#c.j. leede

[fairyysoup]

reviews i have written this year on goodreads: a collection

[mylifeinfiction]

My Best of 2024: My Top 10 2024 Books

1. All the Colors of the Dark (Chris Whitaker)

2. Incidents Around the House (Josh Malerman)

3. Lost Man's Lane (Scott Carson)

4. City in Ruins (Don Winslow)

5. Memorials (Richard Chizmar)

6. I Was a Teenage Slasher (Stephen Graham Jones)

7. American Rapture (C.J. Leede)

8. You Like it Darker (Stephen King)

9. Evil in Me (Brom)

10. The Angel of Indian Lake (Stephen Graham Jones)

Note: This is out of the 47 2024 releases that I read throughout the year.

Thank you all so much for reading/sharing/etc. Here’s hoping 2024 is full of good things and great books!

Happy New Year!!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[whatcha-reading-today]

Summerween Day 5: Horror that Horrifies

This is part of the Summerween 2024 recommendations. See the masterpost here.

These are stories that worked their way under my skin. Heed any warnings!

Maeve Fly | C.J. Leede: American Psycho, if Patrick Bateman worked at a Disney-adjacent place. I also had the pleasure of reading American Rapture as an ARC and holy shit it's good.

The Long Walk | Stephen King: 100 boys compete in a walking competition and the winner gets anything they want. But that's too easy, if you walk too slow or take too long a break, you buy your ticket.

Hypnagogia | Michael F. Simpson: This one doesn't have a traditional plot but is a nasty exploration of the self, identity, and the body.

The Reformatory | Tananarive Due: Horror based in fact on the 'schools' where Black boys were sent during Jim Crowe times. Ghosts abound, but even death doesn't let you escape.

The Indian Lake Trilogy | Stephen Graham Jones: An absolute love letter to slasher movies of the 80s/90s. Jade is an amazing final girl.

The Ruins | Scott Smith: Don't bother with the movie, it doesn't capture how vile and fun the slasher turns out.

[mylifeinfiction]

American Rapture by C.J. Leede

Good. What is good anyway? When the people who are supposed to be the ultimate embodiment of Goodness seem to be those who hate and fear the most.

C.J. Leede's American Rapture is a lurid road trip through an apocalyptic Wisconsin that weaponizes lust and plagues our protagonist with the guilt and shame of her extremist faith. It's simultaneously a scathingly condemnation of such religious extremism and a nuanced exploration of her guilt and shame through a defiant sexual awakening that fills these pages with effectively pitch-black satire.

Sin is made up and stupid. It doesn't exist.

This is a dark, dark book, with hints of early Palahniuk, a likable cast of characters—none of whom are ever safe—a very good dog, and a brilliantly realized, thematically powerhouse final act that razes all expectations with the wrath of a cruel and punishing God. I may not necessarily agree with all of Leede's ideas throughout, but I was impressed, shocked, and utterly destroyed by the way she brings them to life.

I feel the eyes of Jesus, God, the Devil and al the demons, all of them watching, all of them witnessing my fall.

9/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[ghostflowerdreams]

Book Review - Headlights by C.J. Leede

Every instinct tells him to run. Every memory tells him he can’t. Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago, with a chilling it's happening again. Seemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway, with no memory of how they got there, wearing the skin of victims they've allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue. Now Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along— before he and the people he loves become the next victims.

Perfect for fans of The Shining and Longlegs, bestselling author CJ Leede’s Headlights is a pulse-pounding hunt across the frozen wilderness of Colorado.

3 stars: ⭐⭐⭐

Quite a slow start, which took a while to pull me in, and even then I wasn't fully hooked. At first, I thought there was going to be a paranormal element, especially with the protagonist's uncanny ability to sense when something bad is about to happen. Of course, he's in denial, but he also knows he's not entirely mentally sound due to his childhood trauma and PTSD. So you don't really know what's going on until much closer to the end.

There are also constant references to wolves in the beginning. I kept expecting all of that to build toward something significant involving them. But it doesn't. Instead, it's background information that only makes sense later when everything comes together.

That said... I definitely had a "WTF?" reaction to the romance. You'll know exactly what I mean when you get there.

I don't know how to describe this book, but it makes me think of Hannibal (the TV show) mixed with The Shining. It's got the grisly murder investigation, cannibalism, and a growing sense of madness. At times, you don't know if the protagonist is losing touch with reality or if something supernatural is actually happening.

