ust finished Maeve Fly by CJ Leede and oh boy what a book. An absolute blast. A contemporary American Psycho but way more fun. Joyfully cynical and full of brutality. Who ever you think Maeve is and where ever you think her journey is taking you, you're wrong. I can't recommend this book enough.
More from CJ Leede now!

Maeve Fly is 27, granddaughter of Old Hollywood royalty, and she works at the happiest place on earth, playing a certain unnamed ice princess, alongside her friend Kate. When she finds a strange, disturbing doll and meets Kate's brother Gideon on the same night, Maeve's life starts to both simultaneously coalesce and unravel. And the more it does, the wilder the story gets.

Maeve is an interesting character - like many sociopaths, she is highly observant and, for the most part, views the world around her and her life remotely and discretely. She seems to vacillate between feeling nothing and feeling everything, and her empathy is limited to her grandmother (herself quite a character, as we come to find out) and her friendship with Kate, which might be her only positive (and least creepy) relationship, and also perhaps her relationship with Gideon. I simultaneously empathized with her and was horrified by her, especially by her lack of reaction to or concern about her violence.

(Also, the past murders? We're just gonna drop that there and not elaborate? I know it's supposed to be intentionally maddening but I am curious now if we'll get a Maeve Fly prequel...)

This story was nuts. It was a gory, blood-soaked love letter to a Los Angeles most of us have never seen and a love story about two absolute monsters who see each other for what the other truly is, with horrifying (and, somewhat saddening? I was surprised that I was saddened) consequences. Maeve and Gideon are monsters, and Maeve is presented as such without apology, which is something that she even opines on in the book - the fact that men can be monstrous without an explanation, while Something Must Have Happened to a woman to Make Her That Way. Nothing has happened to Maeve. She just IS that way, and that's one of the most horrifying things about her.

The reason I gave four stars instead of five is because I was not a huge fan of the sexual violence scenes. I don't have any problems with sex scenes or threesomes or any of that, or even sexual violence being implied, but Maeve's creativity with regards to sexual violence was genuinely disturbing - see the dispatching of Liz for the worst example. I was surprised by its inclusion, and the fact that Maeve primarily enacted it on other women - honestly, I think it could have not been included and the story wouldn't have lost anything. I know it's meant to reveal how much of a monster Maeve is, and how her behavior is escalated and heightened after being fired, but... I mean, sexual violence IS horrific and this IS a horror novel, but not every horrific thing need be included, you know?

But overall, I enjoyed it a lot! Maeve is an intriguing and compelling villain protagonist, and absolutely bonkers, balls-to-the-wall unhinged. Gideon is a hockey player (who knew this was also a sports romance?) and hiding a dark side from pretty much everyone around him. Kate and Liz are... there. I want to know more about grandma Tallulah, who was the same brand of unhinged as Maeve and was also probably more successful at it? I muttered "what the fuck" more times than you can count. I will never eat a soft-boiled egg again. A-, 8.9/10, would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Maeve Fly is an odd woman. She loves Halloween, her friend Kate, and a certain unnamed park where she plays a certain unnamed ice queen. But things are not well in Maeve’s mind, and she slowly begins to descend into madness.

I’ll start with what I enjoyed about Maeve Fly. The body horror and gore was exquisite. It was all so grotesque and well described, it really painted a disturbing visual in my mind. I loved how unhinged Maeve felt while still being a fairly likeable character (as likeable as a serial killer can be).

This book has a pretty large romantic subplot and a lot of smut. Now, I didn’t dislike this romance and smut, but I would’ve preferred a little less of it. However, this is just my personal taste and I really didn’t let it interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

I was, however, not a huge fan of the ending. It felt a little rushed and I think there could’ve been a few more pages of explanation.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for providing me with a free copy of Maeve Fly in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was going to be fun Hollywood horror, and it was. But it’s so much more. Maeve works as [character resembling the one from Frozen] at a [place resembling the magical one with the mouse], and she has secrets and problems. They continue to escalate in American Psycho fashion when she meets her bestie’s brother who also has secrets and problems. And he plays hockey. Many times, this book reminded me of Barker/Larocca with its twisted look at relationships and love, plus plenty of body horror. There’s some real yuckers in here. I loved it. Can’t wait for more people to read it.

Maeve Fly is a Disney princess (the best one) by day, and a serial killer by night.

