Friendships are a key part of our life. The people we let into our lives; trust with our hopes and fears and help make life fun….most of the time. Sometimes we allow a friend into our lives who is a lot more problematic - they can offer fun and excitement but also can be a drain on our joy as we end up sharing their baggage and constant demands. In Clay McLeod Chapman’s eerie horror novel Ghost Eaters there is a fantastic exploration of toxic friendship; the power of addiction and our fears what may lurk awaiting us after death.

Erin is a young woman facing post-College life in the US city of Richmond and facing a crossroads between giving up dreams of being a writer; embracing office work and a future in marketing and her once close quartet of friends starting to fracture and at the heart of that the magnetic yet chaotic Silas who has been Erin’s on off boyfriend and best friend but increasingly he seems lost in drug taking and hopping in and out of recovery. An attempt after his last escape to attempt an intervention leads the very erratic Silas to disappear and be found dead. Erin is overwhelmed with guilt at her failure to get through to Silas and then she is told there is a drug named Ghost that as well as getting you high could also just possibly help you meet spirits from the other side. Erin finds this drug irresistible but she also discovers it has an attraction for undead spirits drawn to users and in a city like Richmond there are many many places where the dead may be lurking.

This is a very compelling tale where Chapman has a brilliant hook of how a toxic friendship is itself an addiction. Erin knows consistently Silas is a mix of control freak; bully; snob and also someone who gives Erin and friends joy, love and a desire in them to please him. Erin can’t let go and the one time she has is when Silas dies of an overdose. Told throughout in first person we get to see how Silas is pretty much always in her mind and his death shatters her. Guilt, grief and loss all at the same time as she feels her life slowly subside into bad dates, boring jobs an an uncaring family. We understand why in such a life Silas offers her a chance of escape and excitement which is now gone. Chapman’s writing of these initial sections is very powerful and never judging. We understand how this situation has evolved. And then for extra terror we add ghosts into the story.

The idea that one of Erin’s friends has is for the three remaining friends to gather; take a mysterious new drug named Ghost and hold a seance to try and contact Silas. Only Erin though seems to sense anything. The drug also gives Erin a high she really craves more and more. At this point the story moves into a really unusual direction which is utterly compelling. Erin realised this drug is now making her see ALL the ghosts of Richmond and more disturbingly all the ghosts see her and find the taste of this drug irresistible. Chapman smartly makes us feel Erin’s puzzlement and then shock at what this drug does to her. We get increasingly nightmarish encounters and reminders this centuries old city has seen a huge amount of violent death and disaster and worst of all they want to taste the Ghost drug that lives in Erin. It’s absolutely gripping but also highlights the shock we realise that despite all these horrific things that happen to her; that make her start to lose friends, family and increasingly be seen as unreliable and strange; despite all of that Erin still wants to take more Ghost.

The final sections of the book explore the horror of addiction. Erin submits to more and more Ghost; the idea of finally getting close to Silas and the highs that this drug gives her makes her become lost in a claustrophobic world constant drug taking and encounters with the dead of the city. There are strange hypnotic scenes that are redolent of something that cross into Trainspotting territory and I bet literary critics would just say it’s all in Erin’s mind but I’m a genre fan so of course for me it’s all real! This is both a story of someone’s self destruction but as we find there are other forces at work using Erin and have far bigger plans for the use of Ghost. Usually in horror it’s about the monster getting the victim here the victim themselves welcomes the monster into their lives and I think this makes it one of the most unsettling horror tales I’ve read in a long time. One toxic friend can easily destroy an entire set of lives but our own responsibility on when to end things is also under the spotlight. Is Erin victim or instigator of her own potential destruction? The story leaves us to decide for ourselves but the finale leaves things uncomfortably open ended as to how this will finally end.

Ghost Eaters is an imaginative, eerie and on occasion gruesome horror filled with dark surprises and a nightmarish exploration of addiction. This gives it a fresh edge for me in a horror tale but will take the reader into some very dark places of death, grief and drug abuse and then adds the supernatural on top to chilling effect. I could not let it go once I started it and highly recommend this to anyone seeking a terrifying read this spooky season.

Ghost Eaters is another great read by Clay McLeod Chapman. The complicated relationship between Erin and Silas gets even more so when he texts her to get him out of rehab. Erin doesn't want to be his crutch anymore and wants to get on with her life. Silas soon dies from an overdose, and Erin can't take it. She eventually tracks down and consumes the drug Silas used to help him see the dead, with catastrophic results. I can't do the story justice in my review. I highly recommend picking this up.

Full review on my blog: http://bewarethescarylibrarian.blogspot.com/2022/09/new-arrival-ghost-eaters-by-clay-mcleod.html

A suspenseful, intense, and unique horror novel that addresses mental illness, addition, and grief. Erin is attached and holding on to a toxic relationship with her ex Silas, even after her death. When she hears about a new drug, Ghost, that can help her see the dead, she finds a way to connect with him again. Unfortunately, Ghost has some serious side effects and soon Erin finds herself spiraling in a destruction that she can’t control.

