This book is incredibly unexpected. The initial premise is relevant, bold and irresistible but what develops as the chapters unfold is surprising in the best possible way. Never one to shy away from difficult conversations, Josh Silver has consistently delivered books that have gripped me but this new, deeper exploration of mental health and abuse (in multiple forms) feels like he’s finally been fully unleashed through the lense of adult fiction.
Mallory and Leo are robust, multifaceted characters, delivered with strikingly different POVs and yet somehow they organically align to the reader. They’re people who you’d probably dislike if you met them and are frequently hard to sympathise on their journeys, yet I found a desire for them both to find peace in whatever form that may take. In some ways I found myself irritated at this feeling but it becomes very clear how specifically crafted this is as the book draws into its final chapters.
The book frequently boiled my blood, rallying me against characters, behind characters and has a uniquely self aware angle that feels like it’s weighing a judgement at the characters, the reader and wider society all at different moments.
It’s not an easy read and quite frankly it shouldn’t be. It’s challenging in all the right places and somehow manages to maintain a dark sense of humour that never grates or feels misplaced.
Overall it’s an overwhelming success, subverting almost everything that I expected and leaving me with a bristling array of emotions that I think will sit with me for days to come.

This is a phenomenal read. I finished this in a day.
Reminiscent of Yellowface, I loved the themes of appropriation and ownership of a story. The concept is cleverly explored without ever feeling.preachy or judgemental

Silver manages the hard feat of writing work that's both compelling and funny. I liked the darkness of the book and the layering of the characters. I felt heavily invested in this and tore through it.

I can't wait for more from Silver.

Having loved Josh Silver's previous work, I was extremely interested to see how he would transition from YA to adult fiction and I am so pleased to say he has managed to to this beautifully.
Fruit Fly is a novel which explores heavy subjects such as trauma, abuse and addiction, with real skill and sensitivity . Although it does share some themes with the novel Yellowface, such as authenticity of voice and who should be allowed to tell someone's story, it approaches it from the angle of blurring fiction and truth and exploring the line between inspiration and exploitation. The subtle mirroring of the experiences of the main characters, Mallory and Leo is extremely profound and explores societal expectations and prejudices, such as the idea of a 'victim' and how some people are deemed to be more deserving of help than others.
I don't want to say too much but I thought the ending was perfect.
Thank you to NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for the ARC. It was an absolute pleasure to read and I can't wait for Josh Silver's next book!

Well, If I thought Traumaland was a wild ride, I was sadly mistaken. Josh Silver has returned with Fruit Fly, and it is an absolute cracker of a novel.

Silver has cemented himself as my favourite YA author and his first Adult novel has hit the right spot! While his previous books were undeniably excellent, Fruit Fly feels like a distinct level up - it is confident, daring, and I was unable to put it down.

This book does not hold back! It leans heavily into the darkness, a gritty psychological intensity that gets under your skin. It has managed to twist the lives of the two main characters mixing them into something perfectly toxic, obsessive, and fascinating.

This has completely and utterly blown me away. I’ve been a fan of Josh since his debut, HappyHead was released a few years ago and have read everything he’s written with fevered excitement. Ever since Fruit Fly was announced I’ve been dying to read it so much so that the moment I was approved for an earc I started reading it straight away.

Quite frankly, it’s a stunning book. It flips between comical, to creepy, to sad, to hopeful, to totally bonkers and back again. The plot is handled with such care and skill, I could not stop reading, desperate to find out what would happen next.

I really enjoyed Mal and the unravelling of her life. I loved Leo and his struggle to try and sort his life out.

Honestly this book has to be read and appreciated. My words just do not cut it but Josh Silver’s most certainly do. I wish I could scoop this book out of my brain so that I could read it again for the first time!

Fruit Fly is a great satire and critique of the book industry while also bringing an exciting and thrilling plot. The first 50 pages had me laughing out loud and then the laughter started getting stuck in my throat. It's dark comedy, it's domestic thriller, it's social satire, and it made me think about the role readers have in what books become big. Why are Big Gay Books so bleak and sad? Who is telling these stories in this way? A fantastic read that I will definitely be recommending to people!

