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Fruit Fly
Not yet published
Expected 23 Apr 26Anyone can write a bestseller. Here’s how:
GO GAY
It’s been seven years since Mallory shot to fame as a literary sensation. But after years of struggling with writer’s block, she’s desperate to resurrect her career before it spirals into obscurity. She needs inspiration to strike – and fast.
GO SAD
Enter a young struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for.
GO DARK
Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. Authenticity sells, and there’s nothing more authentic than real life. She’s the perfect person to tell Leo’s story. Gay, sad, dark – just what the world needs right now. But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must just how far will she go to pen the perfect story?
GO GAY
It’s been seven years since Mallory shot to fame as a literary sensation. But after years of struggling with writer’s block, she’s desperate to resurrect her career before it spirals into obscurity. She needs inspiration to strike – and fast.
GO SAD
Enter a young struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for.
GO DARK
Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. Authenticity sells, and there’s nothing more authentic than real life. She’s the perfect person to tell Leo’s story. Gay, sad, dark – just what the world needs right now. But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must just how far will she go to pen the perfect story?
Kindle Edition
Expected publication April 23, 2026
12 people are currently reading
1257 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 10, 2025
I loved this book, I am so grateful that I had a chance to read it before it is officially released! Definitely one to grab when it is published!
September 14, 2025
Omg this was INSANE. Funny, very dark and so so moving. The twist at the end is to die for - cannot WAIT to read everything else Josh Silver’s written. BRILLIANT!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I don't know if this one hit too close to home for me or what, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I absolutely adored Josh's previous works. The subject matter is obviously very different and the setting is supposed to be much more realistic, but I didn't find myself really believing either of these characters.
I found the way he peeled off the layers of Mal being emotionally abused by her husband (the bit that triggered me the most, next to Leo's rape scene) very very clever, but I didn't really find myself ever rooting for her simply because she reads as quite unlikable as a person through and through, to the very end of the novel. It isn't even about the fact that she's a woman written by a man, she's just not the kind of person I would ever look at twice after exchanging a couple of words with her.
As for Leo, he didn't feel like he could or wanted to be helped. In so many ways, he made himself look irredeemable, with only a few glimpses of hope here and there — but not enough to make me actively believe he could be a decent person underneath all the trauma. I know that Josh has experience as a mental health specialist and I don't, but as a simple reader with only superficial knowledge of psychology and the cycles of addiction this didn't feel ~right, somehow.
Still very happy I've read this, though, and thank you so much to Oneworld Publications for the ARC via NetGalley ❤️
I found the way he peeled off the layers of Mal being emotionally abused by her husband (the bit that triggered me the most, next to Leo's rape scene) very very clever, but I didn't really find myself ever rooting for her simply because she reads as quite unlikable as a person through and through, to the very end of the novel. It isn't even about the fact that she's a woman written by a man, she's just not the kind of person I would ever look at twice after exchanging a couple of words with her.
As for Leo, he didn't feel like he could or wanted to be helped. In so many ways, he made himself look irredeemable, with only a few glimpses of hope here and there — but not enough to make me actively believe he could be a decent person underneath all the trauma. I know that Josh has experience as a mental health specialist and I don't, but as a simple reader with only superficial knowledge of psychology and the cycles of addiction this didn't feel ~right, somehow.
Still very happy I've read this, though, and thank you so much to Oneworld Publications for the ARC via NetGalley ❤️
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
ARC Review -
Mallory needs to write a best-selling novel and in comes Leo, to inspire her to do this.
This opening scenes had be laughing out loud. Mallory’s inner dialogue whilst making a Grindr account and connecting with gay men was giving Georgia Nicholson in the Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging universe (this is the highest of compliments). This set the initial tone for the book however, the story developed into something deeper, more thought provoking and completely anxiety inducing.
Mallory and Leo were complex and often at times completely unlikeable in both their personalities and their decisions. However, I couldn’t help but feel a complete sense of empathy toward both of them and their experiences. I might have been giving in to them as unreliable narrators but I wanted to like Mallory and Leo and wanted better for them.
I had so many thoughts racing through my mind regarding the ending and I was not unsatisfied.
I will be picking up other books by Josh Silver after finishing this one. Also the cover?? obsessed.
Thank you to NetGally and all for the ARC!
Mallory needs to write a best-selling novel and in comes Leo, to inspire her to do this.
This opening scenes had be laughing out loud. Mallory’s inner dialogue whilst making a Grindr account and connecting with gay men was giving Georgia Nicholson in the Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging universe (this is the highest of compliments). This set the initial tone for the book however, the story developed into something deeper, more thought provoking and completely anxiety inducing.
Mallory and Leo were complex and often at times completely unlikeable in both their personalities and their decisions. However, I couldn’t help but feel a complete sense of empathy toward both of them and their experiences. I might have been giving in to them as unreliable narrators but I wanted to like Mallory and Leo and wanted better for them.
I had so many thoughts racing through my mind regarding the ending and I was not unsatisfied.
I will be picking up other books by Josh Silver after finishing this one. Also the cover?? obsessed.
Thank you to NetGally and all for the ARC!
September 1, 2025
Fruit Fly is a daring and deeply provocative novel that dives headfirst into the blurred lines between art, exploitation, and obsession. Josh Silver masterfully crafts a story that is as uncomfortable as it is compelling, following Mallory’s desperate hunt for inspiration and the fragile, haunting connection she forges with Leo. The writing is raw, unflinching, and layered with tension, forcing the reader to question not only the characters’ choices but also their own appetite for stories built on suffering. Both dark and thought-provoking, this is a book that lingers long after you close it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews