This was definitely a wild trip.

What a way to look at our current situation in the world, to look at media in general! I'm still processing all the little tidbits and revelations from this book.

This is a good read for anyone who liked American Rapture by CJ Leede, or is really into apocalypse-gone-weird fiction.

Part 1 was compelling at first, with Noah arriving in VA to check in on his newly possessed parents, but it also contained graphic sexual assault descriptions which will definitely cause distress for some survivors. I felt like the sexualization in the novel was to pull in the primary characteristics of possession stories and to show how far removed the possessed are from their humanity, but it's not enough for me to witness SA scenes anymore. There's a similarly distressing scene of parents attacking their daughter in American Rapture by CJ Leede, but I felt like that author kept it brief rather than gratuitous and tied it into larger aspects of the story later, like by evaluating the rationale of a bystander who did nothing to help her.

Part 2 felt repetitive and drawn out - I didn't enjoy the length of time I had to spend in characters' heads who were spiraling into possession and I ended up skimming sections. I was very excited about the premise of the story (social horror story, conspiracy theories turning to possession, etc.) but it often tells you its messaging and I would have preferred more subtlety. As another head's up, there's a storyline of characters becoming school shooters, one from an adult perspective and one from an adolescent, and I just didn't stomach it well. I think I appreciated the beginnings of the characters' radicalization the most and there was a memorable quote from a character who noted that most news outlets made him feel dumb, but Fox News just made him feel. I hadn't specifically thought of that before and appreciated the idea.

Part 3 returns to Noah's perspective amidst constant danger post-Great Awakening, and Noah makes some bad decisions (I don't need my main characters to be likeable, but I want them to be more clever). I really liked Clay's novel Ghost Eaters and I'll definitely read more of his stuff (I have Whisper Down the Lane waiting on my bookshelf), but this one was mostly a miss for me.

I also didn't like that the novel implies more than once that half of the country is politically conservative and likely infected/possessed - I think it's unhelpful to perpetuate this myth of halves. There are a massive number of eligible voters who don't vote in the U.S. and even among voters, most consider themselves independents. If you force people to choose which way they lean then you can get closer to 'halves,' but I would rather not lead with the assumption that everyone falls into one of these two separate categories.

At one point Noah stumbles across some supposedly inept gun-wielding citizens who he describes as "Democrats," even though they save his life by hitting a running target from a rooftop multiple times (not a beginner skill). There's a decent amount of caricature. It also ignores the large Fox viewership and conservative voting trends of people who are Hispanic and Latino, which I assume was outside of the author's comfort zone, but it helps show that this novel is most definitely about the fears and emotions of a liberal White author grappling with the chasm that's opened among our families in the last 15ish years, rather than an accurate reflection on our current state of misinformation. It's an ambitious topic (we don't even fully understand who is most susceptible to conspiracies) and will likely leave people talking.

Where to even begin describing this? I can comfortably tell you that I lost a lot of sleep because I could not put this down.

When Noah is unable to reach his family, he drives from his liberal Brooklyn neighborhood down south to Virginia to see what's happening. What he doesn't expect is that a media "demon| has taken over his family through their own obsessions, especially through a vulpine inspired conservative news network.

The political commentary is spot on in Wake Up and Open Your Eyes. The book has three parts that all provide a narrative of what is happening during "The Great Reawakening" of America. The first part is Noah trying to figure out what exactly is happening with his parents, and he makes the horrifying discovery that their obsession with Fax News has consumed them in everyway possible. Chapman writes such an explicit description of what Noah finds that the reader can easily smell, taste, and even feel what is happening.

The second part of the story is where the meat of the story lies. It's following Noah's brother and his family and they each "wake up and open their eyes" to their own obsessive media demons, whether it's health influencers or conservative news, you see this family's descent into madness. You get multiple POVs of each family member and their experiences. It really makes the reader think about their own media usage, whether it's constantly checking their bookstagram accounts or doomscrolling Tiktok. The reflective nature of the commentary is top notch horror that radiates into the real world.

The third part of the book is a mix of found footage and a story told in second person, which was a totally new experience for me. It felt very immersive and was a really fun experience to read.

Chapman is exquisite writer, leaving the reader with the burning question as to what exactly are the media demons and how closely do they relate to us, the readers. This book is non-stop and there's not really a good place to put it down. You'll find that you become obsessed with the book itself, much like the characters and their own obsessions. Chapman's writing is engaging, clear, and easy to follow.

The book does have a few very explicit scenes of gore and sex, as well as a few trigger warnings for violent occurrences that are plaguing the US everyday. If you're a sensitive reader, please check those out before you dive deep into this book.

