There’s a strong sense of foreshadowing throughout the story, and it only grows stronger. I was invested in their story, and I found myself slipping into that difficult place, where I *knew* what was going to happen to the people, but I still desperately hoped for a different outcome.

The main characters were fleshed out with a history, a personality, and aspirations that made them feel realistic and accessible in a way that history often glosses over, preventing the story from feeling dry and boring.

What if the tragedy associated with the Donner Party wasn’t just bad luck? What if there was a more sentient evil, lurking out in the wilderness, waiting for an isolated party with what might just be the worst luck ever to just come along and be prey to this evil? That’s the twist that this story takes, and it merges with historical fact well enough that this story will stay with me long after finishing the book. Katsu has put a new spin on this story that makes it absolutely terrifying - I mean, even more so that it already was. But this book took things to a whole new level. I mean, I knew, just from the basics of history about the Donner Party, that there was going to be murder and cannibalism. Let me start by saying that there are a LOT of content warnings in this book. 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 the deadliest and most disastrous Western adventures in American history.Īs 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.

They cannot seem to escape tragedy … or the feeling that someone - or something - is stalking them. 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.

That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party.ĭepleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travels to the brink of madness.

The hunger alma katsu review