The writing is very reflective of the main character’s mental state. It’s a solid read, though it did not hit as hard as I was hoping. I think I really struggled to connect to the characters. That being said, I really liked how the author addressed struggles that are very human in nature. We are all haunted in one way or another.

Overall this book was okay. Not bad but not great. Erin is obsessed with Silas and Silas is obsessed with drugs. He ODs and Erin and her friends find out Silas discovered a drug before he died that allows you to see the dead. Sounds great in theory.
I really liked the overall theme of exploring our inner demons and how we are haunted by them especially in the form of addiction. There were some strong points made and some creepy scenes that I really enjoyed. However, the actual synopsis doesn’t begin until about 40% in and by that point I was already bored. There were a lot of scenes and things happening that I find didn’t fully make sense and I wish we would have gotten a WHY for some of the things happening. It almost seemed like a lot of things were happening and we were being thrown all over the place while reading and sometimes I just got plain confused as to why these things were happening. I sometimes felt like I was read the same chapter over and over again. Overall though, I did enjoy this book I just didn’t enjoy it AS MUCH as I wanted to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this story! But I am biased because I am a RIchmonder and I've live in the neighborhood that was mentioned for over ten years haha. If you like grief horror with an addiction spin and spiritualism history, you will enjoy this book! 👻 The physical copy of this one is gorgeous as well!

Thanks netgalley!

“I haven’t eaten anything for I don’t know how long. All I ingest are ghosts now.”

This book was fantastic! If you are looking for a spooky read, look no further. If you are looking for a book with dark themes, look no further. If you are looking for a book that will give you chills, look no further. If you are looking for a book that can make you laugh but also makes you kind of want to cry, look no further!

I would honestly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It never dragged and I felt really attached to each and every character, SILAS ESPECIALLY.

Do yourself a favor and pick this up. You will not regret it!

All I can say is WOW! This is my first book i’ve read from Clay McLeod Chapman and it was a wild, sad, and horrifying ride.

I will say I feel especially attached to this book because I live in central Virginia and this is set in Richmond(and Hopewell). Chapman was born and raised in Richmond and he references a lot of distinct areas in town. You really get the vibe of the city in the book. With that said, not all of it is presented in a positive light. I don’t think Chapman chose Richmond as the setting just for nostalgia. With the heavy themes of drug addiction, it mirrors the real-life increase of opioid overdoses in the last few years here. With this book also involving ghosts, Virginia and its history are a perfect setting for this.

This book isn’t a light-hearted read. It’s got heavy themes of grief, death, and drug addiction. I really sympathized and felt the pain of Erin, as she tries to get through each day after her friend/ex Silas dies. When she’s given an opportunity to see him again, it’s understandable why she risks everything to do it. The horror scenes in this book…incredible. The séance scenes with be stuck in my head for awhile. The physical descriptions of the characters as they descend further into addiction are traumatizing. Chapman really shows the struggle of addiction in this and how it’s a day-to-day battle for a lot of people.

I could go on and on about how good this book was but I don’t want to give anything away. I highly recommend this but just be prepared for a lot of heavy topics. Thank you to Net Galley and Quirk Books for the digital ARC of this! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5/5!

GHOST EATERS is my first book from Chapman and based on the synopsis I thought I knew what I was signing up for, but what I ended up with was a much wilder ride than I was expecting. The story starts out harmless enough as we get to know Erin, whose world is slowly falling apart. The descent into grief is excellently portrayed within the pages of this story, as is the topic of addiction and its impact on not only the individual, but those in their lives.

The pacing was a bit slower than I was expecting and I felt the story lag in the middle. Chapman delivers a wild ending that got points added back onto my overall rating. I wasn’t expecting the weird turn that things took at all and while it worked for me, I’m not sure how others will feel. I still have a lot of questions about the how/why of this story and there are several things I wish would have been expanded on more.

If you’re looking for a claustrophobic, eerie and weird story, I definitely recommend giving this one a try!

A huge thank you to Quirk Books for my gifted copy!

In some ways, Ghost Eaters was exactly what I expected it to be. In other ways, it was even more intense than I could have imagined.

Recent college grad, Erin, is facing the all-too-familiar struggle of figuring out her life plans. Her anxiety is made worse by her fracturing friend group and her addict of an ex-boyfriend who constantly expects Erin to get him out of trouble. The sudden loss of a loved one threatens to send Erin over the edge, until a friend shows her a new drug called Ghost, a drug that doesn't just ease the pain, but can connect you to lost loved ones again...

With spooky season approaching, I was looking for a light but chilling read that would ease me into the season. Ghost Eaters caught my attention because the use of psychedelics sounded like an interesting twist on a classic ghost story. While this book is definitely a light read due to its small size and fast pace, I was pleasantly surprised to find the book was much creepier than I'd expected. The descriptions were vivid and grotesque--sometimes a little too grotesque for my taste--and the author did a great job of capturing the trippy scenes in a way that truly felt disorienting. I would recommend this book to lovers of Mexican Gothic.

