Just finished "Wake Up and Open Your Eyes" by Clay McLeod Chapman, and it’s a chilling masterpiece! This social horror novel follows Noah, who discovers his parents—and much of the country—possessed by a media-driven epidemic that turns loved ones into violent attackers. With its mix of psychological, body, and zombie-like horror, this book is a scathing reflection on societal divides and media influence. A must-read for horror fans who enjoy thought-provoking terror!

I enjoy following Clay McLeod Chapman on social media - his quirky personality really shines there. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is just another way that the author chose to showcase his personality! This is an interesting possession novel with a fair amount of gross/gory bits thrown in for good measure. I found it to be totally relatable to today's (unfortunate) political propaganda and a particular group's cult-like following (the other side isn't safe from criticism either). Thanks, NetGalley!

did i feel violently ill at several points through this book? yes. would i do it all again. also yes.

what i liked: the pacing of this story ebbs and flows, but the narrative immediately hooks the reader with uncanny and completely unhinged characterisation and antics.

what i disliked: i now have Baby Ghost stuck in my head for eternity. also, the dog?!?!?!

I really enjoyed this! The book takes on a political horror through the media perspective and the body horror and descriptions were very vivid throughout. The book was well-paced and kept you engaged. This is my first time reading Clay McLeod Chapman and I'd be very interested in reading more in the future.

I found this book to be incredibly dark and reflective of what our country has come to. We are so sucked in by media that we cannot peel ourselves away from it. The father is addicted to the news often times adding incorrect information to what is happening. The mother turns to Facebook and live streams for health advice that leads her down the rabbit hole of smoothies that eventually turn to something horrific. The eldest son gets caught up in strangers on the internet and locks himself away from his family. This is a reflection of how we think we are connecting to others but in reality, we are slipping farther into isolation and destruction than ever before.

*Wake Up and Open Your Eyes* by Clay McLeod Chapman is a wild ride from start to finish. The story mixes suspense with moments of deep introspection, making you think while also keeping you on the edge of your seat. Chapman’s writing is sharp and engaging, and the plot twists definitely keep things interesting. Some parts were a bit confusing, but the overall journey was thrilling enough to make me push through. If you like a story that keeps you guessing and makes you reflect on life in the process, this one’s definitely worth picking up!

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is a visceral sci-fi horror novel that offers social and political commentary. When Noah cannot contact his parents, he decides to leave his liberal enclave of Brooklyn and head for his hometown in Virginia. For months, his mother has left increasingly agitated right-wing propaganda voicemails about a "Great Reawakening" and other conspiracy theories. When he arrives, he is met with strange and animal-like behavior not only from his parents, but from the whole town. As Noah finds his family and slowly uncovers what is behind the mystery, the novel begins to unfold and tear down all that Noah believes.

Be aware, this is definitely a political body horror book. Know what you're getting into. Good, but not outstanding.
Thank you very much to Quirk Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

"Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is a rollercoaster ride of a possession story, completely unlike anything you’ve encountered before.

I thoroughly enjoyed spotting clever Easter eggs throughout—nods to other authors, etc. The storytelling was elevated by the diverse cast of narrators, especially as the book incorporates snippets of videos, podcasts, and social media posts, each brought to life by a different voice. These elements added depth and made the experience all the more captivating.

The book struck an odd but delightful balance: it felt almost mischievously gleeful. While it addresses serious real-world issues, I couldn’t help but imagine Clay McLeod Chapman cackling to himself, pipe in hand, while furiously typing out his vision. Some parts left me laughing uncontrollably, others disgusted and repulsed, and still others deeply saddened by how far society has already gone—and where it might be heading.

Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

I'm still sitting here just taking it all in. This book was terrifying and horrific. I almost wanted to stop reading but I just couldn't look away. The premise of this book would have been extremely unique however it seemed awfully repetitive and drawn out

Splatterpunk goes mainstream with this subversive examination of the things we let possess us. You'll need a strong stomach and even stronger scuba gear to handle the depths this goes to. Cautiously recommended!

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes definitely feels relevant and opens with an interesting idea of massive numbers of people being possessed by avenues such as obsession with right-wing news sources. It begins with a son who is worried about his parents and brother as the time comes for everyone to wake up and open their eyes, and moves quickly into being a zombie apocalypse style story. Although the opening definitely caught my attention, the book ended up being extremely gory and ultimately kind of repetitive as the possessions were occurring. I also was not thrilled at the ending..

