Book Review: Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Nightfire (June 6, 2023)

Length: 288 pages

Author Information: Website

Meet Maeve Fly. Her literary hero is Patrick Bateman of American Psycho fame and her commitment to the persona is real. By day, she’s a princess at a popular California theme park (which the book is careful never to name, but anyone can connect the dots) while by night, she’s slamming them back and reading Marquis de Sade at the local dive bars, usually accompanied by her coworker and friend Kate. At home, she lives with her grandmother Tallulah, who was quite a Hollywood star back in her heyday, though now she lies in a coma.

Besides Tallulah, Kate is the only other person Maeve feels a real connection to. But while our protagonist truly loves her job, her friend is an aspiring actress with her own plans for stardom, merely using the princess gig as a stepping-stone towards her big break. One night, Kate introduces Maeve to her brother Gideon, a famous pro hockey player who has just been transferred from New York. Immediately drawn to Gideon but also put off by him as well, Maeve has trouble putting into words exactly how she feels about him but knows she doesn’t like it one bit. No matter what she does though, the two of them keep meeting up, setting off a wild relationship that sends Maeve spiraling into a world of murder and debauchery.

So, first things first. Maeve Fly, an edgy transgressive horror novel from debut author C.J. Leede, is definitely not going to be for everyone. Specifically, this book is not for you if you’re someone with a weak stomach to gory violence or are disturbed by gruesome scenes of torture, salacious descriptions of sexual fetishism, graphic depictions of assault and murder, as well as a whole host of similarly unpleasant subjects. As a character, Maeve is certainly not shy about her kinks and is unabashedly open about her depraved fantasies, lamenting the way she often feels constrained by social norms and expectations. Such is the nature of this book, which relishes in being unapologetically provocative.

That said, there is also a fine line between using shock to elevate a story in the name of art versus being offensive and disgusting simply because you can do it. Now, I don’t really consider myself a squeamish reader, since the years of reading grimdark fantasy have pretty much inured me to every act of unspeakable sadism and cold-blooded violence that you can think of. I’ve also read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, the work that so inspired our protagonist, which I think still reigns supreme in terms of the sickest and most disturbing murders I’ve ever seen written in a book. So, while it is certainly gross and bloody in its own right, in truth, the actual content of Maeve Fly did not particularly bother me.

What did annoy me, however, was the fact it frequently crosses that aforementioned fine line into shock-for-the-sake-of-shock territory. Sure, I think it’s interesting that a character like Maeve can manage to live a double life hiding her vile proclivities beneath that wholesome Disney princess exterior. The story compels you to reconcile the monster within to the kind and loving part of Maeve that cares for her grandmother and delights in making children happy. It’s a dynamic that could have used a bit more attention, especially since the character duality is something that Leede seems genuinely keen on exploring, but sadly much of it gets lost in the gratuitous violence and gore instead.

Still, at the end of the day, I did enjoy Maeve Fly, which is admittedly more in-your-face and over-the-top than the horror I usually read. Generally though, I find it worthwhile to read outside the box, and of course, it helped that I knew exactly what I was getting into when I picked it up. Despite overplaying the shock card to the point where it felt excessive and self-indulgent at times, when it wasn’t trying so hard to be gross and edgy, the story was actually quite fun.