Noah begins to worry about his parents when his mom leaves a series of alarming voicemails about how he should be prepared for the Great Reawakening. When he gets several messages in one day, his parents won’t answer their phone, and he can’t get ahold of his brother Asher, Noah makes the trip from New York to Virginia to check on them. He finds his parents both in a  trance, unbathed, unfed, the house in shambles, with the conservative news station blasting on every TV. Noah knows they need help and he’s considering calling the police when his parents attack him. He escapes the house and realizes this is happening at other homes.  People across the country are being turned into zombies by particular channels, apps and websites they access on their screens. Like Noah’s sister-in-law Devon, who has been brainwashed by a “wellness” influencer on social media. Folks are violently attacking their families, engaging in disturbing sexual behaviors and rioting. Noah is unaffected, and he finds himself fighting to get back to his wife and daughter in New York without becoming infected or the victim of the possessed mobs. 

CW: Brutal body horror, disturbing sexual content, child death, animal death, school violence, politics… there’s probably more.

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I picked this up knowing it was social horror and satire, yet it was still surprising to me 1) how deeply disturbing it was and 2) how I absolutely could not look away. While I’m making lists of two, there were two things that really stood out to me. First, the description of Asher’s downward spiral into conservative media. He started out as someone who kind of side-eyed those channels, and quite quickly got sucked into the fear mongering tactics. Second, how Devon and Asher’s older son became ensnared through stealthier means - wellness influencers on Instagram and bots on Twitter. I mean, this is literally how people get sucked in, and the brainwashing is just as terrifying as the body horror. What wasn’t my favorite: The social media and news clip transcripts did not add to the story in my opinion and added unnecessary length to the book. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5