This was a gruesome, very detailed, very descriptive story in the beginning. It leveled off in the middle. The second half was a lot slower. I wasn’t a fan of the paranormal, but is well written for someone who is.

Here is my review for mask of files by Matthew lyons thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance in exchange for an honest review

Have you ever read a book that felt like it blew all its best material in the first half of the book?

Honestly, that’s what reading A Mask of Flies felt like for me. The first half of this book was an amazing thrill ride for me, full of smash, crash, bash, and slash; however, slightly after the halfway mark, the book slowed down so much it felt like the transmission had stalled and it started resemble a game of “Hurry Up and Wait” until the inevitable showdown, which was beyond predictable by the time it happened.

The beginning of this book is incredibly engaging, with a compelling hook and an intriguing protagonist. Anne Heller is an enigma to us, and she’s a badass. Everything’s gone south for her and she needs to lay low until she can regroup and figure a way out of it.

Of course things go south anyway. This is a horror novel.

The first half of this novel has tension, fast pacing, lots of action, great dialogue, a lot of terrific inner narrative, and some great story revelations that help to move the plot along. This is definitely more of a plot-forward book than character-forward. There’s a great amount of violence and even more body horror. Anne is not a nice person. Is she good? That’s a moral subjective. But she’s certainly not nice, and I love how so much of that comes through in her characterization in the first half of the book.

If all of that could’ve been carried through the back half of the book then this book would’ve been fantastic. Sadly, the momentum falters and never comes back, the vast majority of the revelations have already come and gone, and even the body horror seems rather tame by the end. I was ready for it to end well before it actually did. That’s never a good sign.

I was provided a copy of this title by Netgalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

File Under: Body Horror/Cosmic Horror/Cult Horror/Horror/LGBTQ Horror/LGBTQ Fiction/Sapphic Romance

The book starts with a botched bank robbery. Anne Heller is driving towards the isolated cabin she once fled with her mother, an injured friend bleeding in the passenger seat of the Oldsmobile, a police officer in the trunk. She never wanted to return to that place, but in that moment it's the only option she can think of. The story is fast paced and full of violence...until it suddenly isn't. Things really slow down once Anne confronts the nightmares of her childhood and I found myself losing interest.

With the way this one started off, I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep. I couldn’t pull myself away from it. Straight from the start, there was so much action, blood, conflicts and then this creepy thing in the woods that wanted our main character. For me, A Mask of Flies was a quick read, I didn’t find any parts of it to lag or slow down and the blood and guts just kept coming. I was here for it. I don’t like the woods, day or night, so it definitely had the creep factor for me. I will say that I love a good heartbreak in my story, but one character made me really sad and I was mad about it. 😂 if you enjoy cult stories and things that creep in the woods, you need this one on your TBR. Thanks to Tor Nightfire for my eARC. A Mask of Flies is available today and is perfect to kick off spooky season with!

I absolutely tore through A Mask of Flies and couldn’t get enough of these characters. I first requested it on NetGalley because I thought a book about a bank robbery gone bad sounded great. This is so much more than that and I don’t think Matthew Lyons (@cannibalghosts ) could have added any other elements. Everything you want is here: friendships, betrayal, revenge, John Wick levels of shooting, supernatural creatures, cults and complicated family histories.

The supernatural elements combined with the aspects of a fanatic cult leader were done perfectly. This can get cheesy (not naming names or novels but you get it) but all of it was so convincing and believable. I would ride into battle any day with, or for, our MC - even after knowing how everything shakes loose.

This book is on the lengthier side, which I usually shy away from, but I’m glad I didn’t. I think this was a nice reminder for me that I need to take the time to sink my teeth into some longer reads more often. If this sounds like you, it’s totally worth it and you should start reading it right now.

A Mask of Flies is an easy 5⭐️ from me and it’s out today! Thank you to @netgalley and @tornightfire for access to an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book really had all you need, as a story overall, and specifically as a horror story. The pacing keeps moving, the descriptions are wonderfully creepy, and the cat is wonderfully unbothered.

Title: Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons
Publication Date- 08/06/24
Publisher- Tor
Overall Rating- 3 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This is going to be a tough one to review. Mask of Flies is a gritty story of a band of outlaws and bank robbers trying to make their way in the world. It reminded me of a mash up of a lot of different things like; The Walking Dead, Mistborn and Mad Max.

To be honest the overall plot of the story is not very clear. If you are good at going into books for vibes and atmosphere, this is a good one for that. I am okay with books like that sometimes, this one did not work for me. For the first bit of the book, I was really into the grittiness and really enjoyed the main character. However, overtime, I really wanted more from the story and wanted a clearer understanding of what was actually happening. It became hard to care when I wasn’t really sure what was happening.

There are several characters interacting with the main character, this band of outlaws, however, it was hard to keep track of who was who and why they mattered. Part of me is frustrated that this story didn’t work for me because there were things that I liked about it, and liked a lot. There just wasn’t enough of those things and not enough plot for me to really feel satisfied.

This review has been pretty vague, because the story is. I would recommend if you like any of the things I’ve described, you at least give it a try. There are some horror elements, some cult elements and a few interesting characters. That alone makes me want to read a book, I am so sad I ended up not liking this. Maybe it’s something I will try again in the future.

And this is why Tor Nightfire will always be a favorite publisher of mine!
They sure know how to bring us the absolute best horror novels! (of course besides the fantastic writers)
A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons delivers an outstanding razor-sharp horror novel!
With pacing that carries the reader and keeps the pages turning.

Thank You NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this one. I found myself struggling with the writing style and grungy tone, and I personally ended up not enjoying the paranormal angle, though I think someone looking for that kind of story would have a better time with it.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.

