“Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers.”—Jordan Peele



What if the man of your dreams turns out to be a nightmare?



The past really can haunt you in this killer supernatural slasher by Clay McLeod Chapman, perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix, CJ Leede, and Stephen Graham Jones.

When Jenn first sees Mr. Lonelyhearts, he’s just a CPR dummy in her 7th grade health class. She and her best friends—the Cöven—smuggle him to a sleepover and pour their adolescent fantasies into his open, willing vessel. Then they grow up, get real boyfriends, and forget about him. But he never forgot about them. And now, decades later, after a traumatic break-up leaves Jenn shattered, Mr. Lonelyhearts reappears in her life to pick up the pieces.

But once Jenn begins to suspect that there’s something very wrong about her Mr. Right, it might be too late. Will she survive this situationship, or does Mr. Lonelyhearts have darker plans for them?

Mr. Lonelyhearts is a glittery slasher and a sinister look at how our deepest desires can manifest into something more monstrous, from the USA Today bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.



Praise for this book

“Chapman continues to impress with his talent and versatility. Mr. Lonelyhearts is the closest thing to a nightmare on paper I’ve encountered in many years. Terrifying, heartbreaking, and profoundly unsettling, it digs into the psychological wounds of today’s isolation crisis—digs hard enough to make us bleed.”

—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Carry Me to My Grave and Road of Bones

“Horrifically unforgettable. An addictive page-turner filled to the margins with lyrical prose and deranged wit.”

—Marcus Kliewer, New York Times bestselling author of We Used to Live Here

“Both profound and bizarre, Clay McLeod Chapman’s exploration of loneliness and the human condition hits close to home. Mr. Lonelyhearts is a fever dream of a novel, full of unexpected turns that kept me guessing. A strange yet exhilarating ride, one that I wanted never to end.”

—Monika Kim, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

“Deeply unsettling and magnificently written, Mr. Lonelyhearts is a powerful portrayal of chronic loneliness and toxic relationships. Chapman captures all the disquieting, disturbing, and deadly consequences of unwilling solitude with masterful ease. Timely and terrifying!”

—Saratoga Schaefer, USA Today bestselling author of Trad Wife

“Clay Mcleod Chapman does not miss. This book is a gruesome, psychedelic carnival ride that hits and keeps hitting: loneliness, trauma, girlhood, and one wild ringleader, at the gooey, pink center of it all. Mr Lonelyhearts... ily.”

—Barbara Truelove, author of The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives

“You’ll ache with the loneliness that squirms in every line of this inventive novel. I'd be a dummy not to give this my highest recommendation.”

—Michael Wehunt, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Nightjars

“In Clay McLeod Chapman’s hands, nothing is sacred—not grief, not love, and certainly not CPR mannequins. A wickedly weird, achingly human nightmare about loneliness, longing, and what happens when something finally loves you back.”

—Lindy Ryan, USA Today bestselling author of Dollface

“Razor-sharp, wildly entertaining, and deeply unsettling. What begins as a somehow hilarious examination of loneliness, spirals into a profoundly dark love story where the past refuses to stay plastic, promising a bloody, slasher-fueled descent into madness. A hoot, a holler, and an absolute scream!”

—Thomas Olde Heuvelt, international bestselling author of HEX

Praise for Wake Up and Open Your Eyes:

“Clay McLeod Chapman is one of my favorite horror storytellers working today.”

—Jordan Peele

“If talking politics with family has become a horror show, this book’s for you.”

—New York Times Book Review

“The most ambitious novel yet from a writer quietly redefining the emotional contours of contemporary horror.”

—Neil McRobert, Vulture

“The Purge ain’t got nothin’ on this.”

—Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

“A profoundly terrifying, riveting, intense, nerve-shredding modern horror epic. This is Clay McLeod Chapman at the peak of his craft. Brilliant.”

—Rachel Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of Play Nice

“Supercharged, gloriously maximalist, terrifying, and disgusting. But mostly it’s tragic, and hits much closer to home than any of us want it to.”

—CJ Leede, USA Today bestselling author of Maeve Fly

“A fever-pitched maelstrom of modern-day anxieties and terrors.”

—Nat Cassidy, USA Today bestselling author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings

“Gut-wrenching, grief-soaked, the book perfectly embodies the panic of seeing the people you love transform into monsters. An utterly disconcerting mirror held up to the terror of our present.”

—Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of The Library at Hellebore

“This book throbs with body horror and familial conflict and, most notably, the sociopolitical nightmare we find ourselves in.”

—Chuck Wendig, New York TImes bestselling author of The Staircase in the Woods

“A sparkling variety of narration, mad vivid energy, and even brilliantly funny bits.”

—Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Incidents Around the House

“A damn roller coaster of a novel, the kind that leaves you shaking and shrieking and smiling. [Chapman] takes all that’s troubling our nation in the current day and, somehow, makes it all the more frightening.”

—Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women

“Shows the author’s most politically engaged, savage side, and for those of us who are fans of his work, the novel is a welcome addition to his oeuvre.”

—Gabino Iglesias, Locus

“Surreal, hypnotic, unrelenting, profoundly claustrophobic, and an absolutely scathing sendup of the pitfalls of American divisiveness.”

—Keith Rosson, author of Coffin Moon

"A compelling, cinematic, visceral, and disturbing tale.”

—Booklist, starred review

“Readers may think they know where the book is heading, but Chapman offers more surprises as he ventures further into the apocalypse. There is some of Chapman’s signature humor present, but this work is his most terrifying yet.”

—Library Journal, starred review




About the AuthorClay McLeod Chapman is a USA Today bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-winning author who writes books, children's books, comic books, film, and TV. His novels include Devil Inside and Mr. Lonelyhearts.
Title: Mr. Lonelyhearts
Author(s): Clay McLeod Chapman
ISBN: 9781250412324
Copyright 2027
Release Date: March 23, 2027
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group
Countries: United States, Canada | Learn more about available countries
Language: English
Format: None available | Learn More about our supported formats
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