I was unsure about this book at many points, but it really grew on me. I appreciate an unreliable narrator and enjoy messy stories from time to time. I loved the direction this book ended up taking, even if I did find myself frustrated with the narrator at times.

This was weird and stressful, but ultimately very captivating. We watch our main character completely crash out and tank their life in a drug and alcohol induces spiral on a mission for honesty.

If you enjoyed Kittentits or Rainbow Black, I think you'll also appreciate this!

I don’t know that I have ever read a book with such an overwhelming sense of emotion. This book is angry and raw. It questions the current political world, but really challenges the anger that most Americans have found themselves carrying. This book is character focused, rather than plot focused, but what plot there is is well executed. The characters are interesting and feel really real. The ending made sense, although I found it a little dissatisfying. This is such an interesting book, though, and I highly recommend it.

An absolutely wild ride of a book that ping-ponged all over the place while also slowly peeling layers back to revel a tender center.

3.25 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for granting me early access to an eARC in exchange for a review.

Make Sure You Die Screaming follows an unnamed nonbinary narrator as they go on a roadtrip (alongside their new garbage-goth bestie) to Arkansas in order find their missing MAGA-loving, conspiracy theorist father. However, the duo is on the run, and there are several different threatening characters who could be chasing them, including the cops.

This book is a lot of fun and took me very little time to get through. Zee Carlstrom definitely has a great sense of humor that really developed the voice for our MC. However, there is a lot - and I mean a LOT - of drinking and driving in this book. Which is fine, as it becomes very clear as the story progresses that our narrator is struggling with addiction and needs help, but it was so excessive and almost redundant that I truly have no idea how they made it to their destination without causing major harm to themselves or someone else (not a spoiler, because SO many OTHER things happen during their journey) . Just when I would really start to like MC, it would all get erased by the atrocious decisions that they and their reckless passenger were making (this could also just be an issue for me due to personal experience- others may be able to relax a bit more when reading about this. I usually love characters who make questionable choices). That part felt a little unrealistic, but I really enjoyed the other aspects of the book. The characters were quirky and well developed, and there was some great commentary on gender/sexuality, family, the insane fandom of the Republican Party, and America’s current political climate.

At the end of the day, although the tone gets a bit scattered and the story takes some HARD left turns, Make Sure You Die Screaming is a fun, unique little book that I am not mad about reading. It reads like a first novel, and that is okay. It gives us a good introduction to Zee Carlstrom, their writing style, and the themes they want to explore. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for Carlstrom’s future work- I’m super curious as to what they’ll do next, and I do think they could grow into being a great new voice in the world of comedic queer lit.

I went into this one with high hopes—the premise felt like it had the potential to be sharp, introspective, and full of biting social commentary. And in some ways, it was. There were moments of truly thoughtful reflection, observations that made me pause and wish the book had spent more time fleshing them out. But those moments were fleeting, buried under writing that felt like it was trying a little too hard to be witty and of-the-moment. It had the energy of someone cracking jokes to avoid sincerity.

The pacing didn’t do it any favors, either. Everything moved so fast that I barely got a grip on the characters before we were off to the next thing. The main character, especially, felt more like a collection of quips and anxieties than a fully realized person. I kept waiting for depth, for something to make me feel connected, but instead, I just felt like an outsider looking in on a series of detached scenes.

I don’t doubt that this will find an audience—there’s something in its messy, cynical energy that will resonate with a certain kind of reader. But for me, it missed the mark.

3 stars - Well, that was quite the interesting read, LOL! "Make Sure you Die Screaming" is a pretty crazy book - an unnamed non-binary narrator's road trip from Chicago to rural & conservative Arkansas with horror elements and a lot to say about the south. I didn't hate it & found some things to like but overall it was not quite what I expected, though that might be on themarketing & book blurb? I was glad it was a shorter read, though I struggled with it at times. I'm sure it will find its fans. Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the advance readers copy, it is always appreciated, even if a title isn't.

I really enjoyed this one, the beginning was throwing me for a loop in a good way. I wish the ending was a little more fleshed out but overall it was different from what I usually read so it was enjoyable to me. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book was well-written and very interesting. Narrated by a temporarily nameless protagonist who is trying to figure his shit out after being forced to confront the vapidity of his life when a close friend passes away, the novel explores the concept of truth through an accidentally unreliable narrator. Dark, because it takes place in America & doesn’t hold back on how messed up and fractured the country can be, but enjoyable and not entirely hopeless.

Make Sure You Die Screaming is a story of a newly unnamed person on the run from their recent past toward their history. I was so excited by the premise of this book, but I was left waiting for something more finished. The writing style comes off as begging to be trendy and relatable but lands as outdated and unstylish. I felt like I was reading a novel by a Buzzfeed employee. Everything moved so quickly (seemingly on purpose) but the reader got to know nothing. I finished the book and still don't have a sense of who the main characters are. I was handed stereotypes and quips rather than fleshed out people (even if those people are still figuring themselves out). When the author slowed down long enough, they wrote beautiful social commentary. At one point, I wondered why the author chose to write a fiction novel rather than a nonfiction reflection on contemporary America. I requested this book almost completely because of the synopsis likening it to some of my favorite novels. About 70% through, I stopped to look back on what the comparisons were. I think the marketing team should take a different direction. Also, for someone who's website says "Zee Carlstrom loves America and refuses to abandon hope", I'm not sure they have any kind thoughts for the South. The author writes about Arkansas like it's a festering wound in need of an amputation. The book is short, which is a win.

