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Devolution

From the bestselling author of World War Z

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WORLD WAR Z
______________________________________
As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier's eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.

But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town's bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing - and too earth-shattering in its implications - to be forgotten.

In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate's extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into the massacre and the beasts behind it, once thought legendary but now known to be terrifyingly real.

Kate's is a tale of unexpected strength and resilience, of humanity's defiance in the face of a terrible predator's gaze, and inevitably, of savagery and death.

Yet it is also far more than that.

Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us - and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.

Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it - and like none you've ever read before.

The cast:
Judy Greer as Kate Holland
Nathan Fillion as Frank McCray
Kimberly Guerrero as Josephine Schell
With:
Jeff Daniels as Steve Morgan
Mira Furlan as Mostar
Kate Mulgrew as Hannah Reinhardt-Roth
Steven Weber as Tony Durant
and
Terry Gross and Kai Ryssdal as themselves
and
Max Brooks as the researcher

'Devolution is one of the greatest horror novels I've ever read. The characters soar, the ideas sing, and it's all going to scare the living daylights out of you.' Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and Recursion

'Devolution is spell binding. It is a horror story about how anyone, especially those who think they are above it, can slowly devolve into primal, instinctual behaviour. I was gripped from the first page to the last!' Les Stroud, creator of Survivorman

'Brooks packs his plot with action, information, and atmosphere, and captures both the foibles and the heroism of his characters. This slow-burning page-turner will appeal to Brooks' devoted fans and speculative fiction readers who enjoy tales of monsters.' Publishers Weekly

'Devolution is by Max Brooks, who wrote the stone cold classic that is World War Z, so I will follow him pretty much anywhere. Few things are pleasanter to read when cosy in bed than utterly dreadful dystopian things happening to somebody else.' Jenny Colgan

© Max Brooks 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Adventure Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Science Fiction Scary Fiction Haunted Bigfoot Fantasy War

Critic reviews

A masterful blend of laugh-out-loud social satire and stuff-your-fist-in-your-mouth horror. One elevates the other, making the book, and its message, all the more relevant.
Max Brooks has written the next great epistolary novel. Devolution is phenomenal
One of the greatest horror novels I've ever read. The characters soar, the ideas sing, and it's all going to scare the living daylights out of you

Another triumph from Max Brooks! . . . I can’t wait until he turns every monster from childhood into an intelligent, entertaining page-turner

A bloody good read (Andrew Hunter Murray, bestselling author of The Last Day)
Unputdownable
Thrilling and terrifyingly prescient. I love Max Brooks!

Devolution is spellbinding. It is a horror story about how anyone, especially those who think they are above it, can slowly devolve into primal, instinctual behaviour. I was gripped from the first page to the last!

For any fan of Bigfoot or cryptozoology, it's a referential treat.
From the feverish imagination behind World War Z comes a chilling narrative like no other, as the freshly discovered journals of a massacre survivor posit the horrifying suggestion of supernatural forces at work. Dark, gripping and visceral, Devolution is a unique journey into terror.
All stars
Most relevant
Fine work. I was at first put off by the subject matter, I'm not from usa so the bigfoot is just a silly thing to me like other silly foreign things like trickle down economics or such , not part of a legendarium. But mr Brooks turned it into something else. Still don't care about bigfoot of course but a lot of the commentary that mr Brooks sneaked in is very insightful, and some themes, like the references to a certain siege and tragedy in my side of the atlantic or the sense of entitlement of so many westerners in general , are important to me.

Brooks does it again

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Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Max Brooks have done an incredible job at depicting at, in my opinion, how our creature comforts or lack there of can change our nature...

Amazing listen!

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Absolutely loved it. Fantastic voice acting, story was brilliant and had me hooked right til the end.

Another classic from Max Brooks

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the performance of this Audible was amazing, if I'd read it I think I'd have been bored. It was an ok story and actually scary in parts but it took far to long to get going for me. Not bad, but not amazing

not as good as I'd hoped

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I usually don't like these full cast audiobooks but I really wanted to read this one so I gave it a go. pleasantly surprised! great story, it's hard to make Bigfoot scary but Max Brooks managed it!

loved it

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