Ghost Eaters: A Novel

Shirley J.      Adult Fiction Horror              Contacting the dead through mushroom induced states

Ghost Eaters: A Novel by Clay Chapman     304 pages    

This book presents a unique premise.   People can have a paranormal experience by ingesting a hallucinogenic mushroom in pill form street named "Ghost" because once you take it you are able to see all the ghosts that are usually invisible to the eye.   Now, the maker of the drug sells the experience as being able to see loved ones or whoever the consumer wants to communicate with while under the influence, however, those eating "Ghost" get more than they bargained for when every ghost out there on the ultra-violet plane gains access to them and drops in for a haunting good time, which is not always so good for the human recipient of the visitation.   Four friends from college enjoy doing the scary goth things like visiting graveyards and haunted locations at night.   They feel pretty fierce and aren't bothered by the creepy things that go bump in the night.    They especially love to drop acid (lysergic acid diathylamide or LSD) and pretty much any hallucinogen that will intensify the experience.   Drugs, drinking and out daring each other for the macabre is their thing all through their college years, not as much after as each gets a "Joe" job.   Silas, the leader and on and off boyfriend of Erin tends to like staying high to the point he also does time in rehab after which he goes to estranged ex-girlfriend, Erin to crash on her couch, till he comes in stoned out of his mind and she throws him out.  Not long after Silas turns up dead and of course enabler, Erin, who has always given into Silas no matter what is filled with such guilt after he dies.    Tobias, another weak minion of Silas' continues the druggie experimentation emulating Silas and honoring his memory by keeping the drugs and new found doorway to the supernatural ala an ayahuasca like fungi crushed into powder then put into capsules for a high that will take you to the ethereal place where ghosts inhabit.   Hmmm.   When Tobias leads Erin into it she is desperate to try it never being a stranger to taking drugs, she is anxious to try it in hopes of reaching Silas.    So desperate is she in fact that after not getting the result she had hoped for dropping one cap. she steals Tobias' stash and drops them all.   BAMMMMM!   Erin's world turns into the film "The Sixth Sense" with ghosts in all forms of decay and mangled parts, some bloody, or missing appendages coming up to her strangely not Silas.   And, they want to lick her to taste the "Ghost" drug inside her.   Much more happens, things get really bizarre - yeah, even more so than they already are.   Go figure, betrayals, possessions, weirdly bonding dead babies with milky eyes, big business b&b experience and more.   The catch phrase for these folks isn't, "Hey, you want to get high?" its "Hey, you want to get haunted?"      A pretty intense ride, so, I think I will recommend this one to mature high schoolers on up.   Lovers of ghost stories, Goth, and the Twilight Zone will like this book.