Synopsis

By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess.

By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes.

But when Gideon Green – her best friend’s brother – moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet.

Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho . Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife.

Review

Trigger warnings: Body horror, gore/splatterpunk, implied SA, misuse of a curling iron…

Unhinged. Raw. Heartbreaking.

Also, I will never look at eggs or curling irons the same way again.

This book is an EXPERIENCE. It’s so very hard to put into words, without using terms like, “visceral”, or stating it just flat out made me uncomfortable at times. CJ Leede is a master of Splatterpunk, so if body horror makes you a bit queasy, maybe skip this one.

I honestly did NOT like Maeve at the start of this novel…but by the end I was practically screaming at her not to screw it all up. She grew on me. CJ has a distinct way of taking something gruesome, or someone who is seemingly loathsome, and making you care about it/them. Definitely a different type of “female rage” with this beauty, and I’m here for it.

This is a book that you just have to read for yourself. It’s insane to believe this is CJ’s debut novel as it is so expertly written and deliciously messed-the-fuck-up. I instantly became a fan, and CJ’s books are a must-buy for me now. If a deep dive into the world of a unique, female psycho killer sounds like a good time to you, pick this one up!

(P.S. the cat does not die)