I loved the cover and think it got the point across that this book is going to be super gross and alarming (and I feel like a dummy for being surprised by HOW gross it was). I haven't read anything with this much ick-factor in quite a while, and I think I'm out of practice. There was a whole lot of sexual violence in this that I wasn't quite prepared for and had to stop reading to make sure CJ Leede was a woman, which made it seem less upsetting somehow than if a man had written it? I guess that's a whole thing I need to sort out in my head. Eventually. Probably never.

Anyway. I honestly don't know quite what to make of this book. I don't think I loved it? But I definitely didn't hate it? I really enjoyed the first third or so where Maeve alludes to her derangement, but it's not quite on full display (yet), and I'm still thinking about it a few days after reading it, so I'm chalking that up as a win.

I'd definitely read another book by Leede in the future, but would go into it better prepared for the gore.

During the day, Maeve Fly has her dream job at her favorite place in the world; playing everyone's beloved ice princess at Disneyland. Once night rolls around, she barhops around downtown Los Angeles to drink and read classics where she takes inspiration from her literary heroes. Between all of this, she takes care of her grandmother who is single-handedly her whole world but also an old Hollywood star. Maeve meets her best friend's brother, Gideon and he invokes feelings she never thought she could have. From there, things take a very dark turn and escalate into insanity.

What a wild and unique ride. Maeve is an intense character in general and watching her become even more intense to absolutely unhinged was definitely entertaining. Aside from that, I found her almost relatable as her favorite holiday is Halloween and she loves horror movies.

“I love Halloween because all the time, everyone wears masks. But one night a year, they do it openly. The dark and forbidden things they wish to be but deny themselves, on Halloween they don’t. On Halloween, they embrace it, all of it. The hidden parts of the world are exposed, if only for one night. And those things that are truly dark are a little less alone”.

There are a lot of pop culture references but also classics with an homage to American Psycho. I also loved all of the references to Los Angeles since I’m from there and found that relatable and fun. This is also very graphic with explicit content - both physical violence and sexual. This is not for the faint of heart so just a warning there just in case!

I’m eager to see what else CJ Lede will come out with in the future. Thank you so much to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

The story starts with Maeve, seemingly leading a life that isn't out of ordinary. She loves her job at the happiest place on earth, Disney, playing ice princess role and goes around dive bars reading infamous writers books seeking to satisfy her dark and mischievous needs. Everything starts to shift when Gideon, her best friend's brother who is a pro hockey player, comes into her life. The normalcy of how the book started rapidly change when her favorite person in the world Tallulah, her previously famous Hollywood star grandma's care taker suggests Maeve that she should perhaps think about letting her grandma go. This book is unhinged, raw, violent, gory, and unapologetically filled with dark desires & primitive instincts. This book had me making faces (mostly jaw dropping motions & gasps) during my commute in NYC subways. Absolutely beautiful and genre defining. I appreciated C. J. Leede for describing the feeling we all seek. We always think we want love but more than love we want to be understood and truly be seen by another. I wonder if we should all tickle the inner wolf & monkey like Maeve does.

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede takes readers on a dark and twisted journey through the mind of its disturbed protagonist. From the beginning, the author establishes a captivating premise, introducing Maeve Fly as an enigmatic character who leads a double life. By day, she works as an ice princess at Disneyland, but by night, she immerses herself in the world of dive bars and misanthropic literature. The arrival of Gideon Green, her best friend's brother, sets off a chain of events that pushes Maeve further into the depths of her own darkness.

The initial third of the book serves as a character study, delving deep into Maeve's damaged psyche. Leede masterfully blends dark comedy with a Gillian Flynn-esque psychological perspective, creating a captivating atmosphere that keeps readers engaged. The exploration of Maeve's mind and her gradual descent into madness is both compelling and unsettling.

It is important to note that Maeve Fly is a highly graphic novel, with scenes of violence, body horror, and sexual content. The author does not shy away from explicit descriptions, and readers should be prepared for the disturbing and cringe-inducing nature of the content. However, it must be emphasized that while the violence is graphic, it does not reach the same level of sexual violence as seen in American Psycho, which is often used as a point of comparison.

The initial portion of the story sets high expectations, with its dark humor and eerie undertones. However, as the killings commence, the book veers into a realm of surrealism and absurdity, losing some of the cohesion and intensity established earlier. While this shift may not be to everyone's taste, it adds an element of unpredictability to the narrative, making it impossible to guess what Maeve will do next.