I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to. It's violent, sickening, and perhaps the social horror is hitting a bit too close to what's happening in reality. Read the content warnings. This book is not for everyone.

That said, this book has a lot to say about the time spent with social media and how we all participate in self-brainwashing through mindless activities. I'm scrolling a lot less.

Thank you to Quirk Books and NetGalley for the digital arc in return for my honest review.

No one can do horror quite like Clay McLeod Chapman. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes was both terrifying and timely. Following each characters arc into madness was fascinating. The visual imagery was so horrifying that at times I had to set the book down. This is one of the best social horror books I have come across.

Big thanks to Quirk Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Clay McLeod Chapman’s terrifying new book Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. I have another Chapman book (Whisper Down the Lane) that I’ve been meaning to read, so I was excited to receive a copy of this book for preview. I also recently read an interview with Chapman that explains his interest in trying to publish this book before the election, and how the violence of January 6th motivated him to write this horror story. The book is described as a possession story, but I felt like there were tropes from other horror genres including apocalyptic stories of survival (think The Road or Parable of the Sower), as well as a kind of zombie story where citizens are rendered mindless due to some strange kind of phenomenon. In this case, Chapman creatively uses mass and social media as the catalyst for transforming people into mindless and murderous vessels, meant to do the bidding of anchors from the not-so-subtly named Fax News. The indoctrination and transformation happens largely due to technology, including new, HD televisions, tablets, and social media apps on phones and laptops. Chapman’s description of the hypnotic colors and a kind of ooze or oil that emanates from these devices also created a kind of Lovecraftian mood, where these transformations led to a cosmic horror that the main character Noah experiences. I loved these various influences, and the mood of the story ranged from a kind of creepiness to despair, often a feeling I experience when reading these kinds of apocalyptic novels. Nevertheless, there was a lot I could relate to in Chapman’s book, and there were some truly humorous parts, but this is a book that will also challenge readers to think about how media affects us, and how a kind of unhealthy consumption of media can really affect not only our own mental health, but also how we interact with and treat others.
Noah, a husband and father living in Brooklyn, is receiving strange calls from his mother. After recent visits where he experiences political differences with his parents, Noah begins to worry about their well-being. He reaches out to his older brother, Asher, who lives closer in Virginia, to possibly check in on the parents, but Asher seems less concerned and sympathetic to Noah’s concerns about their parents. Noah eventually decides to visit his parents, and encounters a strange scene when he arrives. There are several televisions playing and the stench of rotten food fills the house, but there seems to be no sign of his parents. Eerie silences and signs of struggle fill the house until Noah eventually encounters his parents, but something is off. I won’t give too much else away about this scene, but Noah really struggles to take care of his parents. In a scene probably relatable to a lot of adults in the sandwich generation tasked with taking care of elderly parents and children, Noah finds the roles reversed where he has to manage his parents’ needs. And many of them are strange and disturbing, which adds both a sense of fear and comedy. I’m not sure if Chapman wrote it this way, but there are some absurd events throughout the book, and especially in this scene where Noah realizes how much his parents have changed. The other relatable element of this book, and it is something that Noah reflects on during his journey to Virgina to check in on his parents is the ideological/political battle that many adults face in dealing with older relatives indoctrinated by conservative media entertainment and/or gaslit by social media. Although it’s relatable, Chapman’s use of horror serves as an effective commentary about the dangers of not being a careful consumer of information in our current content-rich environment.
The second part of the book tells the story from Asher’s family perspective. Asher is Noah’s older brother, who also has a family, but remained in Virginia and lives a more conservative, traditional lifestyle. I found this section to be more disturbing and depressing, but equally powerful in conveying the message of the dangers of unchecked media consumption. What was also compelling about this section is that despite being somewhat unlikable characters, I felt sympathy for Asher and his family as they regressed into the degradation brought about by the demons behind Fax News. In particular Devon and Caleb, Asher’s wife and high-school aged son, were both sad, lonely characters who sought out social media connections to fill the voids in their lives. Asher, in contrast, seeks out comfort and companionship through Fax News and a recliner, which both end up taking on demonic qualities. Devon and Caleb both struggle with their loneliness, yet find friends and followers on social media who gradually influence them, yet also isolate them from any other kind of meaningful social contact with real people. I appreciated Chapman’s critique in these sections, and the extent that Devon and Caleb go to appease their followers is entertaining and horrific. Marcus, the younger son in the Fairfield family, is the only one who is not in contact with the demons from social media and Fax News; however, he is still affected and struggles to avoid the evil that inhabits his family. Yet, even Marcus is yearning for electronic connections, seeking out a tablet (or Pi-Pi, as he refers to it) to listen to his favorite song “Baby Ghost”, a not-so-subtle parody of another earworm about a family. Again, Chapman’s satire of modern infotainment and how we often use it to either avoid meaningful, substantive connections with others or to basically replace the real responsibilities we have to friends and family hits home and serves as an important reminder to readers.
The last section of the book returns to Noah’s perspective but also took a stylistic change as well. As Noah leaves his childhood home and goes to see his brother Asher, the story is mostly told in a second person direct address to the reader. I had mixed feelings about this aspect, but I also think that there was a kind of power to this narrative choice. In many ways it implicates the reader into the kind of outrage and powerlessness that Noah experiences (or at least, it made me feel somewhat angry and powerless with all of the chaos that is currently swarming around in daily headlines). It’s an interesting choice, and although I’m not exactly like Noah or his family, I kind of felt more of a connection with him. I think it also made me realize how despite a kind of liberal concern to create a safe and diverse world, there’s always a threat, especially when we maybe underestimate the threats or problems in society. The last section also chronicles Noah’s attempts to return to Brooklyn from Virginia while the world has basically collapsed. This part of the book really reminded me of more apocalyptic stories, and it kind of borders between more serious stories like Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and more satirical stories like Ling Ma’s Severance. Nevertheless, this last section left me with a lot to consider and reflect on, not only with how I consume media and information, but also how I consider ideological and political differences. Overall, this was a really great book that was equally entertaining and left me with a lot to think about. There were some humorous and horrific moments, and the book is filled with a kind of cosmic dread that was like a modern Lovecraftian story about unleashing the old gods who are hungry, angry, and in search of new sacrifices. I also felt like there were some great references, both veiled and explicit, to pop culture, and Chapman’s horror descriptions were detailed and clever. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes makes me look forward to reading some of Chapman’s other books.

