American Rapture, an adrenaline rush of a novel by award-winning horror writer CJ Leede (Maeve Fly), finds the Midwest ravaged by a strange new virus that infects people with insatiable--and fatal--lust. Sixteen-year-old Sophie has spent her entire life in a sheltered Catholic home. When the infection hits and her parents are among its early victims, Sophie is thrown into a hellish nightmare as she tries to reunite with her twin brother amid the chaos. But the more people she meets and the more she sees of a society that no longer conceals its animalistic impulses, the more Sophie wonders whether sexual desire is a curse or a vital part of life, too long denied.
Leede's blood-soaked, cross-country road trip is not for the faint of heart. Among all the ravenous "biting and licking and pulling and chewing" of the virus's victims are enough jump scares and gore to fulfill every horror fan's dreams. Although Leede never sacrifices an effective chase or thrilling fight sequence, she nevertheless seamlessly slips thought-provoking themes in alongside the novel's high-octane propulsion. Sophie's discovery of the world unfolds gradually, even as that world is exploding around her. The complex desires she fosters for multiple characters grapple convincingly with the sticky web of human sexuality. By the end of American Rapture, the seduction of its many pulse-pounding moments of intimacy is enough to tempt readers into considering themselves as infected as its characters. --Alice Martin, freelance writer and editor