One minor disappointment with Maeve Fly is its length. Clocking in at around 240 pages, the story feels somewhat rushed towards the end, leaving readers wanting more. An additional 100-150 pages could have allowed for a more satisfying conclusion and further exploration of the intriguing themes and characters.

Nevertheless, the book delivers on its promises. The graphic depictions of sex and violence are cringe-worthy and uncomfortable, but they serve a purpose within the context of the story. The dark and satirical comedy adds a layer of depth to the narrative, and the overall surreal and over-the-top atmosphere makes for a compulsively readable experience.

Maeve Fly is an intense and unforgettable journey into the dark recesses of the human mind. It may not be for the faint of heart or those seeking a conventional horror story, but if you can handle the explicit descriptions and enjoy exploring the boundaries of psychological horror, this book will leave a lasting impression. With its unique blend of dark humor, graphic violence, and surreal storytelling, Maeve Fly is sure to be one of the most talked-about novels of the year.

This is a wicked novel! I wasn't sure what I thought of it at any given moment. I just knew I had to keep reading. The plot is pretty straightforward. A girl goes to California to her grandmother's house. She's never met her but her folks have never understood her so she takes a chance. The grandmother approves right away. Maeve gets a job at Disneyland and figures she has it made until she meets a man and at the same time her situation starts to change.

What's not said in the plot summary is what makes this book so good. I figured out what was going on to some degree but the book doesn't let us know a thing until the ending sequences. At times I loved the book, at others I was disgusted. The thing that bothered me personally was the consensual violent sex scenes. That's not my scene. However, the rest of the story was dark and disturbed to my liking. It's going to take a certain type of reader to enjoy but the right reader will love this.

When I picked up Maeve Fly, I thought for sure the title was going to be a pun on mayfly, something about a short but extreme life, a creature that lives only to sate itself and then expire. I didn’t expect it to actually be the main character’s full name, but yes, our protagonist is actually named Maeve Fly, and the theme I was anticipating isn’t really strong enough to resonate. And in that sense, it really does set the tone for C. J. Leede’s whole book.

Maeve works at the Park That Cannot Be Named Without A Lawsuit, content to just live in L.A. alongside her best friend, Kate, who wants to be an actress. Maeve has dark impulses, but thanks to the influence of her equally dangerous Old Hollywood grandmother, she’s learned to keep them mostly in check. Only, her grandmother is terminally ill and Kate’s star is on the rise, meaning that both of them may be leaving her soon. What’s a cartoon princess-playing sociopath to do? The answer will not surprise you, except maybe in the Saw-like extent to which C. J. Leede is willing to go. If only she’d gone half as far to develop her theme or characters.

Yeah, yeah, Maeve Fly has got some extremes. And maybe it even has an ethos—that women don’t need a tragic backstory to be psycho killers. But Maeve’s living her tragedy in the present tense, in the process of losing her best friend to fame and her grandmother to death, and that gives the lie to her pseudo-feminist objections. Maeve doth protest too much: she’s acting out from grief and anger, not because she’s some kind of evolved apex predator.

When Maeve declares herself a wolf—repeatedly—she sounds less like a serial killer and more like a high school edgelord. People are sheep, sneers the kid who missed the point of Fight Club.*

Maeve’s read Fight Club. She’s read de Sade and Easton Ellis, and her violent, misanthropic heroes have clearly inspired the author as well. But Maeve Fly only reaches the level of derivation. It doesn’t add to any of those conversations, and it seems unaware of others. Maeve is looking for blood-soaked fellow female murderers? What about A Certain Hunger by Chelsea Summers, what about literally any of the short fiction of Caitlin R. Kiernan, what about Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca and My Sister is a Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite?

Or let’s talk about another narrative that looms over this one: Maeve Fly wants to be Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite. It’s not. It’s a cringey rom-com with two middling sadists, and what humor there is feels out of place. In Exquisite Corpse, readers get to indulge a disgusted fascination with two serial killers, and also feel an outraged sympathy for their potential victims. In Maeve Fly, Leede is trying to evoke both our revulsion and our empathy with just Maeve.

