Published: June 16, 2020
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Series: Standalone
Genre: Horror, Fiction
Pages: 286 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 3.5/5.0
Synopsis:
The #1 bestselling author of World War Z takes on the Bigfoot legend with a tale that blurs the lines between human and beast–and asks what we are capable of in the face of the unimaginable.
As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.
But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing–and too earth-shattering in its implications–to be forgotten.
In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate’s extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into the massacre and the legendary beasts behind it.
Kate’s is a tale of unexpected strength and resilience, of humanity’s defiance in the face of a terrible predator’s gaze, and inevitably, of savagery and death.
Yet it is also far more than that.
Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us–and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.
Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it–and like none you’ve ever read before.
I had been interested in this book since I found out it existed and was lucky enough to win a copy in a giveaway very early on in 2020. It then took 6 months to arrive thanks to COVID restrictions slowing things down, but nonetheless – it arrived!
This is a really interesting story told via journal entries and interviews with people who knew the main characters. The journal belongs to Kate Holland, who, along with her husband moved to a small eco-settlement near Mt. Rainier called Greenloop. Unfortunately Mt. Rainier erupted soon after their arrival, causing the folks in this community to be cut off from civilization. Kate details their daily life as they try to adapt to potentially months without outside aid, search for a route back to a main road, and confrontations with the beasts that fled the eruption. Not everything is standard fauna – a troupe of sasquatch are fleeing the dangers as well and see the stranded folks as a tasty meal.
Kate’s narration makes for an interesting adventure and it’s delightful to see how she, her husband, and the rest of the settlement dwellers handle the situation. Some become stronger, better people and others turn into husks of their former, civilized selves. Kate is wonderful, though I can’t tell you about my favorite scenes without spoiling the latter parts of the story. Possibly the most fascinating character is Mostar, an older woman famed for her glass sculptures. Mostar’s life was full of hardship and danger in her younger years, having grown up in a country ravaged by war (I’ll be honest, I can’t remember which country it was). She has suffered hardship, potential starvation, countless other dangers and this makes her a resourceful member of Greenloop. Without her, everyone would have died quite quickly.
Devolution was a fascinating and sometimes unsettling read. I devoured it, though found that certain parts were far too creepy to read in the dark of night right before bed. I could see this making a terrifying movie!
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