NOTE: The book reviewed contains
themes only appropriate for those above the age of majority.
Based on true
events – which I didn’t know – The Hunger
is a fictionalised story of a group of pioneers, known as the Donner party,
travelling westward, with an added supernatural element.
The journey
through a harsh terrain and in inclement weather conditions is full of
hardships, exacerbated by bad choices made out of ignorance – sometimes wilful – and
stubbornness of incompetent leadership.
The people at
first appear to be mostly strangers, but the connections, past and present, between
them slowly unravel over the course of the story, unveiling their diverse
backgrounds, views, ambitions, and experience. With superstition and distrust
abound, it doesn’t take long for the tensions to arise between such a
collection of people and in-fighting to begin, culminating in fear that
overrides reason and leads to the group’s ultimate demise.
For there
is something else trailing the party. Hunger. And not just the one caused by the
dwindling supplies.
There is
something evil watching, lying in wait, splitting the group into smaller parts to
make them an easier prey. Something with teeth and claws. A pack of wild wolves,
some say. Monsters from natives’ myths. Or perhaps the monsters are just men. Might
be neither. Might be all of the above.
The answers,
all through to the final one, are never quite what you would expect, as nothing
is ever black and white. And in that lies the true horror of The Hunger.
Masterfully
told, The Hunger is eerie and gory (I
wouldn’t recommend reading either on an empty or a full stomach; pick some healthy
middle), but also wondrously poignant, showing the best and the worst of people
when faced with evil, without and within.