It doesn’t work. Most of Maeve’s victims are people who have wronged her or those close to her in some way, but those slights are…well, sometimes very slight indeed. She’s maybe meant to be some kind of Dexter, a killer with a code, but she comes off as inconsistent and flailing. She goes after a date-rapist and a KKK sympathizer, and uh, you go girl? But she also is a rapist, and when she goes after her ex-boss, it’s a monstrous case of overkill.

To be fair to the book, Maeve Fly might be saying something interesting about how we shouldn’t expect the immoral to bring justice to the immoral. Vigilantism ultimately doesn’t work, and serial killers are in no way the heroes we need. I didn’t really feel like I needed to learn this lesson, though, and I don’t think Maeve was a particularly interesting teacher.

Part of it is Maeve herself. She’s sooooo pretty, and rich, and cool. She knows all the spots. Nobody understands her. She comes off as a blonde Bella Swan, a self-insert character who just happens to indulge her horniness instead of sublimating it. One of the more unique aspects of Maeve’s character, her love for Halloween in all its macabre and kitsch glory, might work for some readers. For me, it felt like stretching the April Ludgate character from Parks and Rec a little too far. Oh, there are actual bones in the décor? Sure, cue reaction shot.

The theme park angle has potential, but this is a whole book about someone who works at the “happiest place on earth,” and the whole sub-plot doesn’t manage to reach the level of a secondary character’s side story in The Sandman. I’m talking about Fun Land from A Doll’s House, of course, the serial killer who operated unchallenged because the park would rather avoid a PR disaster than protect children. That is dark satire. And okay, it’s unfair to compare a debut author to Neil Gaiman, but I’m not looking for perfection. I’m just looking for a point of view.

A dozen or so extreme scenes of gore and torture are not a point of view. The thing with the ears (I won’t spoil it) would have made a good short story, but as a novel, there are too many competing threads for scenes like that to have full impact. More focus on either upper-echelon Hollywood and/or the Unnamable Park would have helped to sharpen either the critique or the sense of place.

As it is, it’s hard to tell what this book is about. Maeve has nothing but contempt for the park visitors, but she makes no secret that she loves it. She just loves it ironically. Well, not quite, but she loves the fakeness of it, loves the artifice, and the effect is much the same. She’s just as stunted as the parkgoers, only she’s clinging to a sullen teenagerhood instead of childhood. And Maeve equally loves the artifice of the movie industry. So the book is about artifice? Er, not really. It’s about how being genuine in a phony world still means you can’t win? Uh, I guess, if Maeve is someone we want to win. I’m honestly still not sure.

The ending is an antihero’s tragedy, but it’s also a petard-hoist. On the cusp of her best friend’s success and her connection with a kindred spirit, Maeve loses or destroys everything she loves. But because we can only partially sympathize with her, and can only partially despise her, the ending is…awkward. It’s not a comeuppance. It’s not heartbreaking. It’s also just a little bit astonishing: Maeve, how did you miss all the signs? They were _super obvious_. The extremes of feeling cancel out into a queasy “well, that sucks.”

Yeah. It does.

--

* Real quick: Fight Club (the book) has interesting things to say about the unbelievable loneliness of traditional masculinity, and how violence is the only acceptable intimacy even when that violence can only lead to insanity. Fight Club (the movie) also has interesting things to say about human connection in the context of capitalism. Fight Club (as explained to you by an edgelord on a message board) is a dumbass paean to White male aggression. Maeve largely only seems conscious of the latter.

I loved this book. One of my top reads this year!

Maeve sees the world differently. After moving in with her Grandmother in LA she’s finally found her place in the world. She learns to tame her inner wolf and let loose her inner monkey. Everything eventually starts to spiral out of control, as things are ought to do, and Maeve becomes trapped in the world she’s made for herself.

I just adored Maeve. She was a protagonist and antagonist. She was horrific and endearing. I wanted to see her get everything she wanted and more.

The writing was lovely. I especially liked the descriptions of the “park” and her job as the “ice queen”. For someone like Maeve to find joy in the happiest place on earth is ironic and wonderful.

Definitely extreme horror and trigger warnings for BDSM and lots of gore.

And bonus points for her love of Halloween and and Halloween music.

"Maeve Fly" by CJ Leede is a horror novel in the 'giallo' style of film-making: saturated, hallucinogenic, illogical and filled with dread only relieved by prolific violence. The titular character in this book works as a princess at a theme park by day, and relishes in depravity and cruelty at night. When her grandmother's illness takes a turn for the worst, Maeve starts to feel as if she's being stalked by demons, and her latent malevolence changes to homicide.

