The Bloody Brick Road by Maude Royer | Horror Fiction Audiobook DNF Review

This was so incredibly disappointing in every way for me.

The Bloody Brick Road by Maude Royer

Released January 2026
Source: Spotify Audiobook
See more @ Goodreads

I am not enjoying anything about this book. The characters are abrasive, the narration feels like it’s screaming at me and the story has veered so far off course it’ll never find its way back. It’s stressing me out and I’m calling it quits at 45%.

I don’t even care that it’s not at all a Wizard of Oz retelling unless you squint so hard your brain bleeds but I do care that it is nothing at all like Maeve Fly or Tender is the Flesh and I’ve read them both. That’s why I picked this up. These untrue and terrible comparisons truly need to stop.

Also, it’s a police procedural serial killer murder mystery and I was not expecting that when I picked it up. There is a brutal dog death and the dog is described as an ugly monster as if that’s supposed to excuse its brutal murder! There’s also baby death so be warned. 

I don’t recommend the 45% that I read AT ALL.

Final Rating:  DNF


Publisher Plot Synopsis 

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.

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