Maeve Fly
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15
Ratings3
Average rating3
"This is gory and brutal and beautiful and painful and terrifying and a pure delight." —Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author A provocative and unforgettable 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 At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Reviews with the most likes.
My immediate thought after finishing this book is - does the ending make my reading experience worth it? I'm not sure hence it doesn't quite get up to the 4 stars.
I really struggled with Maeve's rambling internal thoughts. It went on so many flashbacks and random rambling thoughts about LA and its history at absolutely random points that it just took me out of the story. I'm not saying the flashbacks weren't interesting or important to the story and relationship in it, but I just found that there were moments I wished we stayed in the moment rather than the side tangents it went on. I also see the importance of that information about the city and how it ties to who Maeve is, but I just didn't care about it every time so it brought my enjoyment down.
I received the audio from NetGalley for review. This was one that I grabbed solely for the cover. After I was approved, I started seeing a lot of reviews, which definitely bumped it for me.
This novel is about Maeve Fly, a not-so specific “ice princess” at a not-so specific “amusement park” in California. She absolutely loves her job, but probably not for the reasons you'd imagine.
I enjoyed the literary voice in this as it's almost poised as a good-for-her / finding yourself / meets Dexter-y esque inner-monologue type projection. I also liked how as the character becomes more unhinged, so does her crimes, and so does her public projection of herself. Sometimes literally going in public covered in real blood. Some might find that unbelievable, but I thought it nicely highlighted how people's general perception is just I accept what they see and rationalize it. The police in the story included.
Other than that though, the character is incredibly narcissistic, completely misunderstanding themselves and the perception they present the world with. It's arrogance in a not enjoyable way. Though the biggest flop for me, the stake in the heart, is the novels incredibly over-sexualized nature. This is something I've mentioned in reviews before, but it seems like such a large chunk of modern horror just uses sex and obscure kinks for whatever propellant it can get as shock value. And while again, I certainly find it “horrific” as it is a ‘horror', that doesn't mean I think it's good or find it enjoyable.
The novel is still on the edge of enjoyability for me though for sure, and Sosie Bacon's narration was fantastic. It's quick, and that keeps it readable. Personally a 3/5* for me.
