‘Shock Induction’ – Chuck Palahniuk (2025 – Review)

A writer with a unique and intense view of the world, Chuck Palahniuk is experiencing a productive period in his career – with Shock Induction following hot on the heels of his highly controversial 2023 release; Not Forever, But For Now. In fact, this is the 25th work of fiction that the prolific American author has published since his debut Fight Club landed back in 1996. Following which Palahniuk would of course find himself to be a household name, when the rights to his novel were snapped up and made into the 1999 cult-movie directed by David Fincher (Seven) – starring Brad Pitt (Twelve Monkeys) and Edward Norton (American History X).

Fight Club was one hell of a debut, a story which became engrained in the public consciousness whilst perfectly encapsulating Palahniuk’s satirical commentary on American culture. It is a work that he has naturally revisited again, with sequels in graphic-novel form as well as many nods back to his defining work in his wider subsequent stories. His 2001 novel Choke was also made into a film seven years later by Clark Gregg (What Lies Beneath) – starring Sam Rockwell (Moon) as a sociopathic sex-addict. While Palahniuk has also gained notoriety for many other works including the infamous short-story Guts, which appeared in both his book Haunted (2005) and Playboy Magazine.

Shock Induction is yet another intriguing novel from an artist who never fails to deliver the unexpected. The bones of his story were originally published in 2021 as a serialisation called Greener Pastures on his Plot Spoiler – Substack page. His re-written version is presented in a new voice for a new medium. and was created by Palahniuk during an intense period of isolation while snowed in at his rural home during the winter of 2024. And also while largely under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms – which Palahniuk has stated allowed him to “emotionally connect” with his writing in a whole new way.

Set in the near future, the basic premise follows the protagonist Sam – a deaf teenager – as she navigates living with her incredibly dysfunctional family, while existing in a reality where children are bought and sold by billionaires via a shady organisation called Greener Pastures. The book explores the concept of family, and interestingly compares the act of a parent auctioning their child to that of valuing an old heir-loom on the Antiques Road Show. While also tackling themes such as destiny, censorship, conformity – and the world’s elite shaping society in their own image.

Shock Induction may lack the overt controversy of his previous release, but it delivers something far more mind-bending for the reader. Written in a highly unconventional narrative style, Palahniuk often breaks the fourth-wall by speaking directly to us at times. He uses repetition throughout the book, which focuses strongly on the theme of hypnotism. Breaking the structure of the story throughout, with segments focusing on an attempt to entice the reader into a trance-like state as they absorb his words – a strange yet highly unique approach to take within a novel.

The narrative is purposefully written to confuse and frustrate the reader at times. It can be a difficult read in places, with Palahniuk at one point writing an incredibly long and wordy paragraph, using overly long descriptive words without any commas to break the prose – before asking the reader; “Are you tired yet?” Palahniuk wanted to add a meta-element to his original story and presents his new version in a minimalist and often abstract style, using the repetition and loops to lay a thought in the mind of the reader. Then heading off on a completely unrelated tangent, before returning to the comfort of his original idea – a technique referred as Pattern Interruption.

Controversial subjects are of course typically never far away, and at one point Palahniuk discusses the subject of Angel Lust, while he also provides a harrowing depiction of domestic sexual violence. At the times he breaks from the main narrative he sometimes writes as if providing a non-fiction manual on hypnotism, while the book also contains fictional excerpts from the handbook of Greener Pastures. Palahniuk also creates a number of seemingly unrelated short-stories within the story – a couple of which are up there with the grimiest tales in his novel Haunted.

He also writes the book as a homage to classic literature, with references to The Great Gatsby, The Catcher In The Rye and the Rabbit Hole of Alice In Wonderland amongst others … including his own Fight Club of course. The story often blurs the reality of the fiction within, and the extreme unconventionality of Shock Induction can come across as a little self-indulgent at times. But Palahniuk has in the past been quoted as saying; “It’s not about being liked, it’s about being remembered.” And once again … he has unquestionably provides a novel which will prove difficult to forget for anyone who reads it. KZ

Words by Mark Bates