A Sasquatch attack in a remote mountain community is the perfect setup for a book, in my opinion. Which is why I ultimately came away a little disappointed from Max Brooks’ Devolution. I’m not going to trash the book because I don’t like to do that to any author, but I’d like to offer one piece of criticism that you can either take or reject and then go make a decision for yourself on whether to pick up this book. (Ideally at a discount).
The story is something of a “found footage” account of a remote community that is cut off from civilization after an eruption of Mount Rainier. This community was founded on some pretty New Age-y principles (like, for instance, having every need delivered by drones!) that makes it the perfect location for this kind of story. What happens, in short order, is that a hungry tribe of bigfoots happen upon the camp and decide that human beings will make for a fine meal.
This part of the story doesn’t happen in the first 50 pages. Instead, Brooks takes us into the community through the eyes of Kate Holland, who’s been keeping a journal to detail her time in this community. Once the eruption of Mount Rainier cuts them off from the only road leading out of the expansive wilderness, it becomes pretty obvious that survival is the name of the game. Enter: Mostar, a character who’s apparently read World War Z and knows a ton of ways to craft spears and cultivate gardens … not to mention set a few Bigfoot traps.
And I think it’s the characterization that really slows the book down. The characters aren’t memorable. Sometimes, they’re interesting (Kate, the narrator, is the most developed). But oftentimes they’re so dull that you can’t even root for them. Kate’s husband Dan goes from bland and boring to slightly useful and still boring. This is all fine, but it doesn’t elevate the story beyond “good.”
So buy it on discount, and don’t be afraid to root for the Bigfoots.