There's a lot to enjoy about "Maeve Fly": Maeve herself is funny in a nasty way, and as she navigates the seedy underbelly of California's top vacation spot and revenges herself against people she perceived as having wronged her, she's quite the antihero: even if you're not rooting for her, you can't wait to see where she ends up.

And it's actually this that prevents "Maeve Fly" from reaching five-star territory: the ending is very sloppy, and nothing is resolved. I was super into this novel, and was very disappointed in how it ended up: but alas, maybe happily ever after is only for Disney princesses.

That ending will stay with me forever. CJ Leede did an amazing job captivating my attention within the first few pages. The way Maeve progresses to her final horrific form
feels so reminiscent of many sanity lost stories but this one’s sooooo gruesomely hard to forget and will still in the depths of your souls until end of times.

i cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy in a month!!!

THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THIS ARC

This book was not what I was anticipating. Maeve is portrayed as a person who was born to do nothing but savor death and pain and live in this world as a monster or a lone wolf. This book chronicles Maeve's psychosis and the depravity of humankind. If you are after a read that contains aggressive behavior that involves sexual acts this is that book. I feel that the main character of this story is all over the place and is not consistent in what they say versus what they do and participate in. This book became a "what did I just read" title for me because of the nature of this weird erotic horror love story. I do believe that the intent of the author was to shine light on certain societal views however the way they were presented was traumatic, sloppy, and covered in a lot of visual trauma for the reader. If you are looking for a book with human body horror that sends a deep message I would recommend Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica instead. I would add every trigger warning onto this book so that readers can proceed with caution.

What an absolute messed up ride. We get to follow Maeve as she spirals into who she’s truly meant to be and the depravity she succumbs to.
Anyone who’s a fan of extreme horror, this should be your next read. It will not disappoint!

Unfortunately it just wasn't for me. The writing was good and the characters had some interesting development, it was just too vulgar and gratuitous for my tastes. Thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this. Depending on the subject matter, I think I would give the author another try. This book was just not for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I have no idea what I just read but it was quite a ride! This book is disturbing on multiple levels but I just couldn’t stop reading! A young woman who is working as a “Disney” princess character with an obsession for all things Halloween and very dark side meets the brother of her friend who is also a princess character (and aspiring actress), where they embark on a romance that may be unconventional to most. This book is horror-filled with some astonishing scenes that I couldn’t quite stomach. If you are a horror lover and aren’t squeamish, then this could be the book for you.

Maeve is a theme park Disney princess by day and a Halloween obsessed serial killer by night. When she meets and falls for her best friends brother, she starts to give in to her sinister urges and things get utterly revolting from there. I mean, completely depraved. Like a female led version of American Psycho, this is gonna mess you up for days, maybe forever.

"I see you" - There wasn't a sentence that haunted Maeve Fly more than anything in this world. She was seen, she was understood, but she did not care to acknowledge that. If she stopped for a second, she wouldn't be this haunted for the rest of her life.

She was a Disney princess, a good one. She liked her job. She never skipped a day. But deep inside, she was another person. Call it family trait or nurture over nature, she kept who she was behind locked basement doors like her grandmother. When her best friend's hot brother came into her life, closed doors were wide open and she was not ready for that.

CJ Leede nods to Stephen King in the acknowledgements, but this whole book was one big nod to Stephen King. I loved the imagination, the creativity, and the rawness of the characters. I'm waiting for ore from CJ Leede.

Maeve Fly.. Where do I start?! Theme park princess by day and dark, loner by night, Maeve Fly is struggling to come to terms with her grandmothers decline in health. Maeve begins caving to the side of herself that she's worked hard to contain.. And when she finally snaps under the pressure of losing everything that matters most, Maeve finds out who she really is when no one else is looking.

I loved this one. The first 30% was enjoyable but it was after that when things started to pick up. And that last 30%? Wild stuff. I went from “this isn't bad” to “this is pretty good” to “okayyy i'm loving this”. I can see how this won't be for everyone with the “extreme” horror/violence/gore/explicit sex but if you're a fan of that type of horror – don't miss out on this one. And our little sprinkle of a hockey romance? I can't even explain how this crossed over all of my favorite things. I love you, Maeve Fly.