Overall, I found it mildly interesting, but not particularly memorable. I wish it had fully hooked me, but I think part of the reason it didn't is that I just didn't care all that much about the protagonist or the other characters.

I also think listening to the audiobook helped keep my attention, so if you're finding yourself struggling to get into the book, it might be worth giving the audiobook a try instead.

[mylifeinfiction]

Headlights by C.J. Leede

You can't tame what's wild. And there’s no reason to want to.

Wow, y'all... Wow. This is a special one.

At its core, C.J. Leede's Headlights is about the insatiable darkness that lingers at the edge of our light, forever trying to snuff it out; about how the only way to keep that darkness at bay in our trauma and grief and depression and loneliness—and everything else upon which that darkness savors—is to shine on just a little brighter.

It's also one hell of a serial killer procedural. One that gets significantly weirder than anyone unfamiliar with Leede's creatively rebellious approach to genre is ready for. One that embraces its inspirations rather than downplaying any similarities. One that brilliantly takes all of the elements that make the serial killer procedural so riveting and manipulates them to delve further into its darkly explored themes through expertly utilizing several horror sub-genres to devastating ends. One that has a killer with some of the most savage crimes in recent memory, all of which Leede delivers in such unforgiving detail.

Being near it . . . Life and death and power and fear. I feel sick. I feel like my head is going to explode.

Leede also creates a cast of characters that are as relatable as they are odd; whose decisions and relationships feel genuinely flawed in a way that allows the plot to unfold the way it does without ever stumbling on its unpredictability and glorious weirdness. Seriously, I dare anyone who wants to believe—or who, like me, just straight-up believes—to not immediately identify with Tillman and his spacey picadilloes, or immediately fall hopelessly hard for Hannah right alongside Stansfield. Even more than the genre dynamics and unsettling atmosphere throughout, Leede nails the emotional complexities of these characters and explores them in a way that makes them wholly human, thus making the events that unfold all the more devastating.

"Maybe our headlights just, for some reason, shine a little to the other side. Our signals sometimes just get a little crossed."

The Shining via Season One of True Detective, with heavy doses of The Silence of the Lambs and some quiet Fallen vibes as directed by David Fincher, Headlights stands toe-to-toe—and perhaps even surpasses—its inspirations by willingly immersing its readers in the darkness rather than merely making them peer into it; by reminding us we’re not alone in the darkness; by directly confronting that suffocating darkness—that raw emotional trauma at its core—and still having the strength and audacity to shine on.

"You do, eventually. Turn and embrace the night. But every once in a while, maybe a car drives by. And its headlights are shining through the dark, reminding you of that particular kind of light of your old house, that forgotten kind."

9.5/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[whatcha-reading-today]

American Rapture | C.J. Leede

This was read as an ARC from NetGalley and Tor Nightfire. American Rapture comes out October 15, 2024.

What a blast. So this is about Sophie, a teenager raised in an incredibly conservative family, told from her perspective, as a pandemic spreads. The virus, later called Sophia, has both flu like and sexual rage phases. There's a lot of zombie/virus/body horror stories/movies I thought of at that description, but I think this actually falls somewhere between the religious fanaticism of John Water's 'A Dirty Shame' and the spitting sadism of 'The Sadness'. Also, make this story a movie, it would be so good.

And I loved it.

Sophie is a great POV character that tries to understand the world around her and continues to position things from the perspective of someone who hasn't experienced anything--or is told it's all sin.

I loved Leede's previous book, 'Maeve Fly', and continue to see her strong writing style and applaud her for the creative use of violence.

Side point: I loved the Wisconsin setting. I haven't been there but the setting is so well described it felt like the reader was there. Also, the Trixie Mattel reference, legitimate question: does she know? I think she'd love to know she's referenced in a horror book like this.

Side point spoiler: I really enjoyed the ending but I see that it could upset folks. To that, I'll say it's an apocalypse horror story. You have to know what you're getting into and that in such stories, no one is safe. The religious fanaticism feels accurate to the kinds of extremes seen during Covid 19, and while it is A LOT, it forces the reader to confront the danger and horror head on.

Format: e-book

Read in: June 2024

Favorites 2024

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Maeve Fly | Author: C.J. Leede | Publisher: Tor Nightfire (2023)