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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A masterful blend of laugh-out-loud social satire and stuff-your-fist-in-your-mouth horror. One elevates the other, making the book, and its message, all the more relevant.
Devolution is the Bigfoot thriller you didn’t know you needed in your life, and one of the greatest horror novels I’ve ever read. The characters soar, the ideas sing, and it’s all going to scare the living daylights out of you.
There’s a bowstring undercurrent running through the whole of Max Brooks’s newest that’s liable to snap a reader in half. Characters so real you could name them from your own life, even as you call for them to run for cover. Max Brooks has written the next great epistolary novel. Devolution is phenomenal.
In the same stylistic vein as World War Z, the author tells the story as if it’s news, interviews, journal entries and real. Lots of asides about ‘real’ Bigfoot sightings, hoaxes and more, it’s an enjoyable read and will have you rushing to get to the end to see what happens to the humans… and the nonhumans.
Devolution begins with an eco-community that becomes extremely vulnerable to an anthropological terror awakened by a natural disaster. Author Max Brooks conceives a form of horrific entertainment, by adding gasoline to an environmental fire. Using a nontraditional format, interviews and journal passages make this novel read like a found footage horror movie. Readers will undeniably enjoy this hardcore tale of isolation and a raw vengeance to take back what once was theirs.
I wasn’t sure this was going to be as great as it was. I mean, I was down for some trashy fun involving Sasquatches and volcanoes. But Max Brooks managed to make this story timely, relevant, and scientifically based. It was peopled with believable, flawed characters, a palpable sense of doom, and suspenseful, breakneck plotting that made it hard to resist “just one more chapter” when I had a million other things to do. Highly recommended!
As someone who loves cryptid fiction, I was instantly drawn to this book. It’s quite different than anything I’ve read before, and was my first-time reading Max Brooks, the author who gave us World War Z. The book unfolds through journal entries with occasional interviews, articles on simian behavior, and book excerpts tossed in. I found the excerpts from Theodore Roosevelt’s The Wilderness Hunter particularly fascinating—was he really writing about Bigfoot? Recall this is the same man who almost cancelled an African safari to participate in the Great Snallygaster Hunt of 1909.
Because the book reads like a docudrama—especially in the beginning—it’s extremely slow to get off the ground. I actually planned to DNF it at the 12% mark on my Kindle. I stopped reading and switched to a different book, but that one didn’t work either, so I gave Devolution another chance and by the 20% mark I was hooked.
The story centers on a handful of people who have taken up residence in a small community tucked deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Greenloop has been designed to combine technical advancements with the isolation of nature—the best of living off the grid while having all the comforts of home. That philosophy goes out the window when a volcanic eruption cuts Greenloop off from civilization and technology stops working.
But that’s not the biggest problem. Its takes a while for the sasquatch of the title to make an appearance, but once they do, events kick into hyper drive. There’s a creep factor when Greenloop’s residents realize they’re not alone in the woods. A sinisterness that quickly explodes into horror. At this point it’s necessary to overlook a bit of incredulity—that the main character (Kate) would still be scribbling in her journal with the events taking place around her. That aside, I found it hard to put the book down when I had to call it a night.
Several characters experience remarkable growth during the course of this novel. Others start flat, and end flat. But how often do you get to read a Bigfoot book? Even if it’s not perfect, for anyone who holds a fascination with cryptids, this is one to read—just slog through the start.
Big fan of Brooks’s zombie stuff, so I had to read this. It starts out slow, but once the plot kicks into gear, the tension is almost unbearable.
Loved this book from the first word through the last. Could not put it down! A truly masterful tale of suspense and the depths of human devolution.
This is one of those books I couldn’t put down but also didn’t want it to end!!!
For me, this was SOOO much better than World War Z, which bored me to tears. This book was everything that one was not. Great characters you want to root for and a fun page-turning plot!
Yet once again, another story that convinces me not to go camping in the woods. Nothing good happens there!
