The Bloody Brick Road: A Wizard of Oz Retelling

Les Contes Interdits

by Maude Royer, Jeremy Carlisle Parker (Narrator)

In this wildly creative, horror-soaked reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, nothing is as it seems in Dorothy’s dystopian nightmare. Fans of Tender Is the Flesh and Maeve Fly will want to follow her twisted journey down the yellow-brick road.

When nineteen-year-old Dorothy Noroît finds out she is pregnant, the road ahead seems bathed in golden light. She has a hard-working boyfriend, a beautiful home, and a job where she works with her best friend. But on October 2nd, 1994, everything changes.

Fast forward twenty-four years.

The city of Montreal is plagued by extremist group, The Winged Monkeys. The gruesome murder of a young man has just made headlines. Just when Lieutenant Henri Duhaime and his partner Detective Emilianne Saint-Gelais begin to wrap their heads around this heinous act of violence, another young man is found brutally murdered. And then another. As the body count rises, they race against the clock to track down the killer.

This unhinged retelling of the beloved classic, filled with a twisted cast of your favorite characters, brings together horror and revenge in a blood-soaked, funhouse mirror reflection of the timeless tale—and with endless Easter eggs for readers to discover. Translated to English for the first time from the original French, The Bloody Brick Road will transport you to a dark new world.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Retellings, France, Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published January 6, 2026

Reviews

[megs_bookrack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel robbed. I wanted a bloody and brutal Wizard of Oz retelling; thinking Slasher Horror, or something equally exciting and got nothing of the sort.

Giving a character the name Dorothy and incorporating red shoes, does not a Wizard of Oz retelling make. At the end of the day, this story felt like it was searching for an identity and required further edits.



The 1st-sentence of the Publisher's synopsis I read states, 'In this wildly creative, horror-soaked reimagining of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, nothing is as it seems in Dorothy’s dystopian nightmare.'

Whoever wrote this, you lie. 1. This isn't wildly-creative. 2. This is hardly a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 3. This doesn't feel dystopian at all.

Things you got right: 1. It's a nightmare.



I'm not going to drag this out. It wasn't for me. I'm sad I wasted 6-hours reading it, but am happy to be moving on. If it was going to go the Extreme Horror route, which it seemed it wanted to take due to the graphic fetish elements, it needed to lean much further in to get there.

The sad part is, there were inklings of a solid Serial Killer Police Procedural in here, but mashing it together with the other elements, it just didn't work. It needed to be one or the other, or perhaps better blended than it was.

Overall, a very uneven read, nothing like what I was pitched. The dialogue was forced and laughable, and the graphic sexual elements felt absolutely ridiculous in this story.



Thank you to Gallery Books for the copy.

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 42%
There is NOTHING about this book that is an Oz Retelling. If you didn’t have a lead gal who was named Dorothy I wouldn’t have EVER figured out it was meant to be somehow Oz related. There is no road, no journey, no goal. Instead there are awful humans, some bloody body horror killings, an asshole detective, and a leading gal that is so ‘woe is me’ without deserving it I just wanted to jump into the book and kill her myself.

Your MC can be flawed; but I wouldn’t recommend making them stupid and obnoxious. As a childless woman (from fertility issues; but I’m at peace with it) I’m insulted by the ongoing miscarriage narrative here that is attempting to pull on heart strings. If our MC truly wanted a baby then yes she would get therapy and do some of the things everyone is telling her. I have a friend who lost a toddler to an epic illness and while we miss her little one, and still mourn him, managed to continue improving her life and get therapy to help cope. Sorry but moping for years on end is not a solution; nor is it worthy of a pass for continuing to indulge in bad or dangerous behaviours.
I’m not sure if I was supposed to feel bad for our MC but, if I was, it missed the mark by a mile. Were I on a rainbow on this journey I’d have plummeted from yellow to indigo in the opening chapter and been dumped as far from the pot of gold as possible; because no one goes over the rainbow here instead they miss it entirely.

I am so disappointed as I really wanted a bloody Oz retelling. The fact that this was also Canadian and translated from Quebecois (French) had me sooo excited. I almost wonder if the translation is the problem (I could read the original text) but I just can’t see it being that vastly different as to help the cause. It would have to be a whole new book to have any chance.

