Maeve Fly

Written by CJ Leede

Narrated by Sosie Bacon

"This is gory and brutal and beautiful and painful and terrifying and a pure delight." —Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author

“Leede’s words and narrator Sosie Bacon’s voice imbue Maeve with thought-provoking realism and earnestness, even as her violent acts become more savagely creative.” - Library Journal

A provocative debut that is both a blood-soaked love letter to Los Angeles and a gleeful send-up to iconic horror villains, Maeve Fly will thrill fans of My Heart is a Chainsaw and Caroline Kepnes’ You series.

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.

"An apocalyptic Anaheim Psycho." —Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781250901125

CJ Leede

CJ LEEDE is a horror writer, hiker, and Trekkie. She is the author of Maeve Fly and American Rapture. Her debut novel Maeve Fly won the Golden Poppy Octavia E. Butler Award and Splatterpunk Award, and earned a Bram Stoker Award nomination. When she is not driving around the country, CJ can be found in LA with her boyfriend and rescue dogs.

Reviews for Maeve Fly

[emily.raats · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very well written, good story. Rather graphic for my tastes so I gave 3 stars.

[envokz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Some of the freshest writing I’ve ever read in the Genre.

[Jacque Hale · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely a horror/romance in equal parts if I've ever read one (and this honestly is my first to read lol). There was only one scene I ended up skipping past that didn't end up being as horrific as I thought it would be. Gritty and gory and I really enjoyed the sound of the narrator's voice. Some characters sounded very similar, but I wasn't mad about it because I just liked her voice in general and her inflections were spot on.
Ending was frustrating but completely believable. If it ended any other way, it would've felt like a different genre.

[Ron · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I feel like I need a shower after finishing this book. It’s brutal and violent. Extremely dark and twisted. It was an amazing read.

[Jon Pargas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Pushes all boundaries. Compelling. Twisty with contrasting themes. Body Horror.

[Daniela · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator, Sosie Bacon, is amazing. I don’t think I would have enjoyed as much the book without her. I look forward listening more from her.

The book itself is entertaining and well written. The story is interesting. There is a lot of torture porn and shocking gore, sometime really good sometime feel like is put there just to shock the reader.
The main character is… cringe.
-Spoilers alert-

She is probably supposed to be like that, spoiled and overly whining about her being unique and special and about how nobody understand her and boo boo-boo. She is a covert narcissist psycho in the end, obviously she is whiny. I didn’t like the ending too much. Believe me, not for the reason you are thinking.

[Reagan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is so beautiful and so twisted!! I couldn’t put it down!!

[Jean simon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A gory, though not terribly graphic, story of loneliness and sadism. I was a bit disappointed by the ending but still enjoyed the protagonist's journey.

[Nina Quartuccio · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow....slow burn into an explosive ending. Watching the progression into madness in the most unexpected way. The developing madness from constraint to all out let go, was done well. The author teased along the way to challenge the reader, which added to the burn. The narrator added to the climb in all the right ways, she was the best choice for this role, and she made it believable. The author traded volume rather than description in regard to gore but the gore did leave an impact on the reader...eek. Excellent read for this horror freak.

[Tatyana Ring · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Took a long time to get to it. Was ok

[Jenneci · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First off, The person reading the novel did an excellent job and I hope they do more book readings in the future. The book itself has very interesting characters and Dynamics, and the way it's written flows has a thought process I have not encountered before, although that could be due to the main character also being someone that is very different from what I normally read. It is dark, and has very brutal gorey moments. The downfall for me is what I think was attempts at plot twists I saw coming a mile away, and with the way the ending plays them out really just left me disappointed/unsatisfied. I would still say people should give this book a try it, especially people who love horror, fem fatale vibes, and descent into oneself, this may have not been for me, but it may definitely be for you. And for the author's first book, I am looking forward to seeing what she does next.

[Philip Rau · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Super sexy & horrific. A modern Halloween gothic full of innate queerness & violence. Very fun with enough twists to keep you horny for more. Sosie Bacon’s voice is textured and perfect for the role of Maeve.

[Nicole Barth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you want an unhinged woman "horror" then go for it I guess?

[Mcastillo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book read, like stop and go traffic. There were moments where you had acceleration and kept engaged, and then there were moments where it became kind of like a slow burn.

As someone who normally does not read slow burn reeds there were moments where I did get impatient, but I believe that it's more about me thing than the actual book. This was such a fun and twisted tale that if you just held on a minute, you'll see it all wrap up beautifully.

I know that horror fans and slasher fans may not be super happy with it, and those that don't read horror may feel uncomfortable with some of the subjects. I, however, believe that I am the Right audience for this book. As a Bunny fanatic, which I absolutely enjoyed, this book is meant for a reader such as myself; who does not enjoy the super gory things but do enjoy crossing that line ever so gently.

I think the takeaway that I got from this story was that take your time, trust the process. If Maeve would have only listened "me too Maeve"...

[Lisa Diy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow what a ride! It’s the kind of listening experience you will never forget. The story is a mystery that keeps you going until the very last word. The writing is masterclass. I will have to read more of this author’s work.

[RachelKaplus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5 rounded up. The narration was EXCELLENT, it had the most range of any audiobook I can think of.

Story-wise, not as gruesome as I was expecting for the most part, although the ending did pack a wallop.

Also while the ending was good it was supremely frustrating, which is probably the point.

Also highly recommend checking out the Spotify playlist the author made with the songs mentioned in the book, it really enhanced the experience.

[Danielle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Favorite book I’ve read this year! Maeve was just likable enough to connect with but still recognize that she is the villain. For me it was a perfect amount of gore and filth. It was funny, self aware, and imaginative, really fun to experience

[Kennedy Parrish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

it’s like american psycho, but for the girlies : )

[Tiara Grooms · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was good but the audiobook quality was garbage!! I couldn't even listen to the last 12 minutes because it kept skipping or cutting out. For an audiobook app that you gave to pay for it's pretty concerning as opposed to Libby which has great quality and is free. They need to step up there game if there gonna charge money for this app.

[Randy Zahara · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I guess I am not a fan of this genre. I was intrigued by the narration to start, and felt the writing was good, but, when all that was happening was a piling on of "toilet shock" fantasy without a choresponding psychological devolution, or evolution of the character, I grew bored of story and uninterested in what happened next.