I could not finish this book. I thought Net Galley had an option for books that reviewers could not finish, but I cannot find that option. I tried quite a few times to finish it, it I was not able to. I looked at a review on Goodreads to help articulate it, and one said that it had incredibly disjointed storylines which helped me understand the root of the problem. I could not get invested in the characters, world, or plot because the storylines did not flow together (or even on their own) nicely. It was very *very* slow, and for a book that I wanted to at least attempt to scare me in some way- that was disappointing.

I was given a digital copy of this book to review with NetGalley

What if you could take a pill to reconnect you with your lost loved ones?!

Ghost Eaters is a beautifully written book which explores grief and what it means to be haunted. It starts with a group of friends in high school who are attempting to speak with the dead.

We revisit these friends later in life, none of which have achieved the things they wished to after college, and they seem to be unable to break away from one another and the southern town, steeped in dark and bloody history, that they have lived in their whole lives.

When a member of their friendship group is found dead they are heartbroken and would do anything for a chance to say the things that went unsaid between them.

They then learn about a new drug called Ghost, which allows users to connect with people on the other side, but seems to leave users with a lingering connection to the many lost souls that walk the streets of their hometown.

I loved the writing style of this book, the way it handled grief and the effects it can have on people left behind. The characters were really well written and although they didn’t always make the best choices I found myself sympathetic and understanding why they did the things they did.

Ghost Eaters is unflinching when it comes to body horror, there were parts that I read with my mouth hanging open and other parts that made me feel really sick! Also content warnings for drug use and addiction and baby loss.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves supernatural horror, with body horror and a plot line which has you questioning what is reality and what is going on in the protagonists mind!

Absolutely (dare I say it?) ADDICTING. So many layers here, and all of them so well excavated. Chapman is a force.

I really wanted to like this one, but like all of Clay McLeod Chapman's books that I've read since The Remaking, it fell short of my expectations. The concept of haunting-as-addiction was intriguing but I just didn't connect with any of the characters enough to care, and I was struggling to get through it by the end. The worldbuilding was great, though!

This was a fever dream of a read.

Erin is still trying to find her grounding and get her life started after graduating college. One thing that's always a constant, however, is her lack of boundaries when it comes to her enigmatic on again, off again college boyfriend Silas. Silas is constantly getting himself into trouble and jumping in and out of rehab and always asking Erin to bail him out. Erin is always there to help him, even against her better judgment, until one day she doesn't. After Silas dies of an overdose, Erin starts to spiral until she learns about Ghost, a drug that Silas was working on that allows users to see the dead. In her grief she tries it hoping to see Silas one last time, but soon she's spiraling very deep and very quickly into the life of an addict.

Clay McLeod Chapman does a great job with his world building of the most horrific trip. I felt myself shudder quite a few times at certain scenes throughout. I mean, he definitely can write gross stuff incredibly well. And while it was enjoyable for the most part, I found myself wanting more of the story as a whole and not just Erin in a drug induced haze even though that's where I saw the best horror scenes. I just wished it was more balanced with the real world implications of what she was seeing and doing, however, that's just my personal opinion and overall I think horror fans will love this book!

Overall, a fun and terrifying horror book that I'd recommend.

Aaron, Amira and Tobias are friends and followers of Silas. He is magnetic and daring and Aaron is in love with him but he’s in love with drugs and that is what eventually takes his life and begins the weirdest book I have ever read. When she is disgussinghis addiction Silas says “I’m not addicted, I’m haunted.“ This book is crazy I don’t even know how to start describing it to you it is one of the strangest horror books that I’ve read this year with the exception of one where Kevin bacon in Miley Cyrus or demigods but after that one this was the craziest book and one I highly recommend. This doesn’t follow any trope known to hora trust me when I say this is one of the most original plots you’ll ever read it is OMG good! I know hora Authors's or a bunch of demented people but this book takes the cake. If the cake was confusing and you only knew it was a cake this customer gave it to you and said this is the cake but you look up and you’re like this is an a cake and you just confused that’s what this is. It was so freaking good! I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This was a really interesting, genre-bending ghost story. I hesitate to say too much, as I'd hate to spoil anything, but this blend of body horror, the supernatural, and obsession made for a really unique read that I couldn't put down.

