Devolution

June 18, 2020 7:52 AM - by Brooks, Max

A firsthand account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

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.

It’s not clear just what the author intends us to feel: Are we supposed to be rooting for the self-satisfied residents, or for the displaced killer Sasquatches? The answer could be neither. "Devolution’s" mocking attitude toward its characters comes at the cost of its suspense. -- USA Today

A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. -- Kirkus

posted by Etrigan (2 comments total)

I hadn't heard of this, but it looks fun. I enjoyed reading World War Z, will check this out. Thanks.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:39 AM on June 18, 2020

Having finished it, I feel like Max Brooks first wrote a what-if-multiple-concurrent-disasters scenario without Sasquatch or any other particular characters, and then backfilled with hairy action sequences and cultural markers standing in for developed individuals. Like you could extract a relatively straightforward helmet fire narrative from everything that accretes around it, and it might be a more compelling read--I think he even puts that in Mostar's (!!!) mouth, about how disaster reveals who we are. But this is not that book. It's not bad! I mean, I appreciate what it says about the culture of convenience and the precariousness of supply chains. I like the idea that people who've been through disaster have something beyond the theoretical to bring to the table. This is...weirdly flat and occasionally didactic, and the characters don't develop enough for me to care about them. (Honestly, Kate's voice in the first few chapters nearly made me give up on reading it. Wide-eyed empathic young woman writing about My Weekend in the Woods for Teen Magazine just put me off the whole project, and I do not buy her unearned conversion story. "And I just found myself? Reacting bravely? And handy men are...kinda hottt? I love your spear, who made it?") But the whole thing will make a fun, X-Files-inspired disaster miniseries.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:17 AM on January 9, 2021