A Mask of Flies – Matthew Lyons

I was super excited to finally be able to get to this one! I love Matthew Lyons and I mean, look at this cover. How could I not grab it?

Thank you Tor Nightfire for the gifted copy

A MASK OF FLIES – Matthew Lyons (Released August 6th, 2024)

Book Description:

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 the 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 of her mother and begins to unfold the mystery of her childhood at the cabin.

Anne’s quest to uncover more is interrupted when Jessup goes missing, only to turn up dead. She and Dutch bury her friend, but that night, the dead man comes back, seemingly risen from his grave to knock 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…

The cops aren’t the only ones after Anne, and unraveling the secrets of her mother’s past may be her only hope of getting out alive.

A Mask of Flies is a gritty, heartfelt meditation on death, family, and the ever-changing, monstrous nature of grief.

My Thoughts: 5/5 stars

I love the variety of Lyons’s books. The Night Will Find Us and A Black and Endless Sky were both super creepy in their own ways. I still check around the wood line at night when Watson is doing his business. Each book is something unique and here we have a crime/thriller/horror mashup complete with a botched bank heist, culty vibes, rural middle of nowhere setting for some isolation, and some good supernatural elements to keep it balanced. 

The thought that went into this is incredible. The complex layers in this story and the characters. Deeply flawed and at times very frustrating, it was fun being in Anne’s head as she navigated the very unfortunate circumstances she found herself in. I think this could have been shortened a little – some repetitive parts but nothing to where I was ready to abandon the book. I love his books and will continue to pick up whatever he releases!