American Rapture

Leede (Maeve Fly) masterfully eases readers into a taut horror plot in her standout sophomore outing, which works both as an nail-biting apocalyptic tale and as an empathetic look at the impact of being raised in a harshly restrictive environment. Sophie and her twin, Noah, grew up in Wisconsin, raised by devout Catholics who frightened the children when they were only five by telling them that “God, Jesus, demons, and the Devil are always watching [and] they all know our every thought.” Their parents’ chance discovery that Noah has a magazine with a cover photo of two men kissing, leads to his being banished to “a spiritual sanctuary for families afflicted with challenged children,” and Sophie blames herself for not protecting him. As Sophie matures, she finds herself mocked by schoolmates for her sexual naivete. Meanwhile, a deadly virus that drastically increases the libidos of those infected spreads to the Midwest from the Northeast, and after Sophie gets dramatic proof that it has reached her small town, she must embark on a desperate flight for survival. Leede does a fantastic job putting readers in the head of her wonderfully flawed and recognizably human lead. Add in plenty of page-turning suspense, and this proves hard to put down. (Oct.)