The Hunger - Alma Katsu

The Hunger

By Alma Katsu

  • Release Date: 2018-03-06
  • Genre: Mysteries & Thrillers
Score: 4
4
From 417 Ratings
$12.99 On itunes Buy on Amazon

Description

"Supernatural suspense at its finest...The best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you."--The New York Times Book Review

"Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark."--Stephen King

A tense and gripping reimagining of one of America's most fascinating historical moments: the Donner Party with a supernatural twist.

Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere.

That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos. They cannot seem to escape tragedy...or the feelings that someone--or something--is stalking them. Whether it's a curse from the beautiful Tamsen Donner (who some think might be a witch), their ill-advised choice of route through uncharted terrain, or just plain bad luck, the ninety men, women, and children of the Donner Party are heading into one of one of the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.

As members of the group begin to disappear, the survivors start to wonder if there really is something disturbing, and hungry, waiting for them in the mountains...and whether the evil that has unfolded around them may have in fact been growing within them all along.

Effortlessly combining the supernatural and the historical, The Hunger is an eerie, thrilling look at the volatility of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.

Reviews

  • Liked it

    4
    By Jen Shuster
    Spooky

  • Spooky

    5
    By BooneArcher
    Bought this at the bookshop in Truckee and read it at my place near Donner Lake. Lyrical and historically realistic, you won’t be disappointed

  • Awesome

    5
    By tdurden5150
    Great read . A well written reimagining of the events that occurred to the Donner party.

  • Terrible writing, overwrought plot

    1
    By Lizardbrain90
    I teach high school English and this feels like a book written by one of my students. It’s a weird cross between Twilight and a spaghetti western. The author has clearly done no research whatsoever on the time period, terminology, geography, or common dialects. The plot is drawn out, the timeline very difficult to follow, the characters flat and the details and descriptions often weird and nonsensical. I would hardly qualify it as horror, even in the “scary” parts. Give this book a pass.

  • Atmospheric and intriguing but falls short of a genuine supernatural horror-laden experience

    3
    By ticklemoipickle
    Based on tragedies that beset the Donner Party, a group of pioneers that traveled West to California in the mid-1800s, The Hunger is a horror-thriller that adds a supernatural element to the narrative. Initially ninety-strong, the Donner Party is afflicted by a series of catastrophic events that slow down their pace to a crawl eventually being trapped in a harsh, unrelenting winter. Alma Katsu does a terrific job of narrating their misfortunes, disasters and resilience in the face of adversity, as they continue on their journey to Sutter’s fort. The book is atmospheric and changing environments are described in lush detail. However, the book lacks elements of genuine supernatural horror and fails to deliver on the promise of a truly disturbing experience. It is understandable that the actual events of the ill-fated expedition are horrific enough but the supernatural twist does little to elevate the horror/thriller narrative. The book is riddled with intriguing characters, their plots and storylines, and jumps in time between chapters to shed light on their past and reasons for traveling west. The ending however for some, is left unresolved and these characters barely surface at the end of the book. While the last quarter of the book is eventful, this lack of resolution for some key characters makes the ending feel quite rushed.

  • Great Read

    5
    By DCTX55
    creative story, effortless reading. Author includes enough characters to give a variety of perspectives on the story but not enough to be overwhelming (GOT...) Characters feel authentic and familiar. Overall great book

  • Good but lacked detail and true horror

    3
    By Mdg0006
    Maybe I had the wrong expectations going into this book- I was prepared for something extremely scary after reading some, what I now realize to be, misleading reviews. I also felt a little bit let down by the lack of depth and imagery. Sometimes a “beautiful” valley would be described in two short sentences, people’s appearances toward the end was a major missed opportunity to really paint a mental picture, and things like that. An example for the lack of depth- Some chapters felt like explaining the inner workings of a character’s mind was taken on like diving head first into a pool and other times it felt like it was avoided like ex you ended bitterly with. I truly think this book would have benefited from taking it a bit slower and adding another couple hundred pages. All that being said, the last 100 pages or so of this book are phenomenal and make up for some of the rougher areas. Overall, I’m glad I read it but it’s nothing write home about, in my opinion.

  • I tortured myself with this book

    1
    By Jessiep813
    I was mad that I paid for this so I made myself read it. Absolutely horrible First off there are a million characters and only a handful have a story. You dont actually care about anyone and the few that you kind of sort of do get killed. The aspects of the book that were supposed to be scary or thrilling weren’t at all. I wouldn’t recommend this at all

  • Solid story and writing throughout

    5
    By girl in rome
    I have been looking for another great thriller/horror book since Bird Box and this is it. The pacing is a bit slower, but the story and characters are very engaging. I rushed through the book but when I got to the end of the story, I wasn’t ready to part with it. There was one scene that really terrified me. I’d say overall that I enjoyed this book as much for its gruesome premise as much as its exploration of love and found the ending very satisfying.

  • Hooked from the star

    5
    By nickthevampireslayer
    I read this book after being recommended by a friend and I was hooked immediately! The author’s build up of suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire book. She plays up the mystery so well that I was trying to figure out what was happening all up until the very end. Would recommend this book to anyone who loves a very well written mystery/thriller 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

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