2⭐️. "Fear and Loathing" for the next generation. This fast-paced novel, was surprisingly slow and boring (?). Besides all of the rampant drug use, all of the characters were extremely unlikable and the plot just fell apart at the end.

I was really invested in what was happening in this type of book, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the characters in this. The characters had that element that I was looking for and had that feel that I was looking for. Zee Carlstrom wrote this perfectly and that this was a realistic concept.

I would give this like 3.5/5 stars but this doesn’t let me do half stars. The book was fast-paced and really dramatic. It was like having a front row seat to a breakdown. I liked that there were so many diverse characters.

3.5 stars rounded up. "Be gay, do crimes," substance abuse and mental breakdowns are romanticized in queer culture, but it doesn't always make them interesting to read about. Those were, however, the vibes of the book.

Make Sure You Die Screaming was a short, frenetic read following a wild trip (literally, they're both drug-addled drunks) as the unnamed newly out genderfluid, pansexual (I think, it was never explicitly stated, but I really wish people would say bisexual or pansexual in the text instead of making us guess, an irritation from this bisexual, but I digress) narrator escapes Chicago in their abusive ex-boyfriend's stolen car to travel to Arkansas with their young friend who's hiding secrets to find their missing, estranged father. Along the way, the unnamed narrator is grieving their dead best friend from their fancy corporate advertising job that they quit/were fired from in a violent outburst.

Despite these dark themes and the relentless pace, this book also was quite cozy with low stakes and not much happened. It almost reminded me of a sitcom with the prose and interiority of a literary novel. I found myself getting bored at times because I don't glorify glitterpunk addicts who do crime as a side hustle. But the narrator is a morally gray anti-hero on a quest for radical honesty who is nevertheless a good person despite their fuckups and glorified rudeness, so that made them interesting.

I also appreciated seeing the representation of an AMAB nonbinary person coming to a gender awakening as they're tearing themselves out of the gender binary after being forced to include their pronouns in their email signature at work and getting confused, thus setting off their current exploration. I've only ever read AFAB nonbinary characters and sometimes I think people have the misconception that being nonbinary is just woman lite. It's not. (like that annoying allegedly inclusive phrase "women and nonbinary people"...)

This reminded me quite a bit of the dark, weird absurdity of Chuck Palahniuk or Melissa Broder, particularly her work Death Valley. It just kept getting weirder and weirder as the unnamed narrator lost their mind in the weirdness of rural Arkansas. It was kind of shallow in exploring the ways that intelligent people who vote for Democratic candidates become radicalized into far-right ideologies, treating them like parodies in a way, but appropriate for what this novel was trying to do. It wasn't trying to philosophize the narrator's break from their dad or their dad's break from mainstream society, they were just along for this crazy ride.

In the end not much really changed but that's also life too. It ended on a sort of hopeful note but I wasn't sure if the narrator would be okay, figure out their gender or wanted to sober up, but this was a slice of life into their zany mental breakdown. I do hope they'll be okay, because they seemed like a good person who made some terrible choices.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

frenetic and really well written work about identity and self, and also nothing in particular. is it a thriller? is it a comedy? 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

"Make Sure You Die Screaming" is a darkly funny and thought-provoking novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading. Carlstrom's unique voice and the unforgettable characters make this a must-read for readers seeking something different.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank Flatiron Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for an open and honest review.

Secondly, I'd like to thank Zee Carlstrom for this book, because it was so many things, but so many things that kept me reading and interested the whole time. It is not often that I feel like a generally unlikeable main character is executed well, but in this case I think that Carlstrom knocked it out of the park. It is painful to read as someone continuously self-destructs but it is painful in the best way. Yivi as a secondary main character provided a fantastic foil, as well. I do think that the book can stray too far into the shenanigans and hijinks at times, which makes some of the emotional core fall flat, but I think that it is generally well balanced. It is an absolutely wild story, but thoroughly entertaining, and worth a read for a journey with a character that is very good at denying, repressing, and escaping.

A unnamed nonbinary protagonist with a wildcard friend take an emergency roadtrip south after they receive a call from their mother informing them their politically radicalized father is missing. Protagonist is grappling with guilt, questioning their gender, and substance abuse. Despite these hefty subjects this book made me laugh out quite a few times. Carlstrom held me captive by the fast-pace of this book and the main character’s witty, snarky narration. This narration together with their misanthropy and the current political climate actually made this xennial feel seen ( even though I’m pretty certain the protagonist is much younger than me).

I really enjoyed this and will keep an eye out for future titles by Carlstrom.

I unfortunately DNFed this book. I started it with really high hopes based on the description — it seemed right up my alley. But the main character’s Holden Caulfield-esque “everything sucks” view on everything, the lack of love or positive features in any of the relationships, the rampant DUIs, the unclear goal of the book…. I couldn’t get past it. I tried to overcome my urge to DNF a few times but I found myself rather bummed out by the book. I gave it 2 stars because you definitely aren’t *supposed* to like the characters, but I really really didn’t like them.

This book was pretty good! The themes of gender, sexuality, family issues, politics, and greed are prevalent and it makes it both infuriating and inspiring. It was a good combination of issues tied into one. I think that the writer did a good job making it relatable, even though there were some unrealistic things going on.


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!