Hello, new favorite of 2024. CJ Leede, you masterful, evil writer, you! 

 

As a former Wisconsin girlie and recovering Catholic, reading AMERICAN RAPTURE was like stepping into an alternate universe. I think my connection to both these things made the reading experience 10 times richer, but you don’t need either to appreciate what Leede has done here. 

 

Sophie’s been raised as a Good Catholic Girl in rural Wisconsin. She goes to Catholic school, prays and confesses as she should, and feels all the guilt and shame her religious upbringing has instilled in her. But just as her body begins to fill out and the allure of boys shines brighter, a virus spreads over the Midwest, turning people into sex-crazed zombies. Suddenly, Sophie must abandon everything she knows, journeying to find her brother and learning a lot about the world in the process. 

 

“I am changed, and I am new, and in the darkest darkness of my life, we stand in lethal color.” 

 

AMERICAN RAPTURE blends zombie and plague fiction with a coming-of-age tale for the repressed, small town teen, creating a work that’s both horror and literary. While the horror beats propel the plot forward, the narrative is very focused on Sophie and her growth as person as she deconstructs what she’s been taught since birth. Leede plays with the concepts of sexuality, womanhood, religion and community expertly, taking “extremism” to a whole new level. 

 

I want to reread this already, it was just that good. 

 

Major TW for rape and sexual assault, religious trauma and animal/human death!