I dont know where to start with this. From ghosts to a new view on addiction - this literary horror novel is right up there with SINEATERS by Elizabeth Massey from back in the day. Fantastic stuff!!

Let's talk addiction. The Ghost Eaters has a lot to say.

Addiction is not just for drugs and alcohol. Addiction is for people. For feelings. For sensations. in this novel, Erin's original addiction was her charismatic boyfriend Silas, who turn up dead of an overdose. After he purports to have a drug that can allow access to the dead. Erin intends to try it as a form of purging out her guilt and remorse.

Only for the effects to take her places 'trips' usually never go. Erin is plunged into a realm of horror and addiction, also dealing with the brutal legacy of the South. There is no magical and pleasant afterlife here, just hungry revenants. And once they see you? Watch out. Clay McLeod Chapman portrays the dead as most addicted to life the thing they cannot have.

This is a novel of past sins, both of people and of a tortured land. Richmond has its share of ghosts, from slavery, from the Civil War...and they're hungry. I did not expect this book to have so much to say about a variety of subjects, but I am delighted it did.

The slow Southern gothic burn of the novel, the talented writing of the terror and the effective characterization are the strengths of the novel. Erin is a flawed, but extremely effective main character. I could only root for her in her struggles with addiction, metaphorical and literal. Her guilt over Silas is only too realistic and sad, her attempts to bring his ghost to her a manifestation of the addictions of which she struggles.

Unique, impressive and imaginative. I look very forward to reading more of Clay McLeod Chapman's

4.5/5

Here’s a story about a dead addict ex-boyfriend who left behind the key to seeing ghosts: a highly addictive drug. I didn’t love the main character, but she was absolutely perfect for this story, which is a great mix of horrifying and thought-provoking. She’s just pathetic (maybe “sad” is a better word) enough to make it work. The story also plays off one of my favorite tropes - are they really seeing ghosts or are they just on drugs? The book gets disturbing pretty early and then doesn’t let up for the rest of the book. It’s legitimately terrifying and unnerving for 75% of the book. That’s how well the premise works. Definitely a must-read this year.

Every book that Clay McLeod Chapman writes gets better than the last one. “The Ghost Eaters” was so creepy and haunting and impossible to put down.

(Reviewed for Library Journal)
'Silas was a ghost long before he passed away'

"Ghost Eaters" starts off with four young adults in a Richmond, Virginia cemetery who are indulging in substances, mostly content in their drug-fuelled hazes. Their leader of sorts, Silas, leads them to a mausoleum for a seance. What he doesn't bank on is actual ghosts showing up--or at least that's what the protagonist, his girlfriend Erin, sees. A bizarre and disturbing sex scene unfolds. When next we see Erin, she's having dinner with a guy, Tanner, in a posh and hipsterish restaurant. She has dated plenty of men who enjoy the gentility and Civil War vibe. She keeps getting calls from Silas. Things get worse from there, until they come to a head. He leaves Erin with a dying wish. They've driven someplace resting over old Civil War battlefield; a town that hosted Klan rallies. The group of friends are now doing the sceance to try to draw Silas out. Within an unreliable narrator to a tee, things unfold in peril.To say that what Erin and her group of friends unleash is not at all what they were expecting doesn't begin to cover the chain of events that follow. The plot escalates as Erin's hauntings worsen with each move forward.

This isn't just one or two quaint ghosts. This is centuries of ghosts and revenants that are suddenly at every corner where Erin goes. Although the Powhatan people would have historically been buried in what's now eastern Virginia, the author could have handled what is a very overdone and harmful trope in horror of "Native American" burial grounds and taken things in a more culturally conscious direction. The Silas haunting are disturbing to say the least.

With some aspects of the film "Flatliners" as well as the forthcoming "Bodies Bodies Bodies" minus the humour aspects, the narrative of "Ghost Eaters" comes to a head with the reader understanding that Ghost has so much more of a morbid meaning in this addiction horror tale.

Readalikes: the Asylum series by Madeleine Roux, The Wide Carnivorous Sky by John Langan, Black Chalk
By Christopher J. Yates, and Never Saw me Coming by Vera Kurian

Visceral, gripping, stunning horror for those who love the genre and those just giving it a try. Ghost Eaters is filled with deeply gorgeous writing that never gets in the way of itself, it only enhances the experience. The characters are unique and recognizable. You'll find yourself chuckling along at family dinner parties or graveyard smoke sessions thinking, "Oh I know exactly who these people are." It has a stunning scope, deep roots in the culture and history of Richmond, and a sickening grip on its premise. This is one that I cannot recommend strongly enough for those who love intelligent, creative, well written horror that will stick with you. You wanna get haunted?

