"Devolution" and Raven Becomes Reobsessed with Big Foot

Wow, its been a minute. I've had five different drafts sitting here waiting for publication but I hadn't quite figured out how to finally commit to it. So here goes nothing. Missed this a lot.

When seeking good horror stories there are certain things I look for. I want something very grounded and something that I can think about for weeks on end. Many of us are vaguely familiar with the author, Max Brooks, for his hit World War Z. However many of us, myself included, only know that work from the movie starring Brad Pitt. We may remember that movie as a small blip on the radar that year when the zombie craze was inescapable. I remember renting the movie with my family and thinking "oh these zombies are fast. Neat." and then filing it away in my brain somewhere. I admittedly never bothered to pick up the book or even give the movie much thought beyond "Those zombies seemed a little unique".

Ah, the good old days. When everyone was interested in the living dead.

As I wandered through the bookstore, the way I always do, I wound up in a random section where the book had clearly been misplaced. "Devolution" sat there, a bright red footprint on the cover with a smaller footprint inside and a fake silver sticker proudly proclaiming "Author of 'World War Z'". The cover promised a Bigfoot story and I remember mulling it over about when was the last time I read an earnest attempt at a Bigfoot horror story. Say no more, I was sold.

The book is presented as a true account, a collection of all the data and evidence to propose what might have happened to a secluded eco-friendly neighborhood after a volcanic eruption separated them from the outside world. So we have Bigfoot, natural disasters, survival horror, and faux informational research. What more do you need in a book?

The book is divided into sections of interviews from various experts, family members of victims, and the recovered journal of Kate Holland, a woman who went missing after the eruption of Mt. Rainer left the community, The Greenloop, completely cut off from the world. Kate's brother contacts a reporter who begins compiling all of the evidence into this book that you will read. The style can at times be jarring or even comical. You will be reading from Kate's perspective how they attempt to communicate with the Bigfoots (Bigfeets?) and then cut to a primatologist explaining that what they do was most definitely an act of challenging them to a fight. These smash cuts give you both a comedic effect at times and other times work well to highlight how little this group could have been prepared for the events if they only had the proper knowledge. So let's talk a little about the group.

The Greenloop is an idealist wealthy but eco-friendly living style meant to have lower waste and very small carbon footprints (ha, get it? Small footprints attacked by bigfoot?). The project is spearheaded by Tony Durant who lives in the community with his wife Yvette. The couple is sickeningly perfect, but so are most of the residents. Tony built the neighborhood up in the mountains far away from any civilization and dependent upon one road and drone delivery systems. Outside of these two we have the older Bobbi and Vincent Boothe, the professor Alex Reinhardt, the creepy Effie and Carmen with their adopted daughter Palomino, and the eccentric artist Mostar. Kate is accompanied by her man-child husband Dan who for the first few chapters acts as dead weight holding our characters back. Each one has their own bizarre eccentricity and makes the neighborhood truly reflect a sort of ignorant rich hippie style. all of them are wealthy and think they can just suddenly become harmonious with nature while living an exposed life out in the mountains in which they remain reliant on Silicone Valley inventions.

Just imagine how great a Costco would be right here.

When Mt. Rainer erupts the community is safe from the explosion however all communications and internet are down for them. The Greenloop, as it was built by a trust fund Silicon Valley genius, has none of the safety features you would expect from an established mountain community. So they must sit around and pray that everything is restored quickly. This triggers Mostar into survival mode and comes up with a plan of action that involves Kate and Dan learning everything from her. Mostar's background is complex with plenty of war trauma implications but her skills are sharp. You almost wonder how she could have found herself so ill-prepared with all of her survival knowledge.

Kate and Dan and at this time too passive to resist the leadership of Mostar. This creates tension as the rest of the group is uncertain of trusting Mostar or even taking actions beyond positive thinking. Tony and Yvette are hit the hardest by the tension as they feel like their position as leaders is being questioned. They soon disappear from the story for a while as they hide themselves away in their own misery. As they step out of the spotlight Kate and Dan build themselves up with the guidance of Mostar.

For the remainder of this book, we get hints at the outside world dealing with huge fallouts. Supply chains are disrupted first by the Volcano and then by other events like riots and a crazed gunman. Our characters do not get much insight into this as all they know is their way out is blocked by a volcanic mudslide and with no internet it is only if their car radios can get a signal that they learn anything of the outside. As readers, we see more of it through some of the interviews, but we never get the full picture as everyone is pretty horrified by what happened in the Greenloop and see it as more important.

The book follows the Jaws strategy of not showing our monsters too early. This allows our atmosphere to shine through first and foremost, however, it is set up clearly in the introduction that this is an account of a Bigfoot attack. We spend plenty of time dealing with interpersonal struggles and the weird politics they all seem to have. There's such a feeling of dread and impending doom that dealing with a bigfoot problem almost seems like a welcomed relief from the idea of starving to death or fighting your neighbors for the last bottle of green juice.

Despite my early disdain for the colorful cast of characters, I found myself at the end truly rooting for them. Maybe I just love a good redemption arch for a girl boss and her cringe male-wife. The complexity of them really starts to shine through as the situation turns from man versus man to man versus, well, bigger man I guess. I would have bashed these characters a lot more had it not been for all of them developing thier own interesting archs.

With the blend of science, the politics of disaster, and a hint of cryptozoology the story is captivating. I will say after reading this I am more willing to potentially go back and try reading "World War Z", but that will be a conversation for a different day.

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars. It was an incredible read overall. I enjoyed my time with it and would be willing to reread it at some point I'm sure. The humor and horror blend works so well here and of course, the characters really shine. I think this work deserves some more love since most of us only know World War Z from Max Brooks.

Post Script: As I said in the beginning it took me forever to put the words together on what I wanted to write. I thank you for reading this far. It's been a few months since I last published anything here. I did miss it, even if it is just me posting into the void sometimes. I hope you'll follow along and maybe the next post will happen sooner rather than later.