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The Hunger

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The Hunger

By: Alma Katsu
Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Hunger by Alma Katsu, read by Kirsten Potter.

After having travelled west for weeks, the party of pioneers comes to a crossroads. It is time for their leader, George Donner, to make a choice. They face two diverging paths which lead to the same destination. One is well-documented – the other untested, but rumoured to be shorter.

Donner’s decision will shape the lives of everyone travelling with him. The searing heat of the desert gives way to biting winds and a bitter cold that freezes the cattle where they stand. Driven to the brink of madness, the ill-fated group struggles to survive and minor disagreements turn into violent confrontations. Then the children begin to disappear. As the survivors turn against each other, a few begin to realise that the threat they face reaches beyond the fury of the natural elements, to something more primal and far more deadly.

Based on the true story of The Donner Party, The Hunger is an eerie, shiver-inducing exploration of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.

©2018 Alma Katsu (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks Action & Adventure Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Horror World Literature Scary Fiction Native American Survival

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Critic reviews

"Deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark." (Stephen King)

"Katsu adds a rich vein of horror to her imaginative retelling...astonishingly atmospheric, with a strong sense of claustrophobia, despite the vast prairies and mountains...this is an enthralling and chilling read." (Laura Wilson)
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Great audio book, would recommend.
i was a bit put off by the description, as I'm not normally interested in wagons and such, but the story is great and keeps you traveling. beautiful work 😍

Brilliant !

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Really enjoyed this book kinda got lost in it well written very atmospheric highly recommended but not for faint hearted

Brilliant

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The Hunger is described as a reimagining of the story of the ill-fated Donner Party expedition with a horror twist. If you want to see how closely it follows the historical narrative you can check out Alma’s blog here. But, in a nutshell, the story follows a real journey of a wagon party in 1846 as some ninety odd settlers as they made their way from Independence, Missouri to California. They became stranded in the snowbound passes of Sierra Nevada and purportedly resorted to cannibalism in their struggle to survive.
Accolades for the book include The Hunger making NPR's list of 100 Best Horror Stories and being named one of the 21 best horror novels written by a woman. It’s now being optioned for film production by Ridley Scott.
So, does the story live up to the hype? Well, if you know how I listen to my audiobooks from previous reviews, then you’ll know I tend to partake during the early hours of the morning. So the idea of listening to a horror book at these times adds some context to how scared I am while immersing myself in the tale.
Let me say straight away that Kirsten Potter’s narration is the perfect mix of storyteller and dramatist for this kind of tale. She has quite a breathy style, but to my mind this doesn’t detract from the listening at all and her separation of character’s voices works very well for both male and female. She succeeds in creating atmosphere in the scenes, particularly in evoking the ambiguous sense of dread that pervades this novel.
Despite a sense of being on the wide open plains of America, the ever impending doom over the party and the notion that they are being tracked creates a ‘closed-box’ feel to the story. There are numerous flashbacks which are skillfully written and I never lost sense of what was happening or when. These serve to set the characters in the mind of the reader, and I think it’s fair to say that the majority have dark secrets to hide and are in some way running from their past. The author manages to make the reader/listener identify with every one of them – even the most despicable. From a teenage girl haunted by the voices of the dead, to a lone man fleeing a misplaced guilty conscience, to the errant wife of the wagon train’s leader.
The setting is wondrously described and I had no problem imagining the baking heat of the mid-west plains to the freezing heights of the Sierra Nevada mountains. All are expertly described, together with harrowing scenes of bestial attacks, mass graves of the Hunger’s victims and depictions of the hardship endured at every step. You get the sense that none of the characters are safe, but I’ll not spoil it for you by saying how things end up. Suffice it to say that the book will leave you affected afterwards. I’d be surprised if it didn’t have you reaching for Wikipedia to see how much of the story was true.
The only niggle I have is that the UK cover for the book does not hold up to the scope and vividness of the UK cover (I’ve shown the latter here.)
So, my verdict? If you’re a horror fan you won’t be disappointed by this offering. Alma Katsu has departed a little from her usual territory with The Hunger and her next book is apparently a thriller drawing on her experience of working as an intelligence operative. But, I hope she’ll bring her pen back top horror in the near future.

A disturbing horror tale living up to all the hype

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Narrators voice and delivery started to get on my nerves after a while probably due to how long it is.

A tad too long

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When this audiobook ended I was honestly surprised. I was at least expecting another two or three chapters to wrap up what was an otherwise tense and gripping story. There were threads still left unresolved and characters who deserved more time in the spotlight in the final few chapters.

Gripping story - Poor Ending

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I had high hopes for this book given the previous reviews but it didn't really hit the mark with me. The characters didn't grab me and the story just seemed a bit disjointed, the narrator was ok.

A bit underwhelming

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I really enjoyed it. Overall well worth the credit. It started slow but once I got through to chapter 5 i was throughly absorbed.

Slow start but really good

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Don't let the Wild West theme put you off if you're not fan of that type of book because this is a great horror that is part Zombie, part Vampire and part just plain weird. Brilliantly narrated by Kirsten Potter, a really enjoyable read.

Original and intelligent

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This book captured my imagination from beginning to end, satisfying my love of westerns, horror and mystery all at once! Cannot recommend highly enough!

Enthralling

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A poignant true story of survival from the wild west, interlaced with horror elements reminiscent of King's Wendigo and the movie Bone Tomahawk.

spooky and intriguing

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