The writing overall is okay. It’s not bad; but it’s not especially good either. I’d have tolerated the meh writing (especially because it is a translation) IF the story had delivered what it promised. Sadly it misses the mark so badly as a ‘retelling’ that it flew past Oz, Wonderland and Neverland; landing somewhere in the Upside Down of a Stephen King novel. A terrible attempt to profit off Baum’s beloved series whilst trying to balance on Wicked stilettos to sell some books. Ick!

The marketing department should be fired for this books blurb and subtitle. The publisher should be chastised for not ensuring this was better written. The author should stick to children’s books where she’s had success (and if any part of this is a memoir probably see a therapist, like asap because I’m seriously concerned if she think her MC deserves sympathy). Reality is that bad stuff happens; and you can wallow in pity or you can learn and move on. And it’s okay to mourn for a while; but after years of the same bad actions please don’t expect sympathy from anyone. Reality is that people need to pick-up and move past their issues. Every single character in this book is so extreme which makes no sense. I couldn’t see where the story was headed and after checking others (I trust) reviews I’m just out. I have (hopefully) way better horror books to read this year.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

[Jessica Di Salvio · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

Le roman reprend bien les concepts du conte original, néanmoins, je l’ai trouvé mal construit.

On se doute fortement du coupable dès le début, mais le livre fait comme si c’était un suspense, impliquant des dizaines de personnages ! Trop de personnages. Entre les policiers, les victimes, leurs proches, les suspects, les alias de Maxime, ça ne finissait plus! Ça devenait plus mélangeant qu’autre chose.

Et au final, l’intrigue s’essoufle, car on attend le dénouement qui ne vient pas. Le livre aurait pu faire facilement 75-100 pages de moins et j’avais mis les même commentaires sur Le livre de la jungle, de la même auteure.

Et que dire de la fin? Disons qu’elle décoit, surtout après avoir essayer de tenir en haleine une intrigue inexistante.

Le concept était bien pensé, mais la construction laissait à désirer.

[Lindsey (Bagel) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly one of the worst books I’ve read in awhile. I was so ready for a bloody twist of a classic story but instead was met with disorganized writing, too many characters, and incredibly graphic sexual content that made the whole thing feel like a joke. Surely this isn’t an actual book. RIGHT? RIGHT?!?

[Philippe Charron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Que dire de ce livre? Le concept est intéressant et bien exploité. Une histoire de bébé prématuré qui tourne au drame. Des cadavres qui s'accumulent. Un policier qui tente de refaire sa crédibilité, flanqué d'une partenaire qu'il ne respecte pas et qui a tout de son contraire. Le point le plus faible de ce roman, c'est qu'on devine bien trop tôt qui est la personne qui laisse des cadavres derrière elle, alors qu'on nous le vend comme une intrigue. Tant qu'à y être, il aurait carrément fallu suivre cette personne dans ses meurtres en parallèle au fil des pages. Celà dit, l'auteure a su rendre le tout intéressant de par ses personnages bien campés et qu'on découvre graduellement au cours de notre lecture. L'histoire entre Margaret et Maxime est bien menée et originale par exemple. Le fétichisme d'un des personnages est également surprenant lorsque dévoilé totalement. Plus policier qu'horreur, ce tome aura au moins le mérite de s'éloigner du déjà vu de certains autres contes interdits qui commençaient à être un peu redondant et à prioriser l'horreur, négligeant au passage la solidité de l'intrigue. Dans le magicien d'Oz, Maude Royer a su faire ses recherches au niveau des accouchements prématurés. J'aurais peut être préféré une histoire mettant davantage le focus sur le lion, l'épouvantail et le robot, personnages qui auraient pu davantage être flamboyants et accompagner Dorothée dans une quête commune. Celà dit, je n'ai pas eu de difficulté à traverser ce livre qui ne manque pas d'action et qui suit une bon fil conducteur. À vous de voir

[Marie-Pierre lit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très bien! J’ai aimé cette adaptation obscure ☺️ Un des très bons contes interdits!

[Tania Gariepy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un beau compte sur le choc post traumatique. Beaucoup de personnages impliquer ici et de réalité que malheureuse nous sommes confronté. 2e lecture pour moi et la 2e fois j'ai pu comprendre beaucoup plus de subtilité. Maude a une belle façon de décrire les scène qui nous facilite l'imagination.

