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.

Few things give me the heebie jeebies quite like descriptions of bugs crawling in and out of orifices. However, as gross as this book sometimes got—and believe me, as a body horror it definitely went there—I just could not put it down.
As someone who has suffered loss and never really “got over it,” as they say, I understand the depictions and manifestations that A Mask of Flies presents. How grief can be a selfish presence, haunting you and destroying all manner of peace and comfort you may find. To have that then given fictional flesh and present as a live monster within the narrative itself, only to hunt down and force the protagonist, Anne, to confront the trauma of her past feels both symbolic and cruel—but at the same time cathartic. A Mask of Flies is not a story you will relate to. You will not find yourself in the morally grey characters, or feel any sense of achievement at solving the mystery before the conclusion resolves. Yet, the sense of determination and spite it invokes in the face of death definitely feels universal. And as unlikeable as Anne sometimes is, you will be cheering for her by book’s end.
Personally, as a horror I really loved how visceral and dirty this story was. The plot didn’t feel methodic, and the haphazard way in which it was structured perfectly reflected the frenzied mood of the characters. This added to the ambience of the overall narrative in a really interesting way I found particularly effective. As such, I think A Mask of Flies has definitely slotted itself in amongst my favourite horror novels I have ever read. Five stars, and one hundred percent a recommended read in my opinion.

A non-sensical plot, a rather stupid main character and too many pages does not equal a good book for me. Matthew Lyons tends to rewrite the same plot over and over, peppering in new subplots. Sadly, each new version of the story doesn't improve the plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

At turns brutal and poignant, A Mask of Flies is one of the best horror books I've read this year. It's an exploration of monsters, both human and otherwise, that will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

Anne Heller has never known peace, not since the night of her mother's death when she was 6 years old. Now, she's on the run with a cop as her hostage, after a bank robbery gone very wrong. But the police are not the only ones in pursuit, and danger is lurking around every corner.

There's a little something for every reader in this book. It's an in-depth look at the way grief can shape you, but it never feels like a slog. It's got plenty of guts and it's seriously spooky. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the review copy.

Rounded up from 2.5 stars.

This book felt like it dragged for me. A lot of extra content that seemed added on, it almost became a slog. Wordy and often left with questions. Characters had weird actions they did sometimes that didn’t make sense and I feel like I was left with a lot of plot holes. This book didn’t keep my attention too well.

Matthew Lyons has written a tight, terrifying horror/thriller (holler? I’ll workshop it).

A botched robbery forces career criminal Anne Heller and companions to flee, and the only place she can think of to go is her childhood home – which she and her mother fled one night with tragic conse-quences. This choice leads her and her companions to dig into just why she and her mother had to flee and what her mother was running from.

I loved this book. The horror and thriller aspects are perfectly balanced and the plot moves at break-neck speed. (Although I think I need to stop reading horror set in rural areas, now that I’ve moved back to a rural area.)

Absolutely recommend this to older teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.