What an interesting, fresh take on a horror novel! This tells the story of friends finishing college and moving on with their life, but drugs played a major role in their lives during college and some of them never gave them up. In fact, they began exploring more dangerous substances. This tells the story.

Note: ebook provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
4 stars

Successfully feels trippy and at times like you’re reading a nightmare. The focus is on the addiction and the drug itself as Erin slides deeper and deeper into the mess Silas has created. This is done really well, I was both hoping for the best but disappointed in her the whole time. It is a good read and I absolutely will read more from this author. I just wanted a bit more from it, for me this feels more gross and at moments terrifying instead of lasting creepiness I really like from horror.

Very unique. Definitely enjoyed this one. But dear lord some people need to learn to see red flags and stay the f👀k away from those people.


I made this the October adult pick for my book club

Chapman is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love the worlds that he creates. Ghost Eaters is no exception. This cover is to die for!

The premise of this book really intrigued me and I hadn't read anything quite like it before; grieving friends take a drug that allows them to see ghosts in order to reconnect with their recently deceased friend. I found it didn't really align with my personal taste in horror- the depiction of the grim descent into addiction made me sad rather than scared and I didn't quite buy some of the characters' choices based on what we know about them. I'd recommend to readers who loved Mexican Gothic or the movie Requiem for a Dream.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, that was an enjoyable read, just think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas combined with a number of ghost stories.
An intense supernatural horror story about our addictions, compulsion's, fears and how we live on within others.
McLeod Chapmans writing is impeccable throughout and conjures up many a trippy, nightmarish and atmospheric scene.

The plot itself was harder to take, with the majority being based around drug taking and addiction. I think this was the main reason I didn't emotionally connect with a number of the characters, but this doesn't take away from the overall quality of the book, more a matter of personal taste.

Would I recommend this book or the author to others? Yes, I most certainly would, and I'll most definitely be keeping an eye out for future work from Clay McLeod Chapman.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is Clay McLeod Chapman's best work to date. While the main characters weren't overly likable, they were believable and well developed. I couldn't put this down, as I wanted to know what would to Erin. I hope someone opts this for a movie.

Want to get haunted? This book worked so well for me! 4.5 stars rounded up. This book tackles addiction and grief by looking into what someone would do to see a loved one again after their death. Would you take a drug if it could bring them back? What would be the cost of that? I think the pacing was perfect. It starts off with a bang, so you know what you're getting into with this book. Then you slow down and watch the descent into addiction. I can see how the middle of the book can be a bit monotonous for people. It's basically one long drug fueled trip. Time doesn't matter. It's hard to tell what is real and what is a hallucination. However, from what I've seen as a psychiatrist this is an accurate depiction of someone using. I think this book is the perfect mix of body horror, dread, and supernatural. Would definitely recommend!

I absolutely love this Author's writing style and the trip he just took me on! This is hands down of the best books I have read this year. I will continue to keep my eye out for future books from Clay because wow! This is was such a cool story and felt it was unpredictable. I have never read a story line like this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading GHOST EATERS by @claymcleod. Our protagonist Erin, has suffered a terrible loss, and on top of that, she’s a drug addict. But, did you know there is a drug called GHOST and it lets you see the dead? I’ll leave the possibilities of where this scenario can go, because *no spoilers*. This is a story of addiction, grief, and past remembrance. It’s still lingering in my mind.

This started off as a promising read. Most people can relate to having an unhealthy interest they have to eliminate from their life, and in that respect, it’s possible to relate to Erin. Relationships are tricky, and no matter how bad someone is for you, it can be hard to let go if you’re still attracted to them and feel that connection.

