Book Review: WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES by Clay McLeod Chapman

WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES by Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books, January 07 2025) Hardcover, 384 pages. ISBN # 9781683693956 

Synopsis on the Goodreads site . . . . .

From Vulture’s “master of horror” Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media.

Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reckoning” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the long drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles, a fridge full of spoiled food, and his parents locked in a terrifying trance-like state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it and get medical help.

Then Noah’s mother brutally attacks him.

But Noah isn’t the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart-–literally-–as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend watching particular channels, using certain apps, or visiting certain websites. In Noah’s Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn–-but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes?

This ambitious, searing novel from "one of horror's modern masters" holds a mirror to our divided nation, and will shake readers to the core.

My Five Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Disgusting. Disturbing. Suspenseful. Thrilling.

Chapman has a way of making you feel like you really understand these characters, both victims and instigators, and then fear for them and fear of them.

Underneath the exaggeration is a single thread of conflict/misinformation that feels timely and serves as a warning. Could it happen here? I sure hope not. Certainly not the way that Chapman depicts this apocalypse, but still we can't be totally sure. This is a gut-punch. 

In his acknowledgments, Chapman cites 37 books that either influenced his writing of this novel or served as research, among them several of which I am familiar: The Violence by Delilah Dawson, Incidents Around The House by Josh Malerman, A Head Full Of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, and Cell by Stephen King. Books that I've recently read that seem like appropriate reference/related non-fiction works are Hoax by Brian Stelter, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, and The Siren's Call by Chris Hayes.

Notes:

MAY 01

The long section for December 20 is absolutely horrifying. I've long suspected that the most diehard MAGA cultists who excuse and accept every single mistake, injustice and cruelty from Trump are glued to their 24 hour television news networks like Fox, Newsmax and others who slant events to justify their opinionated points. They've been brainwashed and conned, especially if they watch the prime time commentators on a regular basis. Chapman's story is an exaggeration, for sure, but it's way too much grounded in reality for my liking - - - and speaks to my suspicions. 

P.S. . . . "Paul Tammany" (Fax News prime-time cultivator of fear/hate/group fervor) just happens to sound like/rhyme with "Sean Hannity". Coincidence? Sure. Let's keep Chapman out of trouble with the wrong people. 

I love the imagery here: "When they were kids, that cracked recliner was always off-limits. Asher and Noah knew never to sit in it, even when Dad wasn't around. . . . Noah never sat in that chair. Not once. The consequences of getting caught were too great. Even the name unnerved him - La-Z-Boy - as if the leather was the tanned hide of some good-for-nothing child, skinned for his indolence, now dressing for his father's furniture."

MAY 08

I'm 75% through the book at this point, and wondering if Chapman became so pissed off at misinformation through alt-right outlets that he decided to let out his feelings in a novel. That's the impression I'm getting. In any case, it served as a new idea, an inspiration for what may be his best work yet. 

There are so many gut-wrenching passages in this book that I'd love to share, but at the same time I don't want to spoil the experience - so I'm going to limit it. 

There's a notable shift at Page 260 when the narrative changes to second person. Not typical, as in we, the readers, suddenly becoming Nathan Fairchild and reading what we are currently experiencing. No, Chapman makes the narrator a voice in Nathan's head, that of news reporter Anderson Cooper, telling him what he's witnessing and adding cutting commentary. Very clever.

Just imagine the voice of Anderson Cooper sharing this with you: "Fax News Brain. It's spreading. It's communicable. Mad cow disease for conservatives. . . ." p. 268

"You have entered a world you no longer recognize. The life you knew before? The one held together by a social contract and laws? Held together with a paper-thin skin of morality? Of humanity? . . . . . Yeah, that world no longer exists. Not anymore. . . . . . It's theirs now." 

MAY 09

Newsday reporter Andrew Strickler: "There's a kind of groupthink going on here. A thought or an idea has spread from one person to the next. A meme for the mind. Once that thought locks in, these people . . . they can't unthinkable it. It just keeps looping around their brain, repeating itself. It's like their mind is on autopilot while this thought hijacks their body. 

A switch. That's what it feels like. Somebody flipped a switch in America and now all these people are going batshit."