It's a perfect book to take you into 2024 and the new political season that is upon us. After all, it's time for you to WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES AND JUST ACCEPT THE FAX.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Honestly it was a dredge to read and halfway through i started skimming. bad vibes and bleak which isnt necessarily awful components to a horror book buy this time they did not work. I didnt care for the characters, the quasi “woke”/zombie situation, it was all kinda boring.

Many thanks to netgalley and the publishers for supplying me with the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Clay McLeod Chapman is making sure 2025 starts off with a bang for horror readers. The first release Tuesday of the year, January 7th, brings readers Wake Up And Open Your Eyes. His newest release from Quirk Books, this novel is a hard-hitting horror tale that feels all too real. Coming off the holiday season, it may be just the catharsis you need. Or, well, it may completely terrify you. Could be both.

Wake Up And Open Your Eyes is unflinchingly honest and complex. I know reading the description looks straightforward. Mass possession seemingly incited by certain media outlets, conspiracy theories, a divided nation… We know what’s going on, right? This novel is political. That statement is redundant—books and art have always been political—but in the current landscape sometimes it bears repeating. That being said, though, Clay did not take a shallow approach.

What he has done, quite successfully, is humanize both sides. The red and blue, conservative and liberal, possessed and sane; whatever words you want to use, Wake Up And Open Your Eyes crosses party lines. He made the antagonists into protagonists. That is not an easy task. It requires copious amounts of empathy. Clay has proven to be a master of grief horror, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that he could accomplish this.

What did come as a surprise to me was seeing myself reflected in one of these characters. I assumed, wrongly, that I would see my family on one side and me and my communities on the other. Oh, if only I had been let off so easily. The horror on these pages is more than violent mass possession—it is just how easy it would be for anyone to get hooked into an ideology like this. How easily we can all be isolated. How vulnerable we are.

Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the horror elements in this novel shine, too. This may be the most body horror I’ve read yet from Clay, and this was my eleventh read of his. And while this is a possession story, fans of zombie and plague narratives will find plenty to love. There’s even a tunnel scene that, I feel, tops the infamous scene from Stephen King’s The Stand. Wake Up And Open Your Eyes is gnarly. It is visceral. It’s bleak. It should be.

I can’t promise you’ll like this book. All I can offer is that I did. Writing this review has only made it grow in my esteem. As a literary work, it’s brilliant. As art, it is effective. As horror, it is terrifying. This book, as outlandish and at times absurd as it is, is real. And that’s what may make it divisive. It’s also what makes it important. I have done more thinking on this book and because of this book in the past week than I did writing papers in college. It’s powerful.

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is a start for 2025, but it’s also an end for me. I’m honored to have this be the last review I have on my books. Abby Wolf is the newest writer here at The Fandomentals and she is going to do an incredible job handling all things horror books for you. Her first review on Candy Cain Kills Again by Brian McAuley is a fantastic read. I highly recommend you keep your eyes open for all of her pieces to come.

Happy holidays and happy new year!

Images courtesy of Quirk Books.

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Hot damn what a journey! Clay McLeod Chapman will more than likely piss some people off with his latest (greatest?) masterpiece “Wake Up and Open Your Eyes” and you can only love him for that! He masterfully intertwines fictional horror elements with real (current) fears, worries and concerns in a way that while reading, you often times find yourself wondering if you should keep reading or put the book down and begin prepping for doomsday.

Not only will this book be hard to put down (even while building your bunker), it will also get you not wanting to hear another children’s song or drink a healthy juice again. Thanks for that, good Sir.

Whether you like to read or not, be sure to pick up this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ novel next month and prepare to be woken up and have your eyes opened!

Thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for gifting me with the opportunity to be scared shitless and entertained!

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes does not want you to be comfortable for even a second. It goes straight into the taboo right from the start. Taking the brainwashing by media farther than it's ever even been imagined. For some time the story drags on and on until you realize it's not going to end well. Just to keep you off balance there is the second person perspective. It's not comfortable to read but the basis of so many of the outrageous things that happen are easily found with a small internet search. The crazy conspiracies brought to life.

I'm so disappointed! I was really looking forward to this book. I have loved everything else I have read from this author so it's very sad that this didn't work for me. There are some really great moments, but I was so confused for a lot of it. I really enjoyed the beginning where Noah is going to check on his parents at their house. I didn't love that some of the story was in 3rd person and some was in 2nd person. Those book gave some similar vibes to another new release that I just read and loved, but I just had a very hard time getting into this one.

Thank you netgalley for providing me with an eARC of this book.

