‘Shock Induction’ – Meta Mind Control Manifesto Is Chuck Palahniuk’s Strongest Work in Years [Review]

Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel is an experimental and subversive coming of age satire that skewers an increasingly commodified society through hallucinogenic hubris.

“Clarity is paramount. Even when the goal is to create confusion.”

Chuck Palahniuk is one of this generation’s most explosive and subversive storytellers, but there have been increasingly diminishing returns for his more recent works, many of which have even felt like parodies of what’s expected from a Palahniuk novel. Palahniuk has released more than 20 novels, novellas, and short story collections in under three decades, which reflects a constant desire to speak to the world and eschew it. He’s not a writer who necessarily hoards ideas, which can sometimes lead to more hits than misses. That being said, when the hits hit, it’s really something special; and Shock Induction, Palahniuk’s latest novel, hits hard.

Shock Induction is a pitch black, postmodern social satire about putting a price tag on existence, the illusion of choice, and the crushing weight and blinding light of the All Mighty Dollar. It’s a reality-altering revenge story that’s a scathing deconstruction of modern times.

Shock Induction is The Truman Show meets The Hunger Games meets Euphoria, with a touch of Alice in Wonderland thrown in for good measure. And it’s goddamn glorious.

Shock Induction posits a beautifully misanthropic and nihilistic vision of the American Dream that’s hopelessly addicted to a never-ending surveillance state. It’s like society itself is a baby in a stroller that’s used to infinite screen time for its endorphin high. Promising SAT scores, impressive extracurriculars, and a bright future translate to a Dark Web-like auction system that reduces students to commodities where the sharpest mind translates to the highest bidder. It’s a high school that could only be imagined by Chuck Palahniuk.

Teenagers aspire to be owned by shady billionaires and world leaders who believe that the children are the future, but in the same way that a new iPhone, A.I algorithm, or parasitic bacterial strain are. This dehumanizing caste system is coyly referred to as Greener Pastures, but it’s more like Soylent Greener Pastures. Youth and an encouraging future are nothing more than fuel for a busted system that values anarchy and disruption. It’s assassins, revolutionaries, Popes, and Queens that are at the top of this warped RPG job tree, not doctors, teachers, and engineers.

Samantha Deel is one of the many rats on her hunt for world-changing cheese in the Greener Pastures maze. Deel, however, is just as happy to burn it all down and overthrow the system than she is to become a dystopian despot. She’s a character who is prone to rebellion and coloring outside the lines, even when her hands are tied behind her back, which makes her a fascinating figure to follow through this bizarro “coming of rage” tale of self-discovery. Sam fits the typical Palahniuk protagonist mold and it’s easy to identify shades of Fight Club’s Tyler Durden or Choke’s Victor Mancini in her. At the same time, she hardly feels reductive of these past disruptors or that she’s just a Xerox of past ideas. In fact, Samantha Deel is one of the best protagonists that Palahniuk has ever crafted (although the rest of the cast is guilty of feeling one-dimensional). She doesn’t succumb to the same pitfalls that have cut his other main characters down at the knees.

Shock Induction marks redemption for Palahniuk and a reclamation from his more recent misfires. It’s definitely his strongest work in a long time and leagues more successful than his last novel, Not Forever, But For Now. It genuinely feels like vintage Palahniuk and it will hopefully trigger a rejuvenated Renaissance for the author rather than it amounting to an exciting anomaly before he returns to more of the same. Shock Induction is a powerful reminder of what it means to be a Chuck Palahniuk fan and why he became such a memorable and incendiary force of nature in the first place.

So much of this novel’s playful success – and maddening opaqueness – is the result of its daring non-linear structure and tactical prose, the likes of which are actively trying to wear down the reader’s resistance and turn them into a malleable minion. Shock Induction is a powerful reminder that language is the strongest brainwashing tool and it’s increasingly weaponized here to alter the reader’s perception and state of mind. Palahniuk loves to utilize recurring phrases throughout his novels for stylistic effect. However, Shock Induction features the evolution of this concept. He continually bombards the reader with famous phrases from literary classics such as Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby, and Moby Dick in order to create a sense of familiarity and safety that lowers the reader’s resistance. There’s a pompous arrogance to Shock Induction’s compulsion to wryly mock these literary titans. Palahniuk also brilliantly shifts between lethargic and focused prose that both subtly and explicitly abuse repeated language and consonants that function as their own means of meta mind control and induction techniques. 

Some instances of this are more successful than others and it’s a tactic that often results in a scattered narrative and a sense of confusion. This feels intentional and part of the experience, but this doesn’t change the fact that there are still large stretches of Shock Induction that are disoriented messes. It’s wild that this technique is both the novel’s biggest deterrent, but also one of its smartest tricks and most intriguing selling points. “Clarity is paramount. Even when the goal is to create confusion,” is one of the novel’s more poignant passages and it’s hard to not think of it during these obtuse sections. There’s certainly a method to Shock Induction’s madness, but that doesn’t always translate to engaging reading. 

Shock Induction fluctuates between minimalism and hyper-maximalism as Sam teeters between these extremes and disparate worlds. Palahniuk strives for portions of Shock Induction to feel like an escalating drug trip and alludes to the fact that the very pages of the book are laced in hallucinogens. It’s an incredible gamble that once again trades convention and logic for a fever dream-like experience that endlessly puts the reader in their head with tactics that are akin to Mark. Z Danielewski’s most serpentine narratives. It’s a truly brilliant concept and structure where the application is more thought provoking than it necessarily is enjoyable. However, Shock Induction definitely deserves credit for its fearless ambition and follow through, the likes of which are reminiscent of Palahniuk’s most successful experimental narratives, such as Rant, Haunted, Invisible Monsters, and Survivor.

In perfect Palahniuk faction, Shock Induction is rich in intense set pieces that push boundaries and the characters’ buttons as Palahniuk piles on excessive extremes and deranged diversions. One of Shock Induction’s greatest assets is that the audience is truly left in the dark over what’s reality and what’s some drug-addled delusion. It’s a jarring effect that some readers may grow tired of when it’s employed for the nth time. However, many will appreciate Shock Induction’s illusory layers and be uncertain where to put their trust and what Sam is actually experiencing.

Shock Induction is full of twists and turns, and not every reader will have the endurance to make it to the end. However, those that do will cherish the surreal experience and the novel’s savage critique on society. Each chapter peels back another layer of this macabre nesting doll. Shock Induction, at 240 pages, can be finished in an afternoon. It makes for a breezy read for those who don’t get lost in its labyrinthine language and obfuscating narrative. It’s a promising return to form for Chuck Palahniuk that’s not always easy to understand, but it’s the type of novel that lapsed Palahniuk fans have been waiting for.

Shock Induction pessimistically informs its audience that “you can spend your whole life waiting for the pattern to repeat. Jay Gatsby did.” However, Chuck Palahniuk’s latest novel allows him to break free of his middling cycle and boldly venture into territory that’s simultaneously familiar and fresh. It’s a brave, new, fucked up world that would make Gatsby scream, but Palahniuk would have it no other way.

‘Shock Induction’ is published by Simon & Schuster and available on October 8.