This book has everything; horror, crime drama, crime, action. The pacing was almost perfect though the middle dragged a bit. Overall, really excellent.

I enjoyed this book! It has a little bit of everything, crime, horror, and thriller all in one. It was super fast paced, even though it was long, it flowed so well that I read it in 3 sittings. Highly recommend!

From the beginning this was action packed and had my full attention. Halfway in I just felt like it kinda dragged out and was much slower than the first half. overall it was still a good read but feel it couldve been a shorter story.

thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

A Mask of Flies is an exquisitely violent, beautifully written mashup of supernatural horror and Tarantino-style crime fiction. Lyons balances the two well and wows with his evocative, breathtaking descriptions of both the San Luis Valley setting and the over-the-top violence that is peppered throughout. Seriously, who knew there were so many ways to describe a person getting shot, stabbed, and torn apart? (I mean that in the best possible way.) I really enjoyed the religious/cult aspects, and I appreciated that amid all the action, Lyons left time for introspections and deep character development. From the plot description, I thought 80 percent of this was going to take place in a cabin in the woods, and that's definitely not the case, but I really enjoyed the ride all the same.

Thank you to Netgalley and @torpublishinggroup for an ARC.

This book started out strong with a bank robbery gone bad and found the FMC on the run. Action packed from page one, I was in it to win it. Around 20%, I was so scared that I had to close the book and then "try" to sleep. I went in blind so really had no idea what I was in for, but the book was starting off with a bang. Around 50%, the storyline took a strange turn and then it started getting a tab bit repetitive. Same story, different location. There was a ton of gore, so if that's not your thing- caution. Overall, I enjoyed the book but found the second half a little harder to get through that the first half.

A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons
5/5
ARC via Netgalley

This review can be pretty simple.
BOY was this a good read!
If you don’t want to read on, that’s really all you need to know.
It does not start off slow at all, with a little girl and mom fleeing from a cabin in the middle of the night, only to be attacked by…. Something. Then we move to the girl, all grown up, running from a botched bank robbery, trying not to be killed or captured by the police. If you need to be eased into things, this probably wouldn’t be the story to you.
Bank robberies, revenge, cults, escapes, a very gory creature, flies, family secrets, lost memories, a cat companion, oh and a dash of lustful romance (but really it’s only a dash). Looking for gore? It has it in gooey, dripping, squishing, revolting, fly infested descriptive bucketfuls.
The only downside for me, which was minor overall, was that I felt I needed to suspend my disbelief that a bank robbery could happen in modern day the way it took place. I guess maybe it could? To me the kind of bank robbery that they attempted to pull off seems like something that would happen years ago before modern technology and the saturation of social media. Honestly it didn’t bother me that much because I didn’t realize this was supposed to be set in modern time, however then there was a brief mention of DoorDash. That small sentence caught me off guard and threw me off enough I had to pause to reset the setting of what was happening. Honestly, that was the only other indication I picked up that it was taking place in the “now”, so I decided to pretend that didn’t happen and kept reading. It ended up being a good idea to do so.
There was a moment where I almost felt it could have had an ending and been made into a duology, but having finished it I think that it would have hurt the story more to have gone that route, and likely made the ending weaker in comparison. The ending itself was a clean one and I think was almost perfect for the story, but because I’m how I am, I was expecting it to go a different route. Having said that, I wasn’t disappointed with it at all, and think this is going to be a good read for horror lovers.

This book reminds me of what horror is. The anticipation the gore the good the bad and the evil. After a botched robbery Anne kidnaps a cop and takes sanctuary in an old cabin her mom used to own that holds a lot of bad memories and something else. This was well written and I enjoyed it. I’m not huge on the religious zealots troupe but that aside it was a solid book that I will definitely recommend. 3.75 ⭐️

This was a tough read, and I only got to 42% before I threw in the towel. It started out with an intriguing, high-stakes situation. Unfortunately, it lost speed before the halfway mark and things became too absurd or made no sense.

I initially had an issue with some of the lingo used - incorrect language for weapon components despite the character being well versed in weapons and death. Then the actions of the characters didn't make sense in the context of the story. The writer is trying really hard to appeal to ACAB folks by doing the "but this one's ok" thing with the cop character...but the character is wholly one dimensional.

Not to mention the main character does things that directly contradict her own previously laid out attributes, with no reasoning for doing so.

I wanted to like it, but it just fell apart for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the opportunity to read and review A Mask of Flies by Matthew Ly0ns. All opinions are my own.

Tagline: The Past has Teeth!

This story begins with the aftermath of a fumbled bank robbery by a group of career criminals. Our main character is Anne Heller. Once the heist goes awry, all the participants run their separate ways, with Anne going to a family cabin she has not visited since childhood. This cabin was the last place she really wanted to be due to her mother's death that took place at the same location all those years ago. After arriving, things go south just about immediately. Something else is there. To find out what it is, you need to read the book.

Propulsive action from the very first page, it never truly stops. Bloody, gory, grisly and uneasiness/scary throughout. This book gave me Tarantino vibes for sure. I really enjoyed this and will certainly pick up other books by this author. The only thing that kept me from giving it a 5 star was that I felt it ran a little longer than it needed to be. Otherwise, a great read. A Mask of Flies will be released on August 6th. Happy Reading!

In this book we follow Anne Geller through so many crazy twists and turns. From the very first page this book grabs you and throws you into the wild. Just when I thought this book was going one way it would do a switchback and it would go somewhere down another dark hole, it was a roller coaster ride. I definitely recommend A Mask of Flies. This does have descriptions of body horror in detail. It was a great story and I look forward to reading more books by Matthew Lyons.