GCN contributor David Ferguson reviews Josh Silver’s latest release, Fruit Fly, a novel that explores the world of chemsex and the question of who gets to tell certain stories.

Josh Silver is a queer writer, mental health nurse and former actor. He has previously written several YA novels, including Traumaland (2025), a standalone psychological thriller about a teenager recovering from a near-fatal car crash. Fruit Fly (2026) is his debut adult novel. In this review, I will attempt to keep spoilers to a minimum as I want readers to have the same experience I had when listening to this book.

Fruit Fly tells the story of two very different characters. Firstly, we meet Mallory Maddox, an author who has developed writer’s block and has been unable to follow up on the success of her debut novel, published seven years prior.

In desperation, she searches online to see what kind of book she should write next. The internet tells her to “go gay” and “go dark”. Using her husband’s pictures, she joins Grindr to research and talk to gay men. This leads her to being invited to a “tea party” (not what she thinks it is), where she ends up meeting our other lead character, Leo.

Leo is a struggling addict who sleeps rough and trades sex for money, mainly to pay for more drugs. He has exactly the kind of story that Mallory needs.

The book explores a couple of different topics that are of the moment: the question of who gets to tell certain stories and the world of chemsex.

On the first part, I have no issue with authors working on subjects where they have no experience or have no obvious connection to the topic they are tackling. However, it should not be to the detriment of the voices who do have those lived experiences.

An obvious point to raise here is that Silver is writing from a woman’s perspective. So that same question could be asked here. I think, though, that this is part of what makes the book work, as it again asks questions like: Is he appropriating? Is the author allowed to write about stuff he hasn’t experienced?

Josh Silver gives us an author whose motivation is obviously suspect (she wants a bestseller), but then he complicates it by giving her a compelling reason why she needs that bestseller. I ended up with a mix of emotions, hating her for trying to use Leo’s story and really hoping she succeeds in finishing her book.

There is one character that I hated with a passion. Really. I was swearing as I listened to their dialogue. And it wasn’t Mallory. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions when you read the book.

Leo’s life story is interesting to me in what led to his current situation. Silver doesn’t use the usual motivations we see in media, which may lead a person to abuse drugs, and I found that refreshing.

Of course, the argument could be made that he is using Leo’s story himself. Answering that, Silver said that Leo’s story “is very similar to how I was when I was in active addiction, and how he performs his pain. I’m not worried about commercialising that because I’m trying to tell a part of the LGBTQ+ narrative, which isn’t often spoken about.”

In this case, the author is coming from a place of experience. Again, Silver muddies the water in his writing in that you want the best for Leo, but he makes it hard for you to like him at times, too.

Both characters are keeping secrets. Mallory is using Leo to get his story for her book. Leo is using Mallory to get money from her. Both are using the other and yet, it’s not as simple as that.

Fruit Fly is unflinching in touching on complicated real-life subjects. This is a book that will stay with you for a while.

Find the book here.