NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z is back with “the Bigfoot thriller you didn’t know you needed in your life, and one of the greatest horror novels I’ve ever read” (Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and Recursion). As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed … the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now. 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.
Praise for Devolution
“Delightful . . . [A] tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The story is told in such a compelling manner that horror fans will want to believe and, perhaps, take the warning to heart.”—Booklist (starred review)
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This book is fun and unique twist on the Bigfoot legend, and keeps the reader interested. Some characters lack depth, but it is entertaining nonetheless
I’m in the middle of reading this book and it’s really scary and realistic. I could honestly see how a situation like the one in this book could spiral out of control.
Terrifying
Compared to his World War Z (I loved that book!), this book was more focused which worked better as story-telling, rather than the somewhat excessive research report format found in World War Z. Excellent plot progression and character development in Devolution. Eerily foreshadowing; like World War Z, many parallels to today’s COVID pandemic. My only negative is that I remain skeptical about sasquatches so found those antagonists to be somewhat unbelievable. However, I cannot imagine any other author handling this plot line better.
I was not impressed – hard to follow up after World War Z
It’s very well worth a read. 4 out of 5 stars, and I rate ’em tough.
This book read like a bigfoot horror movie and I mean that in a good way. It’s a little Michael Crichton (in that men vs. natural order kind of way) mixed with….found footage maybe? Except in this case it’s a journal and not an old camera. I liked that most of the book was journal entires (even if no one is ever that verbose in a journal) and found it both cinematic and enjoyable.
First off I have to say that I am obsessed with anything bigfoot/Sasquatch, so I knew I would be picking the book up. Then add a found journal and like found footage films is another obsession of mine. I was already drawn in with bigfoot and found journal that I knew I would enjoy the book. This is the first Max Brooks’ book I have read and I will be picking up WWZ soon. Now what I liked about this book was the characters, there were ones you loved and ones you hated. I really got into the head of Kate the MC cause I felt like she could be me. The pacing of the book was at a good speed. The notes the author put in were great and it made me love the book even more. Though I just wish it was a little more scary and more bloody. I am getting my dad to read the book and can’t wait to talk about it with him along with our friend. I don’t want to give out too much of the book, just know that it is a good book for those who love bigfoot.
I loved what Max Brooks did with one of my all-time favorite characters.
Way scarier than you might think! Loved this one!
In the aftermath of Mt. Rainier’s eruption, a remote, high-tech mountain community is cut off from civilization. Months later, officials finally locate the neighborhood, only to find empty houses, evidence of non-volcanic destruction, and a journal detailing the group’s encounter with a troop of sasquatches.
I’ve read mixed reviews of this book but I personally enjoyed the heck out of it. I would catch myself relating the events from each chapter to my husband until I finally decided that he needs to read it for himself and stopped talking. Now I’m bursting at the seams with the need to discuss it with someone!
The beginning was not terribly promising. My family is very practical and I tend to be that way too. So listening to Judy Greer narrate Kate’s neurotic journals was getting a bit old, I’ll be honest. She over-analyzes everyone, including herself, and seems to look for reasons to have her feelings hurt. And this high-tech community where the most practical way to get groceries is via weekly drone deliveries and every house is a smart house, out in the middle of the woods? And all these clueless urbanites think they can live the pastoral dream out there all alone? That’s just asking for trouble. But that’s the perfect setup.
Once the volcano erupts, the tension started to build at the perfect pace for me. They’re completely cut off from any help and have very few useful tools and/or skills between them. Luckily, Mostar, the artist-in-residence, lived through a war in her younger years so she immediately goes into survival mode, recruiting Kate and her husband to her side immediately. As they face more and more challenges, it becomes apparent that their lack of food is only the beginning of their problems; something else is with them. Just thinking about it gives me delicious chills!
I loved the way the journals were interspersed with interviews with “experts.” They added background and facts and outside points-of-view that would be impossible to incorporate if the book had only been a fictional journal. Descriptions of the community were detailed during the builder’s interview with Kai Ryssdal on NPR’s Marketplace. We hear Mostar’s background in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air. There were more but my favorite interviews were probably with the National Park supervisor. She laid out theories and facts about animals and anthropology that gave the whole book a feel of real science, like this could really happen.
There’s a running theme throughout the book that you don’t really know who you are until you find yourself in a crisis (I listened to the audio so I don’t have an exact quote). That is definitely true with this group! People who I expected to take charge fell apart and vice versa. I truly enjoyed the character growth.
Full-cast audio books can be very hit-or-miss for me, but this recording was amazing. Judy Greer was the perfect choice for Kate. I loved that Kai Ryssdal and Terry Gross really read their own parts, giving another layer of chilling authenticity to the story. The rest of the cast (Jeff Daniels, Nathan Fillion, Steven Weber, the list goes on) are pretty high profile. I steer away from movies with that many names I recognize; you simply can’t have that many stars. But these narrators were only interested in reading the source material the best they could and it absolutely worked.
I recommend this for a fun horror novel that is so grounded in the real world that you’ll be listening for those big footsteps on your deck after you turn off your lights at night.
This is the same author that wrote World War Z. After waiting so long, it seemed only natural to have high expectations of Devolution, but this book fell so flat. The premise was enticing, but the execution left much to be desired.
The eco-village of Greenloop is almost 2 hours from Seattle but has glorious views of Mt. Rainier. It’s the type of town that has the state of the art tech to make any city dweller comfortable with nature (e.g. deliveries once a week by drone, smart houses, eco-friendly vehicles, etc.). When Mt. Rainier erupts knocking out the only road to and from civilization and their internet, the residents of Greenloop quickly realize that they are completely cut off from society and must band together if they are to survive.
The story is told as a recount from Kate Holland’s journal entries, which was pulled from the blood wreckage of the Greenloop community. In these entries, Kate has documented everything from arriving to Greenloop to the eruption of Mt. Rainier to the attack of Sasquatch.
What I expected to be a high octane sci-fi thriller was definitely not. The first 50% or so of the book mainly focused on Greenloop and its residents, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. Katie is the type of person who constantly has a revelation about her privilege and her husband is just a piece of work. After the mountain erupts, it became a story of pettiness to survive. We saw people hoarding supplies and food as well as manipulating one another for their own personal gain.
It honestly wasn’t until the last 25% or so of the book when we actually had the gruesome showdown with the Sasquatch that I felt like we finally got the story that I was looking for because they were utterly terrifying. I wanted more of that throughout the story though and not just at the very end.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Audio and Libro.fm for providing an advanced listening copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
It was a little far fetched for me
I like the book, and the theme of how as human beings we have become to reliant on technology and would be incapable of handling a SHTF situation. What I don’t like is how it is told from the first person point of view of the main character Kate Holland. With the interview parts of the book this was fine, but I felt like the first person point of view did not quite fit. It felt like the third person point of view would have worked better for the Kate scenes
I liked this book. It was a very interesting premise. It was done in a way that made you feel like it could very well happen. While I enjoyed it, the “interview” sections made the story a bit disjointed, and I had a hard time feeling connected to the characters.