[Heather~ Nature.books.and.coffee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really interested in reading this modern horror retelling of the Wizard of Oz. It sounded so intriguing, and I mean look at this cover! Fantastic! This was not what I was expecting. It's definitely twisted and gruesome, but there were so many characters that I found it hard to keep track of them all. I had a hard time getting through this book. The writing just didn't pull me in like I was hoping. Unfortunately, I did skim parts, but I just wanted to see if it would grab me, and it just didn't. Sadly this was a miss for me. 

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

[Nadège Garneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️J'ai adoré qu'on parte sur un drame et qu'on emboîte chaque personnage un dans l'autre, au début j'étais mêlé et me disait encore un autre personnage mais ça prend tout son sens plus que le roman avance!! Je suis déçu de la fin, j'aurais aimé que Henri mette la main sur les coupables et meurt au pire des pires mais bon le reste du roman est excellent!!

[Nicole Simkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting Wizard of Oz slasher. … eek.. this wasn’t it. “Wizard of Oz retelling” was very misleading. The only thing it had in common was the names

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

.Hmmmmmmmm how can i begin to describe what i just read? Well 1. I was lied to. This is in no way similar to Maeve Fly, or Tender is the Flesh (who came up with that????). This is actually a police thriller with some body gore and weird sex stuff plus a killer that's revealed at the start (not a spoiler. it's basically shoved in your face). Adding to the disappointment was the laughable and unrealistic dialogue, which may have been because of the translation, but likely was just the book. I think the book was also trying to say killing disabled babies is bad (eugenics :( ), but this was kind of the worst possible way to go about it. If it's Maeve Fly....why are you trying to make me root for a nazi sympathizer, especially without giving me any chapters from of her POV of her committing the murders, and especially when those people are not people you wanted to die!!!
There were some sentences in here that were so shocking to me. Words I'd never seen strung together before. Unbelievably poorly written, just smothered by the passive voice, which once again could be the translation.
This does get one star because I managed to read it in one sitting.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for this eARC. I am eternally grateful to receive ARCs and wish this had gone better.

[Maude Vézina · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est fou à quel point Maude Royer arrive toujours à me surprendre et à me choquer (positivement! 🤪) avec ses histoires tordues et déjantées comme Le magicien d’Oz 🤯

Déjà au tout début du roman, j’ai ressenti de grosses émotions fortes pour Dorothée, cette jeune fille prise dans un tourbillon cauchemardesque…et quand j’ai découvert la vérité et que tout le casse-tête était terminé, ça m’a explosé en plein visage 😱

L’enquête est haletante, on a toujours envie de comprendre, de faire des liens et je peux vous dire qu’on découvre des scènes vraiment troublantes…et qui malgré tout font du sens 😈

Si vous n’avez pas peur d’avoir froid aux yeux, foncez lire ce conte interdit…complètement sanglant 🖤🩸

[Riley-Karine Abran]

Pour un avis complet: https://www.leslecturesderiley.com/bl...

Extrait: « Tout le long de ma lecture, j’ai réellement été charmé et surpris de découvrir les références que l’on faisait ici et là aux personnages du conte originel. Sincèrement, la façon dont Maude Royer modernise et modifie les éléments et les personnages à l’avantage de son récit me surprend à chaque nouveau conte. Chaque fois, elle me démontre qu’elle est douée pour développer des récits uniques en soi, et de faire en sorte que chacun de ses personnages soit le plus fidèle à la version originale, tout en le modifiant selon les besoins de son récit. »

[France Tétreault · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’ai bien aimé la première partie où l’auteure nous présente Dorothée et le commencement de la « tornade »…

La deuxième partie est une enquête policière dans lequel nous retrouvons 24 ans plus tard…une enquête parsemée de mystère et rempli de rebondissements comme je les aime. Sans compter un enquêteur « tourmenté »…

Un lien entre le courage,le cœur et le cerveau est exploité de façon original.

[yona (taylor’s version)🎀✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une bonne lecture!
j’avais du mal à suivre tout les personnages au début et le lien entre eux, même si je pensais ne pas accrocher, j’avais juste envie de rentrer chez moi le soir et vite continuer ma lecture!
Malheureusement j’ai vite découvert qui était le tueur (trop smart)
j’ai pas trouvé ça trop trash, et ça m’allait parfaitement.
C’était mon premier conte interdits alors je ne suis pas sûr d’avoir compris la référence au vrai conte du magicien d’Oz (pas smart) mais j’ai bien envie d’en découvrir d’autres!

