as they approach, and Sven discovers a canoe tied up there. They get into the canoe and begin paddling across the lake to investigate the lights. Lotte records their adventure using a phone inside of a Ziplock bag. Suddenly, the canoe enters a terribly smelly part of the water, covered in a substance that Lotte thinks might be fish guts or an animal carcass. Sven goes overboard to rescue the lid of their cooler and reports that the mass of refuse floating in the water is hair. The canoe hits something and Sven vanishes. He begins to scream, and Lotte attempts to paddle back to shore.