Wednesday, November 23, 2022

November 2022 Book Club: Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
 
Category: Adult
Genre: Horror, Sci-fi, Fantasy
Content: Strong language, Gory deaths

 

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.
 

 

Horror isn't my usual genre, but this one was a bit different. In the beginning I wasn't sure I was going to like this, and not because of the horror aspect of it. It was because of the clueless, unlikable characters. But as I read, I realized that these clueless characters were going to get the surprise of their lives, and I was in! This starts out with Kate and her husband arriving at a planned green community out in the middle of a forest. Everything is supposed to be echo friendly and sustainable. But they find out how very unprepared they are when disaster strikes. 

 

“They all want to live “in harmony with nature” before some of them realize, too late, that nature is anything but harmonious.” 

 

If you've read books about preppers, then I would say this one is kind of the opposite of that. These people think they are prepared to live their lives out there in the wilderness, but they have no idea what they are doing. I think the best thing about the book is how some very naive, inept people learned and grew into tough individuals because they had to. And they are so very lucky to have a lady who lived through some very tough things, help them along. There are also others who completely break down mentally. 

 

 “This is when, as the saying goes, adversity introduces us to ourselves.”

 

Another thing I liked about this book was the bigfoot aspect of it. It reminded me a little of an episode of The Lost Tapes, a found footage mockumentary series that aired on Animal Planet at one time. The bigfoot episode was pretty creepy, and this book had the same feeling. Funnily enough, the book even mentions films like this at one point.

 

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This story was written through Kate's journal entries, that to me didn't completely come off as journal entries. There was too much detail added. I was a little disappointed that it didn't read as much like real journal entries as I had wanted. It was the whole reason I decided to read the book instead of listen to it, but that didn't ruin my enjoyment of the story. The story was a slow burn that took its time to get to what happened to everyone. I liked that about it. The fact that I was anticipating when things would start happening helped to build the tension and suspense. In the end, this book left me with a lot of thoughts, one being who the title of the book referred to. Was it the humans or the Sasquatches? Or perhaps it was both.


“It’s great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl.”

 

 

 

 

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