Mushroom horror is having a Moment, from the psychedelic Lovecraftian funghi of Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic to the recent eco-wilderness horror Gaia, and the upcoming twist on the fall of the House of Usher from T Kingfisher. Ghost Eaters does something unique by placing those mushrooms at the heart of a sinister drug operation: a group of friends are experimenting, in an abandoned house, with a pill called Ghost that allows you to see the dead, The idea (that if YOU can see them, THEY can see you) is one which never ceases to chill, and McLeod Chapman takes it to horrifying, hallucinogenic heights with some of the best occult-drug-trip sequences I've ever read. The ghosts are terrifying; the protagonist's mental breakdown unnerving; and the implications of it all (and parallels with drug addiction and homelessness) poignant and sad. Not a wasted page or poorly executed idea in the whole book, this author pulls it off with style.

This was a interesting bit of fiction, I really liked the themes of addiction mixed with the horror elements. And how we deal with grief was well done too.

But I never really connected to the characters in the novel unfortunately. And didn't particularly get emotionally invested.

Very well written and easy to read though.

Based on the description of this book, I was expecting a lot more horror and paranormal themes. Instead it ended up being one giant metaphor for drug abuse and addiction. I enjoyed the simplicity with which this book was written but I didn't really get the point. The characters were pretty unlikeable so I wasn't able to connect with their grief or desires. I did enjoy the grotesque body horror and it was described well so I could easily visualize it. The book also described well how someone can succumb to their drug addiction and how it can make them feel. But I found the ending to be jarring and almost unbelievable considering everything the main character went through prior.

A must read for horror fans! This was one seriously creepy book that I am going to have a hard time getting those images out of my head. I also loved the twist on ghosts and that cover!

A history buff who has spent the last several years off and on with a drug addict. Even though they’re over romantically, they are still friends. Not anymore. She’s done. Really done this time.

When he overdoses, she blames herself, so when their friend says there’s a way to reach him in the afterlife, Erin is down. When she takes a pill and sees him, feels him with her, she wants to try again. It’ll take her down a haunted rabbit hole, chasing ghosts.

It’s not out until September, but it’ll be worth the wait. If you’re a Chapman fan, you’ll definitely appreciate this new plot with the quality writing you’ve come to expect. I finished this one in a single evening. I started it aftert work, expecting to read maybe3 100 pages, maybe half the book if I got into it. Nope. By 11pm, I had finished it before I passed out for the night.

It’s got great characterization, explorations of addiction, guilt, and how we get stuck in bad situations, because the devil you know. Like all good horror, it’s creepy but also goes deeper on our issues as humans. There’s some supernatural elements, which is how you get me, and parts of it read like a straight up thriller. It hooked me very quickly and kept me enthralled until the very end.

As always, I can’t wait to see what Chapman does next.

I wanted to love this book and, to some extent, I did. "Ghost Eaters" is beautiful and there are some fantastic and absolutely horrifying scenes. Unfortunately, it fell flat otherwise. The plot itself feels rather shallow, as do the characters. It fails to add or say anything interesting to the genre and feels as though it's more of a statement on drug addiction. Overall, still worth the read.
3.25/5

This was a mash up of Ninth House, Mexican Gothic, and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires that misses the successful parts of all of them. It's well written and reads smoothly, with some truly grotesque body horror, but doesn't have anything interesting to say.

Do you want to see a ghost? Reconnect with a dead loved one? There is a pill for that. “Ghost Eaters” by Clay McLeod Chapman is a refreshing tale of not only horror, but what we will do for love.
Erin discovers there is a pill that will allow her to see deceased Silas, a man she has loved for years though their relationship was fraught with turmoil. She is looking for closure, and this pill seems harmless enough…until it isn’t. “Ghost Eaters” keeps the reader on the edge of the seat throughout the entire book.

Nobody does gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, stomach-turning storytelling quite like Clay McLeod Chapman. A heartwarmingly affable man with a mind of untold depths is perhaps the best balance to strike in the creative world, and fortunately Chapman is both in spades. Following him on social media is a constant adventure laden with breadcrumbs into his world and seemingly ceaseless work, and for that reason Ghost Eaters is one of my personal most anticipated releases and he one of my most avidly read authors.

Every author has their signature tools of the trade, something that sets them apart from anyone else in readers' minds. Clay McLeod Chapman's toolbox seems full to bursting with feverish delight in the ways to interpret the concept and nature of storytelling. Where The Remaking and Whisper Down The Lane built themselves from the blocks of shifting media consumption and word of mouth rumor mills, Ghost Eaters infects its story and its people with something far more sinister. Beyond word of mouth, Ghost Eaters reframes the very notion of spirits, houses, and haunting into a new land teeming with equal parts of every potentially toxic emotion humanity can muster.