I got a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.. then I preordered a physical copy. This book was 100+mph from the first page. I enjoyed how fitting with the times it was. The political satire was relatable and I giggled a few times. There was a lot of gore to go along with it, so if those two things aren’t your jam, you might want to steer clear of this one. While relatable, it is certainly heavy. I do enjoy gore 😅 and this story will stay on my mind for a long time, so it gets 5⭐️ from me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, but I was both fascinated and horrified by what I found. On the surface, it’s a survival horror story about a man and his nephew trying to escape a violent horde. But on a deeper level, it’s a chilling look at modern media obsession taken to its most extreme conclusion. The “infected” in this book aren’t just brainwashed—they’re literally possessed by their addiction to social media, 24-hour news, and influencer culture. What starts as normal engagement spirals into an all-consuming need for the next dopamine hit, and anyone who gets in their way is collateral damage.

This book has a lot in common with American Rapture by C.J. Leede, another recent horror release that explores an apocalypse fueled by human brutality. But Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is especially unsettling given the current political climate, making it a tough read at times. It’s bleak, violent, and doesn’t offer much in the way of hope—so don’t go in expecting a happy ending. Also, fair warning: if you have sensitivities around child or animal abuse, proceed with caution. And if you have fond memories of Baby Shark, just know that you won’t after reading this.

What if a news network was not just poisoning your mind, but your soul? This was a fun premise that will likely alienate half of the county. I liked the Evil Dead feel of the demons and I found the middle portion to be the strongest in terms of horror. The first part could have been shorter and the last part needed a bit more fleshing out for me to find satisfying. Overall, this is a timely horror that I think captures the feeling of our present moment.

FAX news is brainwashing our nation. Noah Fairchild no longer recognizes his parents. Literally. Did he really just unhinge his dad's jaw by shoving the remote control down his throat sideways? "The Great Reawakening" has invaded far-right news and social media in the most terrifying way possible as family turns on family, neighbor on neighbor. Part apocalyptic but mostly slap you in the face metaphorical, this book is 1000% my jam! If I am looking for grotesque, shocking, controversial, skin crawling imagery, then I have to look no further than the modern horror master, Clay McLeod Chapman

I will always read this author’s work. In today’s political climate, I found this book incredibly relevant to how I’ve been feeling. God help us.