The thing is, it’s easy to see how uneven some of the other characters are. Given how close her friend circle was, it was surprising none of them made plans to go to Silas’s funeral with Erin, and it seemed like this was a deliberate effort to isolate her, making her seem vulnerable. The thing is, despite her on-again, off-again relationship with Silas, Erin was otherwise a fairly strong person and seemed to know her own mind. She had goals and she wasn’t swayed by invitations to move to New York or her mother’s efforts to marry her off. Erin knew what she did and didn’t want in her future. Considering how well she knew herself, she fell apart pretty quickly. Plus, there were some things that made me wonder. I mean, Silas trying to pimp her out wasn’t a total dealbreaker? Hello red flags screaming that this guy doesn’t respect you or care about you at all. Perhaps if Erin had seemed more lost, without career aspirations and ambitions, it would be easier to buy into that. But it felt like inconsistent characterization. Yes, people are messy, but this just didn’t track as consistent characterization for me. She quickly devolved and turned from a promising young woman with clear career goals into a mess, later referred to as empty, which made me wonder if the choice to have a female protagonist was deliberate because of some historical views about women being weak and needing a man to complete them, and falling apart without them. Since society hasn’t historically viewed men that way, would they buy this premise if the roles were reversed? I wondered about that more and more as I turned the pages.

There’s also a complete disregard that Erin was vulnerable because of grief, not because she’d always been this blank slate of a person who amounted to nothing on her own.

The second half of the book really unraveled for me. Erin had zero willpower, but the drug wasn’t even working the way she wanted and she wasn’t seeing Silas. And even when she thought she was, she questioned how wrong everything was, how unlike him.

The second part of the book also reads more like developing a drug addiction and all that goes with that, and less like a spooky paranormal story. Erin is also aware of what’s going on around her and not completely lost to the drug, at least, aware enough to narrate how the people around her start to lose weight and lose themselves.

Toby turned into a sexual harasser and I genuinely wondered why she stayed. There were so many points where she could walk out and get away, and chose not to. I can’t fully buy into that being about fear, because there were threats inside and outside of that house and she could see that.

There was also something about the ending that didn’t track for me, so please don’t read on if you want to avoid spoilers.

*

*

*

Her parents let her have access to the family lawyer in exchange for keeping their names out of the papers. Erin would have no control over that, first. Second, her parents should have been subject to an investigation because she called them begging for help, and they denied her. They could have prevented a lot of deaths if they’d listened to her, and any lawyer or cop doing their due diligence would have found out about that phone call. It would have come up in court. And then reporters could have written about it. So the notion they let her use the lawyer in exchange for keeping their names out of the paper didn’t make any sense at all. And why would Erin want a family lawyer more concerned with protecting the person paying their bills than protecting their actual client? She was smarter than that. And that’s part of the reason sometimes it felt like she was turned stupid and needy just to serve the plot.

Plus, she needed a criminal attorney. The family just happens to have a criminal attorney on retainer? Given how important their image was to them and what little we are told about their status, that seems doubtful. This book would have been so much stronger if it had ended with her burning it all down. Instead, it circles back to the real world to try to tie things up with a neat bow. And it completely unravels because of a lack of accuracy about the legal system and criminal investigations.

Plus, a note about the alleged connection between Erin and Silas that was supposed to be so powerful. I didn’t buy it. Silas treated her like garbage and took advantage of her all the time. He wanted to pimp her out to help his friend. He’s total trash, and he treats everyone around him like trash, and I don’t think he cared about Erin any more than anyone else. I don’t think she was needed at all for this connection; after all, Silas was screwing her friend behind her back. The person most connected to Silas was likely Toby because he bought into everything and worshipped him to the point of murder.

For me, the second half of this book pulled down a 3.5 star read that had an interesting premise with some problematic execution to 2.5 stars.

Oh my goodness! I absolutely adored GHOST EATERS! It was a profound and thoughtful look at addiction, grief, and the nature of hauntings. I always knew mushrooms were terrifying!

Clay does a great job of weaving trauma and addiction through this horror story. The fact that he based it in his and also my home town of Richmond Va and the surrounding areas made it even more special for me to read this past spooky season. Everyone’s had someone in their life pass on whether that be from addiction or even natural causes. If you’ve had someone pass on you’ve probably even asked yourself what would you do to see them again. How far would you be willing to go just to see them one more time. The question brought up in this novel is really are you will to deal with the consequences of once you do see them again.