[Mathieu Goulet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le premier tier du livre j’étais complètement égaré. Des nouveaux personnages à chaque chapitre. Éventuellement tout prend forme et on réussi à relier les différents éléments. Belle conclusion, mais un peu prévisible dans les derniers chapitres.

[Patrick Decarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vraiment bon. Fin surprenante. Recommande

[thebeespot72 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5

I always found OG telling of The Wizard of Oz to be quite thrilling and dark. I mean, the flying monkeys gave me bad dreams as a child, and I still don’t like them. Author Maude Royer takes the story up several notches, crafting a chilling, even darker retelling of the original.

The Bloody Brick Road was surprisingly translated from French to English. Is it a straight-up retelling where readers are going to find exact scenes-by-scene from the original? No. And I didn’t expect it to be. What I found was a fairly contemporary story with parallels and influences to the original—more of a reimagining.

Dorothy, the character in The Bloody Brick Road, encounters a harrowing ordeal. Her tragedy connects her with others and spurs several horrific incidents that happen in the future. Those incidents involve shmurders among men that turn up with a missing heart and brain—sound familiar?

I thought it was cool to find some things that were indeed familiar: the extremist group, The Winged Monkeys. But since it is a horror book, things do get quite graphic. What was done to the Cowardly Lion—ouch. There are also descriptive shmex scenes to keep in mind. Overall, I did enjoy the story.

Thank you to @gallerybooks for the #gifted copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Justine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from a friend because I have been seeing it everywhere and it looked like a great read, unfortunately that was not the case. This was pitched as a bloody retelling of The Wizard of box and dystopian it was none of the above. The retelling consisted of a character called Dorothy, the winged monkeys as a gang and people being murdered and their brain and heart were removed and that’s a stretch. There were two timelines and I didn’t care for the miscarriage/ preterm babies plot at all. I found that there were also too many characters to try and keep track of. And too many different stories all happening. I think the cover was the best part of this book.
I would not recommend this one unfortunately, and it sucks because the author is also Canadian.

[Jenni St. Cyr · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows a series of murders and the relentless quest to solve them. This horror-based, unhinged reimagining of The Wizard of Oz completely hooked me—I loved both the clever references to the beloved characters and the dark, creative twist on the original tale. This is a French author and the book was translated into English and done quite well.
It was a fun yet gruesome serial-killer mystery. The setting was vividly done, a great plot filled with bloody vengeance, shocking twists and turns just kept coming right up until the very end - a deeply satisfying tale of revenge. 4.5⭐️’s

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting immediate horror based on the trigger warnings, but we started with shoe shopping, which seemed off to me. However, once the killing started, things got unhinged. I love a good retelling of a classic tale, and this one, set in Canada, didn't disappoint. Twisted in all the right ways! I might have to practice up on my French just so I can read more by this author. If you're a lover of mystery, serial killers, and retellings, I recommend. Maude, if you read this, please please translate more of your books.

[Marie-Pier · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 ⭐️ En livre audio, super bon! Les personnages et les liens avec l’histoire originale j’ai beaucoup aimé! C’était super bien écrit, pas trash comme on connaît des autres contes interdits. Je recommande !!

[Jillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was awful! It’s not a Wizard of Oz retelling. Only names and brief details of the Wizard of Oz are used. The writing is a complete mess. So many characters! Glad it only wasted a few hours of my time.

[Shelby Desruisseaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'auteur nous met toujours plusieurs personnages et on se demande toujours quel est le lien entre eux. Tranquillement, elle nous amène les liens plus fous les un que les autres.
J'ai vraiment adoré l'intrigue de ce conte et comment la fin nous laisse une petite porte pour peut etre plus!

[Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

[Maude Langlois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le.meilleur contes interdits que j'ai lu a date...
Omg que au début tu sais pas trop sa s'en va ou...pis la les liens vienne à se faire wow
J'ai adoré

[Melanie Matte · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’ai vraiment aimé ce livre. Un peu mélangeant au début mais quel fin.

[Alexe Et ses livres · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai adoré l'aspect enquête policière de ce roman. Cela le rends un peu différent des autres contes interdit

[booked.with.julia]

DNF at 30%…I tried.

[Virginie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bon roman style policier, mais fin prévisible.
On suit différents personnages en même temps ce qui empêche une réelle connexion avec eux.