A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant-provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students.
Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness.
To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.Ĭrouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters.
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