Devolution

A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre

By: Max Brooks

Narrated by: Judy Greer, Max Brooks, Jeff Daniels, Nathan Fillion, Mira Furlan, Terry Gross, Kimberly Guerrero, Kate Mulgrew, Kai Ryssdal, Steven Weber

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

The number one New York Times best-selling 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 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 this audiobook, 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 heard 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)

The Cast:
Judy Greer as Kate Holland
Nathan Fillion as Frank McCray
Kimberly Guerrero as Josephine Schell

With
Jeff Daniels as Steve Morgan
Mira Furlan as Mostar
Kate Mulgrew as Hannah Reinhardt-Roth
Steven Weber as Tony Durant
and
Terry Gross and Kai Ryssdal as themselves
and
Max Brooks as the researcher

©2020 Max Brooks (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"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.” (Josh Malerman, New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Malorie)

“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.” (David Sedaris, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Calypso)

"I wish we could elevate the national dialogue on public safety to a level of tone and focus that Max Brooks has demonstrated for all of us.” (Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania and first secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security)

Slow build to a strong finish.

The release of this book has been in my calendar for ages, and it did not disappoint. The cast was great, the story was brutal but also smart. Loved it.

World war z this is not, and that's not a bad thin

If your expecting a another world war z you wont get it here. But that's not a bad thing.
If WWZ was an action adventure movie this is a suspense thriller. The build up is slow, but so rich. You get to know each character and see how they evolve, pun intended, through the book.
Worth the credit, narration is good. I had no complaints there but I understand that's more of a preference there.

A Great Performance of a Divisive Character

Lot of high and low reviews on this one. Let me add to the high. Judy Greer is great. (As is Nathan Fillion, by the way.) Greer's character is frustrating, especially at the beginning, but so is everyone in her community save maybe one or two people who I wouldn’t necessarily want as the only perspective characters anyway. Greer’s performance had me rooting on Kate to adapt and change, even though up front I knew it wouldn't be enough to prevent the titular massacre.

There’s only one “bad narration” bit in the book for me, and it’s just poor editing done for a question and answer session near the beginning of the book. They made it painfully obvious the interviewer and interviewee were reading an interview and recording at different times.

The characters that so many people are railing against, the "whining" in particular, is writing well done. We are not meant to like these people the way they are. The things they're doing is a mistake. Bigfoot here is done to the same effect as zombies in World War Z, scary on their own, but acting as a useful metaphor. Bigfoot is the wilderness the book argues humans anthropomorphize to much.

Let's say this. Are you finding yourself annoyed with the tech industry? Did you read "Into The Wild" and find yourself angry at McCandless, upset he wasn't better prepared? Does the idea of a natural disaster combining with civil unrest and poorly done governmental intervention sound like a scary story you'd enjoy right now? You'll like this book.

I think Just Greer is great but

I get it, she's supposed to overly annoying innocent and bubly at the beginning, but it was overdone and made some of the early chapters hard to get through. Also as a semi redneck I found it impossible to believe that there would be six households without a firearm in a rural environment but the story does a great job of explaining these kind of quirks just when it starts to annoy you too much. overall, a good listen, essentially WWZ with bigfoot. ill preorder whichever one he does nect

Bigfoot is real!

You'll think so (or at least you'll be less dismissive of the possibility) after this first hand account.

Interesting characters that are well represented by a stellar cast. A completely believable plot with just enough background sprinkled in just the right places and details big and small.

Had me glancing over my shoulder while getting out of my truck at night at the woods next to the driveway.

If you liked WWZ's style of strung together interviews, you'll love the pace and style of they diary entries.

Legitimately Scary!

I just finished Max Brooks’ new book, Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre. It’s a survival horror novel and it is AMAZING. Legitimately scary, so well researched. Highly recommended.

I was physically tense through the final two hours

The casting is pitch perfect.

The ending is well-earned, very satisfying.

Fun, messy character work, but enjoyable

I really enjoyed this- obviously a lot of work was put into the research. I found the character development, particularly that of the females, to be rather stilted, but found the plot and concepts intriguing.

A must read!

I absolutely loved it. I felt he knocked it out of the park again. Max does a hella of a job keeping you engaged and telling a story.

great book

I've never been scared by big foot/sasquatch, until now. Max Brooks brought this creature to real visceral life. And of course real life is way scarier than fiction.

Phenomenal

Someone tell Max Brooks to write an account of Roswell or ANY UFO event. Fantastic book.