After she busts him out of rehab, Erin watches her closest friend and-sometimes lover Silas rapidly descend into what appears to be a drug-fueled madness. When the intervention she and the friend group stage for him explodes beyond control, Erin kicks him out of her apartment and tries desperately to kick the habit of being his savior whenever he calls. When he's found dead under an overpass, she must reckon with the wreckage of the intensity of her connection to him and her guilt. Tobias, one of the friend group, proposes a seance in an abandoned house so they might connect to Silas one more time…and reveals in the process that he and Silas have discovered a drug that is both potentially revolutionary and highly risky. Hungry for a way to continue her relationship with Silas, Erin soon spirals into a world where she can hardly believe her eyes…or trust her body. The only way to survive is to escape and break long held addictions of all kinds, no matter the cost.

It's easy, under the right conditions, to be intoxicated with someone. Even addicted to them. Driven to sacrifice everything about yourself just for the knowledge that they might be happy and safe. It's also one of humanity's most dangerous and ultimately unrewarding tendencies. To fall into it is to become a shell of your former self, always clawing back and forth between reclaiming your identity and giving over to the life your counterpart wants. Chapman's ability to delve into such a tenderly toxic landscape and pull from it a narrative as devastating as Ghost Eaters is a testament to his strengths in exploring and harnessing the rawer sides of human nature. It is a similar testament that no single character is ever fully unlikable - even at their worst and most manipulative moments, Erin's ability to see the best in her friends allows us a window into the complexities of their struggles. Ghost Eaters is a novel of addiction and haunting where the houses, streets, and people are equally marred with the ghosts of their past even as they clamber toward a livelier future.

Even Silas, with the allure and charisma of a cult leader and arguably the most toxic member of the group, is never fully divorced from Erin's devotion to him even in our eyes. By turns achingly sad and subtly menacing, the tendrils of his need envelope her until she can no longer see the world for what it is, only what he wants it to be and what it would be without his presence - no matter how she can get it. Erin's journey toward life and a future is checkered with tragedy - both hers and the tragedies of the revenants she sees after taking Ghost, the drug that Silas and Tobias argue can connect you to lost loved ones and render mourning obsolete - that crashes into her in unrelenting waves.

Readers of Chapman's prior works may notice small nods to Whisper Down the Lane, as if the research done for that novel still whispered through the author's fingertips, in the agency Erin stakes her future on working for, and the lost son of one of Ghost's later addicts. These echoes, whether intentional or not, adds a layer of sadness that feels right at home among the cast of other spirits lingering in the shells of Tobias's dealing headquarters and begging for new vessels. While Ghost Eaters also extends its reach into the current and strangely persistent trend of eco-horror with a twist a la Mexican Gothic - I've read three separate authors over the past two weeks with their hands in sinister phyla - , it also manages to stand on its own wholly original ground that will have readers coming away reexamining their ideas of "haunted houses", ghosts, and moving on without forgetting the past.

I would be remiss to leave this review without acknowledging Chapman's devastatingly sharp way with words. Reading his work is always a test of stomachs and hearts in equal turn, and Ghost Eaters is no different. I found myself recoiling from turns of phrase through tears brought on from a previous paragraph's revelations on more than one occasion. Clay McLeod Chapman is a writer's writer and a reader's favorite: one so skilled with word-building you can't wait to see what previously unheard-of image he'll conjure in your head next.

In recent years Clay McLeod Chapman has been on a fine run of form, his latest Ghost Eaters following the excellent The Remaking (2019) and the even better, Whisper Down the Lane (2021) which was one of the literary highlights of the year. All three are great books in their own right, but what is particularly impressive is the fact that they are uniquely distinct from each other with Chapman quietly building an impressive back-catalogue, being equally comfortable writing about the real-life horror of the Satanic Panic era as he is supernatural curses or life after death.

Ghost Eaters cleverly revolves around the theme of addiction in a physical, allegorical and supernatural sense via a drug which allows the users to see ghosts. Before we get to the ghost part, it is clear that main character Erin is in many ways addicted to Silas whom she has had an on-off relationship with through college and slightly beyond. The four main characters are of the age when college is in the taillights behind them and they should be targeting their first professional job in the big bad world. However, things have not worked out that way as Silas is a drug addict and he regularly uses Erin as his safety net as he repeatedly flunks out of rehab for the umpteenth time. Much of Erin’s thought process is connected to Silas and what he is doing, with the novel beautifully capturing how directionless those in their early twenties often feel, but at the same time think they know everything and are invincible (whilst still sponging from their parents).

Erin narrates the novel and although some readers might find her dependency and lack of boundaries regarding Silas to be frustrating, but it is pivotal to the direction the plot heads into. Early in the novel the young woman, like any drug addict, swears off Silas for what she believes to be the final time, only for him to die from an overdose just as she is about to start a new job. Wracked with guilt and pain she misses the funeral, only for things to take a much darker turn when she meets up with her two other old mutual friends with Silas, Tobias and Amara.