Max Brooks is one heck of a horror novelist. He is far from a one hit wonder with his masterpiece- World War Z. Devolution has fear on each page, and will make you rethink about camping in the woods or even living off the grid, per say in a small community that is on the outskirts of society or near a city or even large group of people. What would you do if a volcano explodes and cuts you off from all communication and help, plus you don’t have any real protection- ie. guns or knives, and you may run out of food. But that’s not the worst possible scenario, as Katie the protagonist finds out. A group of humanoid beasts aka Bigfoots aka Sasquatch are stalking you, waiting to attack because you are either food to them or the enemy.
Through flashbacks via Katie’s diary the narrator has, we see how Katie and her husband, including their small group of neighbors try to survive after a natural disaster. Within the first 50 pages, the atmosphere of the novel is chilling because you know something bad is going to happen and the outcome won’t have a positive spin.
Brooks is an excellent storyteller and his research is amazing. The only downside to Devolution is the ending. It leaves more questions than answers in regards to the outcome of Katie and her neighbors and their survival, which may make the hair on your arms stand on end.
I really liked this book. It took 100 pages before the real action started, but it was not boring. Once the action started….wow, I couldn’t put it down! I hope there is a sequel.
BIGFOOT DESTROYS TOWN. A great opening sentence definitely grabbing one’s attention. Very creative story buildup and narrative thru out novel. Especially the Mt Rainier erupts description intertwined with the journal information from the lone survivor of the story. A true page turner and interest keeper. Very descriptive and easy to follow. And also relatable to me personally growing up in the area, I felt very connected to the locations mentioned in the novel. This author is very enjoyable to read and follow.
Interesting take on big foot.
Im usually not into science fiction/horror type books but this one captured me. I thought it would be a kick to read about Sasquatch invading a town and it sure was. It would make a great movie but I wouldn’t go, too scary!
Another triumph from Max Brooks! First zombies. Now Bigfoot. I can’t wait until he turns every monster from childhood into an intelligent, entertaining page-turner.
Devolution is spellbinding. It is a horror story about how anyone, especially those who think they are above it, can slowly devolve into primal, instinctual behavior. I was gripped from the first page to the last!
I read this in July, and I have to admit I struggled a little at first. It is one of those books that doesn’t use straight up narrative, nor a simple diary-like method, but multiple points. The main one is the protagonist’s journal, but it includes reports, interviews and articles, almost as if it was set up to be a movie. In many ways it’d work better as a visual piece, but once I got into the flow it was an engaging read. There’s a ton of buildup, almost to the halfway point before we directly encounter the beastly antagonists, and not all of it is that interesting. But as I said, I got into it eventually, and once I was there, I really enjoyed it.
Without trying to, I’ve caught Max Brooks on a few different talk shows and interviews where he has talked about national security subjects such as automation, weapons procurement, and cyber-warfare. I found him very well spoken, intelligent, and very entertaining to watch. Needless to say, I was very interested to read one of his books. I found the book met the same standards he set on his interviews.
The story is told from the journals of Kate Holland, a resident in a small, exclusive community in the Mount Rainier area. The volcano erupts and causes a disruption with the wildlife, specifically sasquatch comes down the mountain and into the town.
The story doesn’t go in any weird directions or play tongue-in-cheek with the idea. It truly is what would happen if a natural disaster drove a semi-intelligent bipedal creature towards a remote small community. And what follows is pretty much what I would expect. As for the people of the town Greenloop, they are annoying. Everyone except for Mostar. Annoying in the “too woke” kind of way. The perfect example is the couple who adopt a girl from an underprivileged country and then call her Palomino as a placeholder for when she wants to choose her own name without realizing that by calling her Palomino they have already named her. People that I just want to roll my eyes and walk away from. At first, I was really annoyed by them, then I realized that Brooks did it on purpose to establish the type of community / town where they lived. Then my annoyance became praise because he did a really good job at it making them annoying. The setting was very easy to picture and something that I could see occur. If Bigfoot was real. I don’t want to go down that path. Let’s just say, that it is a very good book and I look forward to future books from him.