Highlights:
I was lucky to get an advanced reader copy, and this book has not left my head. Every character matters, no matter how small their role. Mallory is unforgettable. From an aspiring author’s point of view, her drive and the lengths she goes to be creative hit deep. Josh Silver’s voice shines in his first adult novel, darker and seedier than before, showing the underbelly of life when people are in crisis. It is gut‑wrenching, inspiring and disturbing in the best way.

Shadows:
Very little to fault. The only thing worth noting is that it stays heavy and confronting, which is part of its power, but not a light read you rush through.

Final Word:
A bold, unsettling, unforgettable novel that proves Josh Silver is just as powerful in adult fiction as in YA, and one of the best books I have ever read.

Rating:
5 out of 5 stars plus

There’s an early buzz around this book so I had to dive in.

Mallory was a one hit wonder literary sensation, suffering from writers block since her debut. She’s searching for inspiration. Leo is a reckless risk taker, happy to sell sex, to be abused to pay for the drugs to keep him comfortably numb.

Mallory stumbles across Leo, them searches him out, convinced that’s he’s main character inspiration material for the book that will turn her fortunes around.

I’ve loved books about struggling writers stealing manuscripts, but never one about two lives intertwining, there’s an electric parasitic addictive energy about it. Two characters who need something from the other, which can help them unlock themselves.

Imagine early Irvine Welsh mixed with Karen Campbell (Paper Cup, This Bright Light).

I’ll say it comprehensive, some parts are seen through Mallory’s perspective, Leo’s and the fictionalised account. There’s also Mallory’s seemingly perfect marriage and home life to worry about. Plenty going on and it kept me gripped.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Oneworld Publications

Where to start with how glorious a read this book is? Fruit Fly is one of those novels that draws you in by looking like one thing, a sharp satire promising to pack a punch, and then quietly digs in its roots to become something far darker and more ambitious. Josh Silver takes a simple premise of a blocked writer hunting for inspiration and pushes it into a world that's wonderfully heartbreaking in its social commentary. The early chapters have a hilarious energy (Mallory on Grindr is a genuine highlight and not going to lie, reminded me of when my friends have tried to use it), but the humour quickly descends into something more uncomfortable and profound around who gets to tell a story and at what cost.

Mallory and Leo are superstars of protagonists. Their dynamic is what makes this book so brilliant. Realistically messy, Josh Silver isn’t afraid to make these characters unlikeable but even in their more unlikeable moment, you can’t help reading on because you can understand their intention. Fruit Fly handles addiction, queerness, societal expectation and trauma without watering them down, choosing to face everything bluntly in the most magnificent way. So much so, I’ve already told multiple friends to get this book pre-ordered!

This is the first book I’ve ever read by Josh Silver, but I can already tell it will not be the last. His writing is majestic. One thing that caught my attention was, and this is the best way I can describe this, he’s not afraid to make readers sit in the awkward silence. I’ve read many books where the author’s attempted to do that and it’s fallen flat, but Josh Silver makes you sit at attention, on edge. There’s an unevenness, almost like a spiral within the writing too, which feels intentional, to mirror the instability of Fruit Fly’s characters and the blurred line between inspiration and exploitation. Honestly, I cannot shout about the writing in this book enough!

By the time you hit the last few pages (don’t worry, no spoilers here!), Silver has pulled off something brilliant by holding your hand from a satirical opener to a gut punch that will even how you questioning how you view the outside world and interactions with strangers. Fruit Fly is messy, provocative, darkly funny and deeply uncomfortable in all the right ways! It’s a book that lingers, not because it offers the answers on where society’s greying lines, but because it refuses to answer them and chooses instead to make you think! If this is Silver’s launch in adult fiction, I already cannot wait for whatever comes next…

I’m just going to go ahead and say it: my favorite book of 2026 (yes yas, I know — it’s only January). Fruit Fly is unhinged, dark, laugh-out-loud funny, and genuinely brilliant. I could not put this down. Josh Silver, please write another novel immediately. I’ll be recommending this to absolutely everyone.
5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and Oneworld Publications for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sublime.

