The newly nameless narrator of Make Sure You Die Screaming has rejected the gender binary, has flamed out with a vengeance at their corporate gig, is most likely brain damaged from a major tussle with their now ex-boyfriend, and is on a bender to end all benders.

A call from their mother with the news that their MAGA-friendly, conspiracy-theorist father has gone missing launches the narrator from Chicago to deep red Arkansas in a stolen car. Along the way, the narrator and their new bestie—a self-proclaimed "garbage goth" with her own emotional baggage (and someone on her tail)—unpack the narrator’s childhood and a recent personal loss that they refuse to face head-on.

An unflinching interrogation of class rage, economic (im)mobility, gender expression, and the rot at the heart of capitalism, Make Sure You Die Screaming is the loud, funny, tragic, suspenseful road trip novel of our times.

Format: Trade Paperback

Author: Carlstrom, Zee

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Pub Date: April 7, 2026

Category: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense

ISBN: 9781250365699

Evening House Books

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Mystery, Thrillers & Noir

A Little Luck

Elena Knows

Time of the Flies

Make Sure You Die Screaming: A Novel