Synopsis:
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 Reawakening” 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?
Review:
The biggest of thank yous to NetGalley and Quirk Books for my E-arc of this novel!
Clay McLeod’s latest and most ambitious novel to date walks the tightrope. Reading this exceptionally unique and memorable story feels like a merging between the madness and absurdity of a fever dream and the horrors of a world all too real, all too startlingly familiar. This book is a living nightmare, and it is time to wake up and open your eyes.
‘Wake Up and Open Your Eyes’ splits nicely into three distinct parts, or as Clay puts it, ‘phases’. Phase One follows Noah Fairchild, who is forced home to check up on his parents, after becoming increasingly concerned with their obsession with conspiracy theories that they have seen online, culminating in days upon days of unmissed calls. Phase One sets the tone for the chaos that is to come, thrusting you into the insanity and holding you under. It feels like the cold open to a slasher that is never going to end, capturing the anticipation and adrenaline that these bloody scenes encompass and strapping them to your chest. The novel settles in at a break-neck pace that neither Noah nor the reader is ready for. We are starting from behind, trying to collect the pieces of a wreckage that we had no hope of preventing. We are slowly waking up and opening our eyes, but it is way too late.
On surface level, ‘Wake Up and Open Your Eyes’ seems singularly like a commentary on radicalisation, on the helplessness so many of us feel as our elders slip down dangerous, fascism-laced rabbit-holes that we cannot pull them out of. This is a starring aspect of the novel, and Phase Two of the novel is an in-depth examination into the process of radicalisation. The story observes how your typical happy family can fall apart in record time, and in a multitude of different ways, whether that be politically motivated conspiracy theories, incel culture, or wellness-orientated pyramid schemes. We begin Phase Two thinking we know what to expect, but the body blow upon body blow that is inflicted on our senses cannot be prepared for. I, quite frankly, was a mess. The story unapologetically pushes the boundaries of how extreme you think it will go. I will warn you now that anything goes in this story, there truly are no rules. The consequences are visceral, they are shocking, and they are oh so bloody. Chapman places you in the safe and secure surroundings of the nuclear family and then relishes in the gore as he tears it limb from limb.
The dangers of the internet, technology, and how it can worm into your brain chemistry makes up the beating heartbeat of the novel. You can call it radicalisation, you can even call it possession, but ultimately the word behind the action matters little when the world is in disarray. The story is frightening and unnerving with how it taps into very real and very prescient aspects of the world around us. Reading it while living in the UK in August 2024, it was impossible not to think of the mindless racism-fuelled riots that occurred over here just weeks ago, all because of lies on the internet. However, Clay’s novel does much more than simply point the finger, it is a story that forces uncomfortable thought and self-reflection. We are left wondering what responsibility we have in all of this, where did it all go wrong? ‘Wake Up and Open Your Eyes’ may make a catchy mantra for a radicalised nut trying to convince you that slaughtered children are paid actors, but any phrase can have multiple interpretations, multiple meanings, and this mantra, this book, explores all of them.
‘Wake Up and Open Your Eyes’ is unlike anything else I have read this year. It is experimental and it is ballsy, but it absolutely works. Clay Chapman’s vibrant personality gleams through the pages, and you can’t help but laugh maniacally alongside him. ‘Wake Up and Open Your Eyes’ will indoctrinate you, cling to your mind, and make you view the world around you through a different lens – through new, open eyes.
Out January 7th 2025
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