It's hard to predict what the next big "it" book will be. In all my years blogging and reviewing books, I've seen just about everything under the sun become popular. Vampires were big. Then circuses had a moment. There were a few years when seemingly every thriller had to have the word "girl" in the title. And of course, more recently, dragon-filled romances have been all the rage.
The truth is, the genre or subject doesn't really matter. A good book usually finds a way to win out. In his novel Fruit Fly, Josh Silver introduces us to an author who's desperate to predict what the rest of us will want to read next. As you might imagine, that desire leads her into a pretty questionable place.
It's been seven years since Mallory Maddox published her debut YA novel, and she's been desperate to write her next one ever since. At this point, it's beyond writer's block. Sure, her debut was successful, but how long will readers wait for her to come up with what's next? The reality is, she's got nothing. No story rattling around in her head that she simply has to get onto the page. Heck, she's even taken courses to become a certified therapist. These days, her husband is the real breadwinner. How the tables have turned. Her advance bought them their house. His job keeps them in it.
Go gay. Go sad. Go dark.
That's the advice Mallory gets online. The problem is that poor Mallory doesn't have much experience with any of those things. She needs inspiration. So one night, after her husband goes to bed, she downloads Grindr. She sneaks a few pictures of his naked torso and, voilà, she's got herself a profile.
Before long, she's chatting with a "daddy" who invites her to a T party. Tea sounds perfectly lovely, she thinks, even with the typo. But when Mallory works up the nerve to meet him, she stumbles into a world she never knew existed. And that's where she meets Leo.
He's gay, addicted to drugs, and living under a bridge. In other words, he's exactly the kind of character Mallory thinks she needs to fuel her writing comeback. She's convinced she's the one to tell his story. Fictionalized, of course. So she inserts herself into his life, eager to learn everything she can and turn his experiences into her next novel.
But as the darker realities of Leo's life begin to bleed into Mallory's own, she'll have to decide just how far she's willing to go to write the perfect story.
Fruit Fly sees Josh Silver walk a tricky line, satirizing the way gay culture is so often stereotyped and packaged for consumption while still taking a remarkably empathetic look at the people at the center of his story. Mallory and Leo both find themselves in some pretty outrageous situations, but neither is ever reduced to a joke or a stereotype. Silver treats them with truth and understanding, gradually revealing the complicated people behind the choices they make. Their experiences with emotional, physical, and substance abuse give the novel a weight I wasn't necessarily expecting when I started it.
That can make Fruit Fly dark and difficult to stomach at times, but Silver balances those moments with genuine humor and plenty of thrills. Somehow, even as the situations become increasingly wild, Mallory and Leo remain grounded and believable. I couldn't put it down. This is a must-read, no matter your usual reading habits. It's dark, twisty, page-turning, and has something to say without sacrificing the sheer entertainment of the story.
And that ending? Let's just say it all comes together.
I still don't know exactly what makes a book an "it" book, but Fruit Fly certainly feels like one.
For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2026, 71)
