A Mask of Flies

By: Matthew Lyons

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

In Matthew Lyons' pulse-pounding crime horror, A Mask of Flies, a criminal on the run after a failed heist must confront dark family secrets and demons from her past made flesh.

THE PAST HAS TEETH

In the grisly aftermath of a botched bank heist, career criminal Anne Heller has no choice but to return to her family’s cabin–a secluded shack in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, and the site of her mother’s untimely death.

Along for the ride are Jessup, Anne’s badly wounded partner, and Dutch, the police officer she’s taken hostage. As they wait for help, Anne discovers strange relics from her mother’s past and begins to unfold the mystery of her childhood at the cabin.

Then Jessup goes missing, only to turn up dead. Anne and Dutch bury her friend, but that night, he comes back and knocks at the cabin door.

Not a dream, not a hallucination, but not exactly Jessup, either. Something else. Something wearing her friend’s face. Something hungry...

“An addictive thrill ride.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

©2024 Matthew Lyons (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A Mask of Flies blows through the intersection at Horror Street and Crime Avenue and doesn’t let off the accelerator as it takes you on a white-knuckled ride to places you do not expect.”—Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Black River Orchard

“Cinematic, gruesome, hyper-violent, and fun as hell, A Mask of Flies fits perfectly in that nexus between propulsive crime fiction and scream-your-head-off horror. I loved every page of it.”—Keith Rosson, author of Fever House

“Lyons wows in this atmospheric horror novel. Evocative prose enhances a riveting noir plot populated by expertly shaded characters. Add in some Lovecraftian overtones, and this proves an addictive thrill ride.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

good story

After killing a bunch of cops and taking one hostage, the cops dont even try to arrest her. They accidentally bumble there way into her after she goes back to her appartment and chills there for awhile. The neighbor calls the police. The cops didnt monitor her place after they knew she was a suspect. That kind of killed it for me.

Beautifully written

Absolutely captivating I loved every second I honestly can’t believe I haven’t heard of this author before!

Meh——-semi-spoilers

I was totally up for the book but, damn, I just didn’t connect with any characters. They were terrible people. They talked so country for Colorado. I live in the Deep South and we don’t sound that country. The story could’ve been great. It fell short. I have a rule, if I buy it I finish it. This book was a disappointment.

Amazing read!!! No Spoiler

This was an exciting read. I love Annie so much! She a very strong character! It’s fast paced with hardly a moment to catch your breath!! It keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has some graphic descriptions, But I’m so happy my son picked this for me!!!

Details

Loved the suspense of what was gonna happen next love the mixture of horror/crime

Kimberly Gordon

What I like is the voice change up for each character. And the way the descriptive dialogue was done.

The cat is ok!

I read, and loved, “The night will find us”. So I had high hopes for this book, and it definitely did not disappoint. Not so much fast paced, as a steady march through a bloody, crime ridden, cosmic body horror of a thriller. The story pulls no punches when it comes to describing graphic death and gore, so be forewarned if that’s something you’re sensitive to. Gritty and deeply flawed characters that are surprisingly easy to connect with plus a strong story line and a wonderful narration make this an extremely entertaining read.

God, this book was so much fun.

Such a great story, and wow, the characters were so well written and I loved going on this journey with them. I can not wait for more books from Mr.Lyons!

The details

I like the realistic depiction of violence and the main characters experience. I like the modern feel of the book. Something I didn’t like was I felt the story was a little too basic.

All around mess of a story…

It’s rare that I have to force myself to finish a book but this book was a chore to get through.

The story started off amazing, the second half dragged into a incoherent final act. Every character was unlikable the only good thing about this story was the creature. This was a poor attempt at horror.

P.s. I don’t understand why modern writers can’t write strong & capable female characters alongside equally capable male characters. Every woman in this story was a cool badass character with a chip on their shoulder but every man was either an asshole, weak or a unrealistic portrayal of a psychopath.

One of the worst books I’ve ever read.