“Supernatural suspense at its finest…The best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you.”–The New York Times Book Review “Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark.”–Stephen KingA tense and gripping reimagining of one of America’s most fascinating historical moments: the Donner Party with a supernatural twist.Evil is invisible, and it … supernatural twist.
Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere.
That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy…or the feelings that someone–or something–is stalking them. Whether it’s a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.
As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains…and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.
Effortlessly combining the supernatural and the historical, The Hunger is an eerie, thrilling look at the volatility of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.
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The languid buildup in The Hunger leads to one of the most oppressively horrific last fifths of a novel I’ve read. By the time the hammer falls, I was thoroughly creeped out. I love the way Alma Katsu has taken what is already a horrific tale and added an extra layer of monster-horror to it. Cannot wait to read The Deep.
This is a fictional story of the ill-fated Donner party. As they travel West for California they are plagued by a series of unfortunate events. This story is not just historical but it has a supernatural twist to it. I really enjoyed it and found myself not being able to put it down. I just had to know what happened next. A well-written creepy page-turner at its best!
FEASABLE ENTERTAINING HISTORICAL
If you like books about the Donner party this is a good one but not historically accurate. The author wrote a very imaginative story about them and it was just as tragic and and grisly as the real story but a little difficult to believe parts of it.
Such an original twist on a well-known event! Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
A spine-tingling supernatural interpretation of the Donner Party tragedy. Made my brain run circles.
Amazing book. Very interesting and cool spin on a facinating historical event. Highly recommend this to history buffs and horror fans!
From page one I couldn’t put it down!
A group of ninety people set out on a wagon trail across America. Winter sets in and their fortunes plummet. There are suspicious deaths. Factions form and in-fighting starts. A unique thriller with strong characters and a memorable setting.
written well!
The Hunger is a bold and brilliant novel, heavy with foreboding and dread, and with a rich vein of humanity at its core. I challenge you to read it without experiencing your own hunger pangs.
Like The Revenant but with an insistent supernatural whisper. The setting and the story are utterly chilling. And the telling of it is so well done.
An uneasy, nauseous, slow-burning tale that marries historical fiction with a hint of the supernatural. Great detailing; colorful characterization; some supremely ominous stuff, but always reined in at the final moment to rack up the tension even more. Loved it!
In an audacious twist, Alma Katsu has made something new and suspenseful from the legendary story of the Donner Party. The Hunger is filled with terror, pity, and grue.
This Story is Haunting, a page turner
The Donner Party like you’ve never seen it before. Katsu’s supernatural, horror-inflected take on this dark episode in American history combines painstaking research with creative conjecture to keep readers turning pages late into the night. (Though it’s awfully scary to read after dark — even Stephen King said so!)
I went into this knowing very little other than the fact that it was based on the historical Donner Party. I mention my ignorance of Katsu’s take because up until the latter stages of this excellent novel, I wrongly assumed that the supernatural aspects would reveal themselves to be nothing more than madness and group hysteria (or perhaps a very deranged party member) manifesting due to increasing hunger, stress, illness, and fear of local tribal folklore. So I was surprised when it turned out that the tales of “The Hunger” were genuine, and that eerily mutated cannibals were pursuing the ailing party.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure how I feel about this. I loved this novel from the get-go. Excellent, well developed characters with very human needs and anxieties, and all gradually exacerbated by the brewing tensions of slowly revealed personal histories, and the bitter prejudices of race and class status amongst the various struggling families…and I was great with that; and the first act of butchery, along with the subsequent foreboding dread that settles over the party is established early on, so in hindsight, I shouldn’t be too surprised that this turns out to be supernatural, but in my opinion, I think I might have preferred it if the novel went in for the monsters’ reveal a little sooner and committed to it, because as it stands, this is a fantastic novel of dread and survival against the elements and the inevitable tribalism which divides groups of people, with a late side-order of unnecessary supernatural horror.
Let me reiterate: I highly recommend this novel, I just feel that it was doing so well without the legitimate monster angle that I would have been cool with the abductions/murders and spooky goings-on being the work of a more human element e.g. a cannibalistic tribe of natives, psycho in the party etc. Though as mentioned, I didn’t find the reveal bad, just unexpected.
Read it and make your own mind up, I’m through rambling.
Fans of historical fiction, horror, and/or magical realism will love this riveting and terrifying take on the story of the ill-fated Donner Party as they attempted to cross the Sierra Nevada range in the mid-1840s on their way to California, and what they hoped would be new lives of prosperity. Alma Katsu is a master of suspense, with a subtle sleight of hand that renders even bucolic scenes off-kilter. The Hunger is a fast, rich, spine-chilling read.
Got to be a real tough read at the end. Dragged a bit. Very dark subject
I love this book so much! This is a horror-filled, historical page turner. I stayed up late reading it – felt distressed reading it and I loved every minute of it. Highly Recommend!