When I was in my early twenties, I was so in love with the Brett Easton Ellis novel, American Psycho, it essentially formed the basis for my personality. With hindsight, there are probably better books to personify, but I didn’t encounter Shirley Jackson until my thirties.
I’m not going to say CJ Leede’s novel, Maeve Fly, is a “modern-day, feminist retelling” of Easton Ellis’s classic; it’s more like a loving homage. Maeve Fly, our protagonist, has way more depth, nuance, and self-awareness than her male counterpart, Patrick Bateman.
Maeve is working as a literal princess at a popular Anaheim theme park (you know the one), and caring for her aging grandmother, while harboring savage compulsions. Until she doesn’t harbor them anymore. As a young woman, she sees the way the misogynistic world operates, and she will go to violent lengths in order to correct it.
But when Maeve meets Gideon, sibling to her best friend and rising ice hockey player, she realizes there may be joy in a “normal” life. Can Maeve overcome her dark nature to embrace a safer existence?
Maeve Fly is absolutely bonkers. It’s an ode to LA, to Disneyland, to dark deeds under sunny skies. In the post Me Too era, I got a lot of satisfaction from Leede’s passages of torture against creepy men abusing their power.
I wouldn’t say it’s necessary to read American Psycho as a primer to Maeve Fly, but I certainly enjoyed the nods in the former novel’s direction. I had absolutely no sympathy for Bateman in American Psycho, but Maeve’s struggles were clear and relatable. And while I would never go to the lengths Maeve does to vent my frustration, there is a certain sadistic glee I got from reading this book.
Maeve Fly is a riotous, gross journey into the mind of a deeply disturbed woman. I enjoyed every second!
Maeve Fly is out right now! Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the ARC.
California Reading 