There are considerable levels of pain and guilt on offer in Ghost Eaters which is an incredibly dark book and is a druggie juiced up version of the age-old horror trope of attempting to bring a loved one back to life (even though you know you really shouldn’t, as no good can ever come out of it). Toby tells Erin that Silas discovered a drug which allowed him to see the dead, although she does not really believe him, agrees to a séance where the four take the remainder of the drug. This was a terrific sequence which was equally trippy and freaky, with Erin believing she has contacted Silas. Toby says they need to exercise caution, but Erin wants more (spot the addict) and the plot begins to shift through the years in some very clever directions.

In a round about way the book asks the reader how far they would go in order to get the ultimate kick or high? If heroin or ecstasy does not do the job then the drug on offer in this novel provides something more surreal than even the strongest acid could do! And what if lots of people started to take it? I also loved the clever direction the plot moves into when the use of the drug ‘ghost’ expands beyond the close circle of friends.

Ghost Eaters is a fine example of Southern Gothic horror literature, throws in a fair wedge of graphic body horror and includes haunting sequences which are a million miles away from Ghostbusters. However, these sequences are also very sad as the ghost are searching for something they do not have, but which becomes apparent as the plot moves on. The location of Richmond Virginia was also terrific and key to the story, as due to the Civil War and the city’s Confederate history there were more ghosts around than most other places. The sequence when Erin has her first day at her new job (not long after taking the drug) was a killer as the office was littered with ghosts. Freaking out, her new colleagues thought it was first day jitters!

The manner in which events spiralled was very nicely handled, even if things came together rather too neatly in the end, it was still a first rate read. Ghost Eaters expertly plucks at the raw nerves of the grieving process and hints at the bleakest afterlife imaginable. Remember kids, if offered drugs JUST SAY NO (especially ones which offer glimpses of what lies beyond the veil).

2.5 stars. I have mixed feelings on this one. I absolutely loved the general premise and thought the ending was clever without coming out of left field. There were some extremely graphic body horror moments that I had to skim through. Luckily, it was only a page or two of it. I also just love the idea of fungal horror.

Where the book lost me was with its characters, especially the main one. They never felt fully realized and seemed like just vehicles for the plot. Erin in particular annoyed me due to her extreme non-agency. I'm actually fine with characters who "don't have agency" in the beginning if part of their development & growth is gaining it. But Erin felt like she was defined by Silas the entire time. Yes, you can say that the whole point is she was addicted to him and breaking an addiction isn't easy. But really she just wasn't an interesting character to follow in my opinion. I also didn't like the pseudo-deep talk that randomly popped up near the end. It took me straight out of the book and felt really disconnected from the rest of the highly readable writing.

There's something special about this book. I think it has good bones, but the characters really brought the actual experience down for me.

Wow…this book was so f***ed up, but also so good. I did have a hard time getting into but once I was in, I was in! This book was equal amounts creepy and thought provoking. I think for anyone who has ever lost someone, you can get lost and pulled into the draw of this drug. Some parts of this book were so disturbing, but I still couldn’t stop. Really great book!

Thank you so much to the author and the publisher for letting me have an advance read. I’m looking forward to adding this one to my collection and seeing others reactions! Great novel to release around Halloween!

Erin is enthralled with Silas who haunts her life and yet brings the uplifts for which she yearns. Escaping a family where love is held distantly, Erin is devastated by Silas’ death and seeks him through the use of a “haunting” capsule. An unusual take on a Southern Gothic tale, Sara is caught up in a haunting of immense proportions, discovering haunted spirits everywhere. Descriptions of the hauntings are quite graphic and scary, my stomach churned when I was reading it. I thought about putting it down but the book grabbed me in a way and I had to know what would happen and how the story resolved. Probably leans on the side of horror vs spookiness. On another level it is a story of addiction and how it just infiltrates one’s life, haunting everywhere. Having worked professionally in a residential drug program for teens, and in an alcoholism treatment program, I saw the haunting that addiction can cause. Looking through that frame, the book has been haunting me a bit since I finished reading it.

Thanks to Quirk books and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

The early chapters of Ghost Eaters nearly paint our narrator as yet another too-cool-for-the-room type, so Relatable that she could Pac-Man around into being unrelatable. But as things pick up, the characterization evens out, and she becomes a sympathetic ride-along for what is, by its nature, a difficult read. It’s a keenly observant narrative that, with a mix of body horror and just plain horror, plucks at the raw nerves of the grieving process. If you’ve never been there, it’s instructive; if you’re in the midst of your own grief, your mileage may vary.


Grade: B+

(from Sci Fi Magazine Summer 2022 issue)