
Make Sure You Die Screaming
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Major Curda
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By:
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Zee Carlstrom
About this listen
An electrifying debut about a nonbinary corporate burnout embarking on a road trip from Chicago to Arkansas to find their conspiracy-theorist father, who has gone missing—for fans of Detransition Baby and Chain-Gang All-Stars
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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
©2025 Zee Carlstrom (P)2025 Macmillan AudioCritic reviews
Named one of the "hottest debut novels of 2025" by Goodreads
A Barnes & Noble pick for their 2025 Yearly Reading Challenge
One of Them's Most Anticipated Books of 2025
One of Debutiful's Most Anticipated Debut Novels of 2025
The Mary Sue pick for its 15 Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of 2025
“I loved every loud, messy page. Zee Carlstrom is the first writer to make me feel better about my own life choices.”—Sam Irby, New York Times bestselling author of Wow, No Thank You
"Make Sure You Die Screaming roars to life from page one and never lets up. It’s a Fear and Loathing for the generation devastated by the generation that brought us Fear and Loathing."—Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby
“This intense, shapeshifting, nightmarish debut is like a sweatier, sweeter, queerer, and somehow more mullety Natural Born Killers, where all bets are off, all rules crossed out. Even just one line will keep you up all night.”—Patrick Nathan, author of The Future Was Color
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