Messy, chaotic, exacting and humour of the darkest kind. Written with intent and realism, an absolute riot.

This will be a bestseller.

What a fantastic read. I've read all of Josh Silver's other books and loved them all; I wasn't sure how i was going to enjoy this one given that it's his first adult book and the subject matter isn't something I would normally be drawn to. But it's Josh Silver so I had to.

I loved this book; the obsession, the sickness, the gaslighting. And honestly, Mal blasting through her novel made me want to start writing again.

Spoilers Below



I loved the way Mal was written in the first half of the book to make us question her reliability as a narrator. We know she had a breakdown 7 years ago and she seems to be relapsing, so it's hard to tell that Ronan is actually being abusive. When you don't know what happened in the past, it's hard to tell if he's genuinely taking care of her, or if he's being manipulative. I was glad that once Leo saw them fighting from outside, the narrative switched up to make the abuse more noticeable, and Mal seems to realise it herself. And her mom noticing it too was vindicating.

I loved Leo to bits. He felt super real, and I wonder how much of Josh is in Leo. Leo's story seemed so well researched it felt like Josh knew this stuff rather than just reading about it.

Things I would've liked:

- I want to know what happened in the kitchen that night. We see Mal's version of events in Slay, but that ends in Liam's death and we know Leo didn't die. So how much of it was true?

- While I understand Leo's ending, and that it probably couldn't have ended much differently, I really wish he'd healed and started a journey to get better. He becomes evil in some way that doesn't feel true to the Leo as know

- I wasn't a fan of Mo's end. I would have at least liked to have seen what happened from Leo's POV rather than just being told about it

- Ronan should've died

Oh this is just so much fun!

I knew I was going to love this from the opening. The humour and perspective of this book is absolutely hilarious. Mallory’s attempt to interact on Grindr at the beginning absolutely cracked me up.
Mallory is such a well-written character - she’s both someone to laugh at with her middle-class out-of-touch approach to Leo and her saviour complex, but she’s also tragic, sad and relatable.
Leo’s story is also realistic and I love the unreliability of his narration when he’s with Mallory.
I didn’t expect the genre switch of this about half way through where it starts to feel more like a thriller. I’m not a thriller fan but I do read them occasionally so I was more open to it after how much I enjoyed the first half.
This was so much fun - a solid 4.5 for me.

4.5!! Without doubt what makes this book so brilliant is its characters! Mallory, at the start of the book, is hilarious and quite frankly unhinged (which we love). Her backstory makes her slightly unreliable as a narrator and I was never sure if she would take it too far. One thing I’ve learnt from reading Fruit Fly is that Josh Silver is not scared to go brutal. This book is so bleak at times (which again I loved) but it’s raw and makes the reader empathise, even in times when Leo is a harm to others. As Mallory continues to be reckless in order to finish her book and Leo continues to put himself in further danger, there’s a turning point where it all becomes a lot more dark and sinister. Josh Silver delves into hard topics such as sexual assault and domestic abuse and we see how both Mal and Leo struggle through this. I’d definitely say the first half of the book was a lot more comedic.

And to round all that off we get given possibly the most bitter sweet ending?! I found it so interesting how Mallory had everything she dreamed of but at what cost? And don’t get me started on that last sentence with Leo, the full circle moment and the fact Mallory’s publisher is involved! 😂 I laughed out loud! Josh Silver - brilliant 👏🏼

This book was everything
Leo is such a strong character. I felt so bad for him and everything he goes through in this story. He’s so sarcastic and that makes me like him even more.
Mallory is an interesting character, the kind you love to hate. I found it so funny in the beginning when she’s using queer terms and not understanding them at all. She does kind of get some depth in the back half of the book, but I still don’t like her, Not liking her feels intentional though.
I love the ending. I worried when we reached the final part and I had so many pages left that it would drag, but I think it was the perfect length. The very last thing that happens in this book is absolutely perfect.

Fruit Fly, without sounding too book club, is a necessary read. It is the Yellowface for Gay Men. The complexities of straight people using queer stories is such a wrought and heated debate at times and this book acts as a mega horn to point out all that is wrong with using queer people for trauma stories and a quick buck. Josh’s writing is visceral, raw, and true. The way he writes Leo and the experience of a gay man couldn’t be replicated by someone outside the community and that’s why it’s so important to hear more from Gay men on their own stories.

