Before I read this book I didn’t find the thought of Big Foot remotely scary, you see I grew during the time of Harry and the Hendersons.  Their Bigfoot was soft and fluffy but apparently they lucked out, they are not all like that.

Greenloop is the perfect eco settlement, it has it all from the obligatory solar planets to drones bringing in that must have book from Amazon.  It is remote and is its beautiful, surrounded by the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with the snow caps of Mount Rainier framing the horizon.  It is truly idyllic with only half a dozen houses surrounding a central gathering place.

Newcomer Kate Holland moves in with her husband Dan, the community welcomes them with open arms and they quickly settle in but their joy in country living is short lived when Mount Rainier erupts creating a swathe of devastation and cutting off their only route to safety.

The community is geared up to be self sufficient and Kate along with Dan and the guidance of her neighbour Mostar quickly start planning for the long haul, who knows when they’ll be rescued.  It also quickly becomes apparent that the others in the community are not overly fond of sharing but as the ash from the volcano starts to cover the ground and the news on the radio becomes bleaker and bleaker a new threat emerges from the forest.

Kate sees it, though she is sure her eye are deceiving her when she first encounters it, seven to eight foot tall, a monster, the stuff of nightmares and it looks like its not alone.  Slowly these monster edge their way closer to Greenloop until the night when Kate discovers one on her door step.

The one thing I have neglected to mention is this is written in the formal of a journal that is mainly from the POV of Kate and it does a decent job of documenting her journey from frightened wife to survival guru.  I really didn’t expect it to be as scary as it was, the atmosphere as the monsters worked their way closed and closer to the camp was truly frightening and when the blood starts to be shed it keeps you gripped to see if anyone makes it out alive.

A truly excellent read that might stop you from venturing to far off the beaten track for a while.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