'Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere. Tamsen Donner must be a witch. 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 pioneers to the brink of madness. They cannot escape the feeling that someone--or something--is stalking them. Whether it was a curse from the beautiful Tamsen, the choice to follow a disastrous experimental route West, or just plain bad luck--the 90 men, women, and children of the Donner Party are at the brink of one of the deadliest and most disastrous western adventures in American history.
While the ill-fated group struggles to survive in the treacherous mountain conditions--searing heat that turns the sand into bubbling stew; snows that freeze the oxen where they stand--evil begins to grow around them, and within them. As members of the party begin to disappear, they must ask themselves 'What if there is something waiting in the mountains? Something disturbing and diseased...and very hungry?'.'
The Donner Party is a name that brings some very clear images to mind, a group of people travelling across the vast wilderness of America, falling victim to bad weather and poor directions until their only course of action was to resort to cannibalism to survive. Just on its own it's a disturbing and somewhat horrific story, one about the desperate need to survive. Alma Katsu adds a whole new layer of horror to the story with her novel The Hunger when she makes the group the victims of something much more evil.
Katsu mixes together historical fact with fiction, and real life people with her own creations incredibly well. I was familiar with the story of the Donner Party before reading this book, and was able to pick out certain places and people that I remembered, but those that were fabricated were done so with a huge amount of skill. There's no obvious moment where you can tell a person if completely new to this story. Katsu is able to bring a great deal of life to all of the characters in her book, making the factual and fictional feel alive.
The story of The Hunger begins with the wagon train already on their journey west, trying to find a better life, when tragedy hits in the form of a missing child. The mutilated body that they find is only the beginning of their woes, and almost becomes something you forget about as things worsen for the group, not realising that this dead boy hints at so much more to come.
Along their journey the group begins to fracture, falling to infighting and various mishaps, such as broken equipment and lack of supplies. People turn against each other, protecting their own and suspecting all those around them of wanting to harm them. It's a very real and believable set of events, one that highlights humanities ability to quickly turn on itself when it feels threatened. This fractured and disheartened group discover that their own squabbles are far from the worst thing that can befall them on the journey, however, when strange creatures begin to stalk them, picking them off one by one.
The reveal of the supernatural elements in the book is slow, choosing to let readers get to know the characters first, to understand their motivations and personal conflicts before it turns more towards horror. The horror elements are quite subtle too, with often only one or two people seeing what's happened and the rest of the group finding it hard to believe. The fact that there aren't monsters terrorising the entire wagon train or big set pieces helps to make things feel more believable, perhaps even part of the real events. The fact that some of the people who see these outside forces are considered to be unreliable by other members of the group, for various reasons, and that people are beginning to fall into depression and desperate hunger makes you begin to question if certain things are even happening. Maybe it's psychosis brought on from hunger and fever that's really tormenting these people?
The Hunger is not a fun book to read, it's depressing, grim, and creepy. This isn't just because that's what the author set out to do, but because you know whatever happens isn't going to end well before you even open the book. The story is based upon a tragedy, so when characters suffer and die awful deaths you don't feel shocked or outraged, but a sad resignation. There were characters that I liked, that I wanted to see live because they seemed like good, decent people, and seeing them slowly suffer and die felt like it was eroding me away too. You can enjoy the book, take pleasure in the well told story and great characters, but you're not going to finish it with a sense of happiness; unless perhaps at being happy the awful events are finally over.
Alma Katsu merges together historic fiction and horror in a great way with The Hunger, taking one of the best known tragedies in US history and putting a new spin on events. Whether you're familiar with the story of the Donner Party or not, this story is sure to chill you.
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