Make Sure You Die Screaming - Paperback

by Zee Carlstrom (Author)

One of NPR's best books of 2025

Named one of the hottest debut novels of 2025 by Goodreads

"It's Fear and Loathing for the generation devastated by the generation that brought us Fear and Loathing." --Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

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

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.

Author Biography

Zee Carlstrom grew up in Illinois. They believe in Frederick Douglass's vision of America as a composite nation, where every human person can come together to live in harmony.