AND THEN I WOKE UP by Malcolm Devlin – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin
Published by Tordotcom on April 12 2022
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Horror
Pages: 176
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The nitty-gritty: There’s plenty of food for thought in this short horror story that takes the idea of perception and turns it on its head.

“It had already started. The world was tipping, its weight shifting, and no one had really noticed how precarious the ground beneath our feet had become. Every image, every video feed, everything we heard and read seemed to have two sides. Each piece of evidence divided us, and with each line drawn, a wider slice of reality was thrown into question.”

Did you ever wonder why people perceive events in different ways? Two people might see the exact same thing but come away with two different interpretations of what happened. This is the idea behind Malcolm Devlin’s latest, a psychological horror story about a pandemic of sorts, where those who become infected turn into monsters and start eating people. Devlin takes the idea of how narrative shapes our beliefs and how dangerous that can be, and I absolutely loved this short, brutal and thought-provoking tale.

Spence is one of the cured. He used to be infected but was rescued, and now he lives in an institution called Ironside with others like himself. The story is framed around Spence leading a group therapy session as he tells his story to the other cured at Ironside. Through Spence’s story, we learn how the infection started. One day at the restaurant where he worked, Spence and his coworker Macey are shocked when the customers in the dining room suddenly turn into monsters and start killing everyone. Spence and Macey barely escape, but others in the restaurant aren’t so lucky, including a waitress named Pinky who’s been bitten by a monster and is convinced she’ll turn into one herself.

Little by little society becomes divided into the infected, the uninfected and the cured. In a post apocalyptic landscape, where roving groups of uninfected try to survive in a world gone crazy, Spence’s tale unfolds, and eventually we learn how he ended up at Ironside.

That’s all I can say about the plot, because nothing is quite what it seems in this story. The first half feels like your typical apocalypse scenario. Society breaks down, looters run rampant, and the news channels and social media portray a world gone mad. Safe within the walls of Ironside, Spence and his friends are protected from the media with “curated” news stories. They are told that their infection isn’t gone, but merely dormant, and could return at any time. They believe this narrative and cling to it like a life preserver.

But what is the truth? And how do you separate truth from fiction? Spence is still trying to figure that out, even though he believes what he’s been told. Devlin takes the idea of news stories and social media and how the truth can be skewed one way or the other, and builds a fascinating horror tale around that idea. Through Spence’s experiences, he explores the idea of how powerful stories can be in both good and bad ways, how they shape our perceptions of events.

There are some devastating moments in And Then I Woke Up. Spence himself has done some terrible things and is trying to atone for his sins. We meet a girl named Leila, another resident of Ironside, who has a soul crushing backstory. Leila figures into one of the story’s most poignant moments at the end when she makes a shocking decision and asks Spence to help her carry it out. Interspersed with the horrific elements are wryly humorous observations about the human condition and the way belief shapes each individual’s personal narrative.

There’s an awesome twist when we learn the “truth” of what’s happening, and it was pretty mind blowing! Even Spence, who has been on both sides of the apocalypse as an infected and a cured, still seems uncertain as to whether he’s figured things out, even though he claims to have “woken up.” Are you curious? Then you’ll definitely want to read this for yourself.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.