Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

Starred review from October 1, 2024
With his most ambitious novel yet, Chapman (Kill Your Darlings, 2024) spins established possession and zombie tropes into an original tale that will hijack readers' nervous systems. It's a few days before Christmas, and Noah cannot reach his conservative parents in Virginia. Worried, he reluctantly leaves his family behind in Brooklyn to race south, arriving at a disaster scene. His parents are clearly not well, and Fax (yes, Fax) News is blaring in every room. But this opening is a brilliant red herring, lulling readers into thinking they know what is coming. Told in three "phases," each with a distinct writing style--Noah's perspective, flashbacks from his brother's family, and a race through an apocalyptic landscape--and incorporating social media, video transcripts, and news reports throughout, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes chronicles the Great Reawakening, the effects of a virus that has patiently threaded its way through screens to infect half of America. A compelling, cinematic, visceral, and disturbing tale, driven by fully realized, sympathetic characters, this is a memorable novel that implicates all, regardless of where they stand on "the issues."" A terrifying update to King's classic Cell, for fans of discomforting social-commentary horror like Chuck Wendig's Wanderers duology and Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt (2022).

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October 21, 2024
Chapman (What Kind of Mother) takes a big swing and misses in his attempt to explore the mounting political tensions in America through the lens of a splatterpunk apocalypse. Noah Fairchild, a young father in Brooklyn, despairs over his conservative Southern family members getting sucked into a popular cable news channel’s far-right cult of personality. When his parents and siblings stop returning his calls, Noah travels home to reconcile with them. Unfortunately for him, the ideological horror he confronts in his childhood home is only the beginning. Soon, he discovers that a mysterious force transmitted through the television is turning formerly normal people into monsters, and that it’s up to him to stop it. Chapman has a confident hand when it comes to horror, and, with carnage as creative as it is copious, fans of transgressive gore will find plenty to enjoy in these blood-slicked pages. Unfortunately, the author is less successful at crafting the political metaphor at the narrative’s heart, which winds up feeling both heavy-handed and somewhat muddled. The continued use of caustically profane narration, clichés like “snowflake,” and false equivalences between violent IRL rhetoric and anodyne internet fads undermine the politics. The result is a gleefully nasty story that fails to deliver a coherent or insightful message.

Starred review from December 1, 2024

Having failed to reach his parents by phone, Noah Fairchild sets out for Richmond, VA, from Brooklyn. He finds their house in disarray and his parents in a trance, eyes glued to the TV. Noah's efforts to help them end when he is savagely attacked by his mother. Time spent watching particular channels or using certain websites is causing a form of possession, resulting in horrific violence everywhere, so Noah and his so-far unaffected young nephew attempt to flee to New York. Chapman (What Kind of Mother) excels at describing dysfunctional family dynamics. The novel is intense from the start, with elements of body horror combined with a unique possession story. Readers may think they know where the book is heading, but Chapman offers more surprises as he ventures further into the apocalypse. There is some of Chapman's signature humor present, but this work is his most terrifying yet. VERDICT Those who are drawn to explorations of horrific possibilities of the interconnected world, such as Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca, or apocalyptic stories with a social critique, such as the "Newsflesh" trilogy by Mira Grant, will find much to love here.--Lila Denning

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