A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons A Horror Book Review by Tony Jones
Once A Mask of Flies hits the bookshops it will be a major injustice if we do not start hearing serious buzz around the writing of Matthew Lyons within the horror community. I read both his earlier novels The Night Will Find Us (2020) and A Black and Endless Sky (2022) but this latest is his strongest work by far, fully deserving to be a smash breakout hit. Equally impressive is how distinct his three novels are; his debut sees a group of kids being menaced by an ancient presence in a remote forest and in his second two siblings have a nightmare inducing road trip across Nevada, with threats lurking behind every bend in the road.
A Mask of Flies seamlessly blends crime, heist, action, road novel, religious cults and ancient supernatural horror into a brutally intoxicating cocktail. It also does so with incredible skill; the clash of hardboiled pulsating shootout action merging with a shapeshifting monster (all on the same page) was unmatchable yet, within the parameters of the story, totally believable. Once the narrative begins to motor my eyes were nailed to the page and the sheer levels of brutality on offer was awesome. Faces are shot off, brains explode, friendships disintegrate, a body count clicks higher and higher, limbs are shattered and that’s before we even get to the shapeshifting monster. Vengeance is more than sweet, it is delicious.
The ferocious action plays out in the remote, mountainous and smalltown areas of Colorado, opening with a gunfight cool enough to close out a Sam Peckinpah western epic. In this grisly aftermath of a botched bank heist, career criminal Anne Heller is double crossed by a fellow gang member, trying to save her wounded friend and accomplice, having no choice but to lie low in her family’s abandoned cabin. This secluded shack in Colorado’s San Luis Valley was also the site of her mother’s untimely death many years earlier for which Anne still feels trauma.
The scenes with Anne on the run, hiding out in motels, dodging police patrols, plugging wounds, and avoiding nosy members of the public, as her face is plastered all over the television news, made for intense reading. Truly desperate, she ends up at the old cabin and awakens an ancient force which has unexplained connections to her childhood. To say Anne was damaged would be a huge understatement, and the flashbacks to her childhood and the death of her mother, provide good reason why.
Considering Anne would not think twice about blowing somebody away (which she does on multiple occasions) she is an incredibly sympathetic character and I loved how she went to any lengths to protect her pet cat. Matthew Lyons puts his main character through a metaphorical meatgrinder, but Anne keeps on swinging and I was cheering along with every broken tooth, fractured arm, stab wound, punctured lung and bullet hole. She makes some terrible choices, but on many of these occasions the options were non-existent.
The creature, a shapeshifter for want of a better term, drifts in and out of the action and I did wonder how good this book would have been without the monster. Still pretty damned powerful I would say. It reminded me of the T2 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, totally unrelenting, ruthless and with one sole objective; to get Anne Heller. Like the T2, the monster even has the ability to wear the faces of others and soon Anne cannot trust anybody. This horror story unfolds beautifully to the backdrop of Colorado ghost towns, dangerous pitstops, and unpredictable weather, whilst being hunted by the other members of the gang looking for the stolen cash. Oh, and don’t forget the shapeshifter.
I do not want to say much about the origins of the creature as that heads into spoiler territory, however, Anne has very little memory of the horrific events which led to the death of her mother until she finds an old video cassette in her family shack. After watching the film, snatches begin to gradually return, the hunt is on, and the cult come knocking with the story doubling up as a neat mystery top heavy with trauma. A Mask of Flies is littered with memorable characters and stylish set pieces; there were two shootouts in a diner and a police station which were as good action sequences as you will read anywhere.
After completing A Mask of Flies I was exhausted and felt like I had been repeatedly punched in the face after being dragged kicking and screaming along with Anne and her cat. This was a gory, visceral, pulsating and exhilarating novel and I love the way in which the author brings to live these remote and dangerous parts of Colorado blending crime and supernatural horror to near perfection.
Tony Jones
A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons
A Mask of Flies by Matthew Lyons is a pulse-pounding crime horror epic about a criminal on the run, the deadly family secrets she unearths along the way, and the sinister monster from her past that has gotten a taste for her blood—and won’t sleep until she’s dead.
“Lyons wows in this atmospheric horror novel….An addictive thrill ride.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
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…
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.