Ooof this book in our climate was so intense. I am becoming a huge fan of this author and will read whatever comes next.

Clay McLeod Chapman is a powerhouse when it comes to atmospheric creepiness. The story is unique and so engaging.

This is by far Clay McLeod Chapman's bleakest, darkest, and most horrifying novel. I greatly enjoyed it, but man. It's ROUGH, mostly because it's an astute satire on the way that the far right has used media to basically brainwash a huge percentage of the American population, but set to a splattergore horror story. I feel like it was somewhat cathartic, but also really, really difficult because while the extent to which this kind of damage has been done on the actual population isn't at the level of possessed zombies committing a mass act of gratuitous violence, it's still violence in this country as the Right Wing targets the marginalized and any so called enemies for vengeance, with the likes of Fox News and social media apps egging them on and indoctrinating more people, I was reading this in the aftermath of the election. While following the president elect's latest shenanigans AND yet another school shooting. Good lord. We very well may be the level of broken that Chapman was saying through satire and metaphor. Nightmarish.

My only real complaint is probably a very weird niche thing, but... were people getting possessed by demons, or turning into zombies? If it weren't for a few random mentions of the word "possession" it read very much like a zombie novel. Which is fine, nothing wrong with zombie horror, it just had a weird dissonance for me.

Anyway. Horror nerd stuff aside, this was a very uncomfortable in the best way book. Given the state of, well, everything, it's very timely. I do appreciate that it didn't come down on just conservatives/those who watch "fax" news, liberals didn't get away clean here either. And maybe all of us need to take a break from our screens for a while.

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.

This was such a weirdly fascinating, incredibly gripping read; I literally couldn't put it down and simply had to keep going. There were moments that were so incredibly uncomfortable — and I mean that both positively and not so much so; certain parts are highly disturbing in a way that feels almost unnecessary, Definitely very thought-provoking and filled with social commentary; terrifying in how very timely it is.

Many thanks to Quirk Books & NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Told from many different character viewpoints, this book is a statement on our fractured political culture and what can happen when people spend too much time watching entertainment news. As society deteriorates into flesh eating faux news zombies, one man tries to make his way from Virginia to New York City with his orphaned nephew in tow.

Wow. By far, my fav CMC novel. I'm sure some people would say we're not far off from this fate.
Noah is living safe and sound in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. His mother keeps calling to let him know that he needs to "Wake up and open your eyes." Times are changing. Doesn't Noah want to be safe? The Reckoning is coming. Noah mostly ignores these messages but is disturbed when his parents stop answering their phones. He drives to Richmond to check on them. And finds them completely taken over by FAX News. And when Noah tries to turn off the tv and snap his parents out of their strange stupor, they attack him. This is an apocalypse like no other. Creepy and completely bonkers as all good horror should be.

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

Chapman pulls no punches in satirizing the state of American politics and society. This novel follows the Fairchild family in three parts as Noah, the token liberal, journeys from Brooklyn to his parents' and then brother's house in Richmond. What he finds there is twisted and demented and also humorous in a gore-filled, campy horror romp kind of way. The apocalypse is here, delivered straight to American eyeballs by any number of screens - tablets, TV, phones - broadcasting extreme wellness rituals, disinformation, and Baby Ghost doo-doo, doo-doo doo. The effects send watchers into a catatonic state, after which extreme violent behavior takes hold.

A grotesque parody of our current social mores., there were some downright horrific, blood-soaked scenes. Our main protagonist, Noah, is a stereotypical stand in for self-important liberals, who do not escape Chapman's critique. The one thing I wanted more of was a resolution, a "what happens next" in the apocalyptic scenario. However, not giving readers this neat ending might be one of Chapman's points in telling this story. Fans of Max Booth & King's The Stand will enjoy this one.

So glad that I read this one before the election. It was terrifying then but afterward I fear I would have sobbed through it. Horrifying on entirely new levels.

I can see how this book has had some controversial opinions, but I thought it was viscerally well-written, turning a gimlet eye on the state of affairs in America through some incredibly intense storytelling, particularly in the second half when the pacing and action really hit their stride, and with a gut-punch of an ending.

M-kay - this is sorta crazy, a bit of a dystopian fever dream, but so are the actual times were are living in, so... While the story itself is pretty over the top, there are some really good points here about the biased Media and how they've caused a lot of what's going on & rotted quite a few brains. I enjoyed it overall & think it's a good pre-inaugeration read for anyone not in thrall to the "Faux News". Many thanks to both the publisher & Net Galley for my advanced reader's copy, I appreciated it!