FRUIT FLY – JOSH SILVER *****
Perhaps because he has previously written YA novels I had not heard of Josh Silver – until now. Fruit Fly is a BBC must read a book of 2026. It is an incredible achievement.
The character leap off the page and haunt you long after you have read the final sentence. Mallory, an author whose previous book set the literary world alight is struggling with writers block. Meanwhile, her husband Ronan, working in England for Netflix, controls every aspect of her life after she had a mental breakdown. Leo is a young gay drug/drink addict who finances his habits by charging for sex.
Chapters are told from both viewpoints. So distinctive at each of the characters that you could never mistake one for the other. The writing is different and sparse and superb.
Essential reading.

Fruitfly felt really different to Josh Silver’s previous books, but not in a way that loses his voice. Even though the tone is much darker, there’s still a clear connection to his lived experience through the gay protagonist, which makes it feel grounded and authentic rather than detached from his earlier work.

What I really loved is how far it moves away from the stereotypical depiction of gay life. This isn’t polished or aspirational. it leans into the uncomfortable, darker sides of the LGBTQ+ community and doesn’t shy away from obsession, loneliness, or moral messiness. It feels honest in a way that’s quite rare.

Mallory was also such a standout. Even with everything she’s dealing with, I found her genuinely funny and oddly comforting, chaotic, warm, and completely herself. Slay queen, honestly.

Overall, Fruitfly is unsettling, sharp, and bold. It’s a departure, but it still very much feels like a Josh Silver novel.

I was not prepared for this book.

Fruit Fly is one of the most emotionally difficult books I've read, and it surpassed every expectation I had for it.

When I started Literary Raider, part of the intention was to begin reviewing new books; notably, I had my eye on Fruit Fly. Thanks to @netgalley, I was able to read an advanced copy. So let me cut to the chase: Josh Silver's Fruit Fly is an exceptionally well‑written, harrowing thriller, with characters who clawed their way beneath my skin and wouldn't let me go.

I try to stick to the bare minimum when it comes to synopses, preferring to go in knowing as little as possible. I’ll go on “vibes,” and yes, I'll often be drawn in by the cover. So I expected a fun thriller with Fruit Fly. What I wasn’t prepared for were the twisted depths of its characters, which made for some extremely taxing reading. It’s raw. It’s tense. Frankly, it can be horrible in the best possible way, because the trauma of its characters (whether they’re suffering from it or inflicting it) feels so utterly realistic.

From SA to drug addiction, domestic abuse, appropriation, gaslighting, obsession, poverty, loss, and lies (and lies upon lies), it doesn’t shy away from the heartbreaking hopelessness of some of life’s situations. “Go Dark,” as the book says, and boy, does it. But the predominant theme of Fruit Fly is survival. Desperation oozes from its characters, and I found that even in the most twisted moments of its main characters’ parallel stories, when they were doing some very questionable things, I’d still feel sympathy and wish them out of their respective situations.

Fruit Fly easily takes the crown as the most stressful book I've read. I found myself feeling like I wasn’t breathing for pages at a time. On a recent train journey, I half‑expect the lady in front of me thought I was actively trying to annoy her, because every few minutes I’d have to pause reading and exhale loudly, comprehending what I’d just read, and likely blowing on her hair in the process. If that was you, I’m sorry. Read this book, and you’ll understand. A highly recommended read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fruit Fly is a sharp, darkly funny novel that takes aim at the modern publishing world and the messy realities of ambition. Josh Silver combines biting humour with emotional insight, exploring what people are willing to do to succeed and be seen. Fast-paced and provocative, the book balances satire with genuine character depth, making it an engaging and conversation-starting read for anyone interested in stories about creativity, identity and the cost of chasing recognition.

4.5 ⭐️

ooh this book was messy and chaotic and I loved it! it was one of those books where you keep reading a chapter and keep reading a chapter because every time you go to put it down it’s too bloody good!

heavy subject matter but so expertly handled and intwined in an engaging story.