The Spirit

By: Thomas Page

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

It has many names: Bigfoot...Yeti...Sasquatch.

But whatever it is, it’s out there in the woods and leaving a trail of blood and severed heads behind it.

For John Moon, a half-mad Indian, it is a spirit that holds the key to his inner self. He worships its power and he’ll kill to protect it. Desperate, exhausted, half-starved, Moon will follow it wherever it goes.

For Raymond Jason, killing it has become an obsession. He was the only survivor of a hunting trip to the Rockies where the hunters became the monster’s prey. Now, he is determined to track the creature down and destroy it.

But when the two men finally corner their quarry they set loose a flood of terror and destruction that may leave no survivors....

©2019 Thomas Page (P)2019 Valancourt Books LLC

Yeti-sploitation for the ages!

Matt Godfrey was absolutely fantastic as a narrator and kept me listening long after I would have put the book down. The actual writing here was just okay for me. John Moon in particular read like a caricature of a Native American while referencing the very tropes that make his character such a paper doll but in 1977 might have passed for thoughtful nuance. It's overall worth a listen if you enjoy 70's horror and appreciate a good scare.
Also ending your yeti-sploitation book with the strongly implied future bestiality is a hell of a power move.

1 person found this helpful

Another Valancourt/Paperbacks from Hell Success

I can't say enough good things about Valancourt Books. For fans and students of horror, they've quickly become the premiere publishing house of forgotten classics of the genre, and this is particularly true of their Paperbacks from Hell line. THE SPIRIT is one of those pulpy potboilers that is smarter and better than it needs to be, painted with more intellectual and emotional colors than its Savaging Sasquatch Subgenre peers. Matt Godfrey is predictably excellent; he's fast becoming *the* voice of Valancourt, and his reads of other titles like THE NEST, BLACKWATER, THE HAPPY MAN, AUDREY ROSE, among many others, are also highly recommended. Honestly, I think that's the thing I love best about their reissues: each individual novel is at the very least entertaining and worthwhile (and oftentimes actually transcendent), but the mosaic of the genre they're creating as a whole is profound and a thing of beauty. On that spectrum, I think I'd rate THE SPIRIT as a solid 7.5.

I was provided a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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It’s prolly just a bear...

A schizophrenic American Indian in search of his spirit animal, a Sasquatch on a killing rampage and an attack survivor hell bent on revenge. It’s gonna be one hell of a party.

“It’s prolly just a bear.”

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Bad Bigfoot!

Audiobook edition:
I can see why this book made it into paperbacks from hell. There is a lot going on in this story if you just stop and really think about it. John Moon was kinda sad for me. He’s got some problems but I don’t think he was so bad. I wonder how his character was viewed when this story first came out?Raymond James is such an ass. The story is good and sometimes really out there (the last bit). I like that Thomas Page clearly did his research into Bigfoot behavior... for some of it.
Matt Godfrey read this. He did a great job. There was many characters but he did great differentiating between all of them.

I requested a free audio version of this book and give this review voluntarily. Thank you Valancourt!

1 person found this helpful

The Spirit

This is definitely the best “Bigfoot” book I’ll ever read. I actually listened to the Audible version put out by Valancourt, narrated by Matt Godfrey. Godfrey is an excellent narrator, not at all jarring or grating, and I knew immediately which character was speaking.

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Just what I'd hoped for

This would have been the perfect book for fifteen-year old me, and it was near perfect for the older version as well. In fact, from my current perspective I saw more of the craft and thought that went into this than I might have at a younger age. Sure, it's about a murderous bigfoot but there's also some psychological depth to it. And many of the scenes are quite visceral, visual and effective--I could easily imagine them in a movie, so clearly is the action drawn. The narrative is punctuated by several surprises and I honestly didn't know how it would turn out. My one quibble is that somehow the beginning started almost TOO much in the middle of the action, and it took me a few minutes to sort out what was happening and why we'd been plopped into the narrative where we were. But this was no great debit. There was, as they say, never a dull moment. Exciting and well worth a listen if rampaging ape-men are your cup of tea.

Just The Spirit!

Take a truckload of anger and repression, a helicopter, a Vietnam Vet, throw in some archery lessons and a ski resort and you've created a dream recipe for a meditation on obsession and spirituality.

Add Raymond Jason (a man so manly he has two first names) and a guy called John Moon (a Native American who doesn't so much avoid a stereotype as much as hit it square on and stare it down) and you're just asking for trouble.

Throw Bigfoot into this potent mix and you have 'The Spirit' by Thomas Page.

A novel of it's time (Translation: stereotypes ahoy and paper-thin females characters) The Spirit's cocktail of testosterone, violence and fun, shallow pyschological insights unravels at a swift pace and builds to several impressive action set-pieces. What it lacks in depth it makes up for in the thrill of the ride - the sheer joy of realising that this story exists in the universe is only matched by the knowledge that in the world of The Spirit your head could be torn from your body by a frustrated vegetarian.

This excellent audiobook adaptation read by Matt Godfrey manages to capture the growling, broody characters and matches the intensity of the slightly mad action scenes. The Spirit is a little bonkers but a lot of fun.