History is filled with many fabulous stories that can skillfully be turned into fictional horror. The less we know, the fewer the survivors, the more horrific the actions of the participants, all the more readily we are to accept the involvement of evil.
The Donner Party's trek across America in 1846 wasn't really all that long ago, not even 175 years. The events are fairly well-documented, the survival rate above fifty percent, not bad considering, but what those people had to do to survive…Katsu took this story and brought it to life. She delved into the nitty gritty details of life on the wagon train. The image that I think we all have is of the flat plains that roll across the country. I always forget that the most difficult part of this voyage would have been the Rocky Mountains. The true trials would have been during the last half of that voyage. Katsu played off of this, creating a monster to instill fear in all of us.
I love how Katsu kept her casting to the historical records, it lends a certain plausibility/possibility to her story. She changed perspectives during the story so that her audience could get the full picture of events, a peek into everyone's head.
My experience of The Hunger was through the audiobook. I found that the narrator did an excellent job. Kirsten Potter enhanced the creepy factor to an already eerie story.
Listening to The Hunger, I was constantly pulled back to the feeling that I had while reading The Terror. What's funny (peculiar, not ha-ha) is that these two events are so similar while completely different and only a year apart. This was a time of exploration, when people thought they were masters of the world. Although, in both of these stories Mother Nature showed them who was really in charge – something she still likes to do from time to time.
*4.5 Stars
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The Hunger
​By Alma Katsu
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