Ghost Eaters was exactly what it was advertised to be. It was a relevant look at the designer drugs people will take and the promises they make. OK, maybe I am over identifying with that. I’ve watched too many kids grow up and fall into that life. Still, Erin refuses to pick up her ex yet again. Not long after, he is dead. She is made an offer. There’s a new drug that lets you see the dead. Should you take it? Obviously the drug gets taken. Where would the book be without that? Ghost Eaters was a bit out there, but you know that going in. Clay McLeod Chapman is getting added to my list to watch permanantly. The last three books of his I have read have been great.

Book Review:

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

What a trip... literally! Ghost Eaters is the creepy, mushroom tripping, ghost story that you need for your spooky season reading. You will look twice at any shadows you may see for weeks afterwards!

Outside of the drug trips and the seances, I really liked the conversation around addicts/addiction and their effects on the people around them. It comes up several times in the story and never preachy, just a reminder of what has to be done to not lose yourself in someone else's addiction.

Ghost Eaters releases 9/20. Make sure you read it this spooky season!! 👻 Thanks to @netgalley and @quirkbooks for this advanced reader!!

#BookReview #Bookstagram #ClayMcLeodChapman #GhostEaters #QuirkBooks #BookishLife #Reading #Bibliophile #BookPhotography #BookRecommendations #InstaBooks #BookNerd #HorrorBooks

Coming with a powerful commentary on drugs and addiction, Ghost Eaters follows Erin, who begins taking a drug called 'Ghost' to try and find the ghost of her recently dead addict love interest. Some of the emotional background and reasoning behind Erin's actions was a little lacking and the ghost action takes a while to get to. Interesting and challenging story.

I was really looking forward to this book but didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to. The premise is really interesting -- a drug that allows people to see ghosts getting out of hand -- but there were some elements from the blurb and promotional material that weren't as prominent in the story as I had expected. In particular, the prevalence of ghosts from marginalised backgrounds (slaves, Native Americans) in the Southern States I had expected would be a major theme, but was really just dealt with in passing.

I enjoyed the links between grief and addiction, and found the main character very sympathetic. I thought the dynamics between the main friend group were interesting. The characters were probably my favourite part of the book. However, the story was slow enough that it carried on beyond where I think it had run out of things to say.

I also enjoyed the mycology aspect of the story, and the way mushrooms were used as a metaphor for grief, for connection, for an unwillingness to let dead things rest. The metaphors weren't exactly subtle, but I think that's to appeal to a horror readership with certain perceived expectations.

Plenty of body horror elements. An interesting premise. Good characters who are well thought-out, and some really painful dealing with various kinds of grief. I just wish it had been shorter and more subtle.

This was somehow psychadelic, grotesque and moving. There are a lot of themes explored in this novel- grief, addiction, history and loss. There was a scene that had me gagging, but I coudn't stop reading because I had to know what happened next.

I received a free digital ARC from Quirk Books via NetGalley. This is my second time reading Clay McLeod Chapman and his books are quite creepy if you are looking for something haunting and disturbing. Erin’s friend and once lover Silas has died from an OD. In the aftermath Erin finds out that Silas has been working on a drug that allowed people to see the dead.

When you can see the dead everywhere, how do you react? Is it worth seeing your most dear loved ones again? This book looks intimately at addiction in a bone-chilling way. Strong stomachs only for this story. I will continue to read books by this author.

Well, that escalated quickly. I love Chapman's style of writing, gritty and irreverent, however, I feel like the story leaves much to be desired. It also sort of ended on a, is the protagonist ok? vibe. Not so much a cliffhanger but it does leave questions as to her status.
Erin is downright obsessed w/ her ex Silas and basically blows up her life in a bid to see him again after his death. She becomes addicted to a drug called Ghost that allows the user to connect with their dead. But it also allows the user to connect with ALL the dead.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Quirk Books for an e-arc of this novel.*

How do I sum this up? How about... Sixth Sense meets Haunting in Connecticut with drug addiction. There's dead bodies walking around that only people who take the drug Ghost can see, and taking Ghost causes users to vomit ectoplasm. There was something about this that kept me from really getting into it -- maybe because we don't really get to know the main character, readers are treated with more descriptions of the secondary characters than the lead herself. But I have to give it to the author some serious kudos: the scenes where the main character sees dead people are so descriptive that I could see them, too. Terrifyingly written and kept me reading even though I struggled to get invested in the story itself.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

This was just a no for me.

I wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt even after it takes almost halfway through the book to start getting to anything interesting.

The horror in the book wasn’t scary enough to keep me hooked. The characters weren’t uninteresting by any means, but they were so irritating.

It felt like plot lines were dropped and every time we get somewhere, the book changes it’s mind and heads in a different direction.

This book tackles and interesting topic of addition and hauntings. While it has these discussions a lot, the overall writing style confuses the reader with what is real and not. This is consistent with actual drug trips but took me out of the story.