Review – Devolution by Max Brooks

I’ve been wanting to read a creature feature horror for some time and Devolution delivered it all in a big way. Tense, violent and completely enthralling, it’s another brilliant novel by Max Brooks.



Using the narrative device of journal excerpts alongside reports and interviews, Devolution builds an intriguing picture of events. Ostensibly told from the perspective of a journalist and his research, the interviews with head Ranger in charge of rescue operations offer short, sharp insights into events. However, it’s the journal of Katie that is the real source as she details her introduction to the small eco-village of Greenloop. Offered the opportunity to live there by her brother, for reasons merely suggested by her highly strung personality and her relationship with her husband, what appears to be a paradise quickly sours.



Though the community is a high-tec, online, fully automated dream with all the self contained solar power and biogas fuels it needs, it isn’t prepared in any way for disaster. And, when the local mountain erupts, the resulting landslides and ash create a perfect storm that totally cuts off the village from everything and everyone. It’s only then that we really begin to see the characters for who they are. Whilst artist Mostar quickly displays survival instincts forged from a violent past, village founder Tony and his yoga guru wife crumble. It’s the dynamics within the group that’s so interesting as the realisation that they’re cut off and need to be resilient slowly dawns upon them. Whilst Mostar and Katie begin to catalogue calories and start a small garden, others try to seek rescue. As the pressure of isolation begins to be felt, something even hungrier makes its massive presence known.



Layering survival horror with a terrifying creature, Devolution erupts with violence. Whilst the idea was there, creeping amongst the shadows, it’s not until that first true encounter that the dread gives way to absolute fear. Made brilliantly real by the addition of fictional anthropology and actual evidence of primate behaviour, the troop of Sasquatch with all their stink and size and hollering explode from the page. It’s the mix of interview and journal accounts (something that seems to be Max Brooks style) which gives the boom such a brilliant grounding. As the attacks begin, the pace picks up and the pages fly past.



Amongst the violence and bloodshed, there’s still place for human dynamics as those who seemed weak step up and relationships that appeared broken are forged anew. Yet it’s the greater human aspect, the very one which saw our species rise above other primates, that is revealed in stark detail. Foreshadowed early on with talk about community, it’s the real social contract between humans that makes us so formidable; the ability to group together to hunt and kill. Whilst the ending is a climactic one, it’s the epilogue that truly defines the story.



Brilliantly crafted and wonderfully dark, Devolution is a violent look into the nature of survival. Brutal, bloody and abominable in all the right ways, this is a great creature feature horror.



My copy



Published by Del Rey