Washington Post editor writes “Max Brooks’s new book, “Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre.” This marks a significant change for Brooks, who is a well-known expert on zombies, which are still widely disputed, like werewolves or climate change. In 2003, Brooks published “The Zombie Survival Guide,” and his 2006 book “World War Z” was later made into a movie starring Brad Pitt.
With “Devolution,” Brooks brings his considerable investigative powers to a cryptozoological controversy that has been raging in the Pacific Northwest for decades. “I will let you,” he writes, “judge for yourself if the following pages seem reasonably plausible.”
Cleverly, some of the elements of this story do seem reasonably plausible, which, as we’ve learned, is the key to any abominable conspiracy theory. Brooks includes factual footnotes, interviews with a park ranger and excerpts from Teddy Roosevelt’s 1893 memoir, “The Wilderness Hunter.” But the meat of the book is a document of somewhat more questionable provenance: a diary retrieved from the site of a grisly massacre in Washington state.
The author of this diary is a missing woman named Kate Holland. She and her depressed husband, Dan, were members of a small group of tech pioneers who joined a utopian community called Greenloop built in “a mountainous, primeval rain forest as treacherous as anywhere in North America.” The six smart homes, powered by methane gas from the occupants’ poo, are the epitome of the green revolution: “No more sacrifice, no more guilt.” Physically removed from the troubles of the world while remaining linked by high-speed Internet access, the Greenloopers are free to enjoy “the best parts of both an urban and rural lifestyle.”
Fortunately, the founders of Greenloop, a handsome tech guru and his yoga-teaching wife, have anticipated every contingency, so there is absolutely no way anything could go wrong.
Things immediately go wrong.”
m99
_things that makes me go_Ummmmm
Colleen B
Not sure I’m a big fan of reading a book written in a diary format. Hopefully it will be made into a movie.
Denise F
I think the diary of a missing woman is a great pov to tell the story, myself. Sounds interesting.
Sandra C
Sasquatch Chronicles has become the YouTube of all things Big Foot. This particular video is hilarious. Loved it. Thanks for posting it!
michael m
I hope I get the book for fathersday. And yes somebody please make the movie!
Nathan E
This critic has apparently never read a story by H.P. Lovecraft, or some online journals either. 😛
Christopher N
Just finished. This book is intense! I loved it. Couldn’t put it down
Matthew W
Now that I have read the book and checked on a few things, I feel like such an idiot. This is 100% fiction. There was no Greenloop, Rainer eruption or any of it. My curiosity about bigfoot does not predispose any interest in Bigfoot fiction, but that is just me. There is so much that is really occurring when it comes to Bigfoot, that fiction seems to insult. Well, at least I read it on the beach.
Matthew W
Being from the east coast, I thought maybe Mount Rainer did erupt? St. Helens did! What a dope!