The Hunger

come down the wagon train just to talk, not when they were supposed to be yoking up. Around them, the regular morning chaos whirled. Teamsters herded the oxen, the ground rumbling beneath the animals' weight. Men dismantled their tents and loaded them into their wagons, or smothered out fires beneath sand. The air was filled with the sound of children shouting as they carried buckets of water for the day's drinking and washing.

Stanton and Bryant hadn't known each other long but had quickly developed a friendship. The party Stanton had been traveling with prior-a small wagon train out of Illinois, consisting mostly of the Donner and Reed families-had recently joined up with a much larger group led by a retired military man, William Russell, outside Independence, Missouri. Edwin Bryant had been one of the first members from the Russell party to introduce himself and seemed to gravitate to Stanton, perhaps because they were both single men in a wagon train full of families.

In appearance, Edwin Bryant was Stanton's opposite. Stanton was tall, strong without trying to be. He had been complimented on his good looks his entire life. It had all come from his mother, as far as he could tell. He had her thick, wavy dark brown hair and soulful eyes.

Thy looks are a gift from the devil, boy, so you might tempt others to sin. Another of his grandfather's pronouncements. Once he'd smashed Stanton's face with a belt buckle, maybe hoping to chase out the devil he saw there. It hadn't worked. Stanton had kept all his teeth, and his nose had healed. The scar on his forehead had faded. The devil, as far as he knew, had stayed.

Bryant was probably a decade older. Years as a newspape

New York Post

The Donner Party will never not be fascinating, and Alma Katsu s The Hunger somehow makes the man-eating story all the more enticing. BookRiot

"Equal parts unputdownable and must-put-it-down-or-I-am-going-to-have-a-heart-attack...You travel into this book and there is no escape. Katsu is an exceptionally gifted writer and the dread-soaked pages are with me every day as both a writer and a scaredy cat. Caroline Kepnes for TODAY.com

Combines meticulous historical research and a keen understanding of human nature with a monstrous original metaphor to reimagine the ill-fated Donner-Reed party as a haunted endeavor, doomed from its first mile. Salon

"The Hunger is full of foreboding and humanity." Refinery29

The Hunger is being described as the Donner Party with a supernatural twist, and it sure delivers on the spooky premise. Bustle

[The Hunger] is as rich in history as it is disturbing. Vulture

"Katsu retells the haunting story of the Donner Party shining a light on the darkest parts of human nature while incorporating a chilling supernatural element." AARP

Much like Dan Simmons's The Terror, Alma Katsu's accomplished, engrossing novel weaves a cocoon of supernatural horror around historical tragedy....The atmosphere of doom becomes as thick as the snow that eventually halts the pioneers' progress. It's a beautifully intense read. The Financial Times (UK)

The Hunger by Alma Katsu takes the tragic tale of the Donner Party and infuses it with hints of witchcraft, vampirism, lycanthropy, cannibalism and zombiism in a tale that is fated to become the latest Donner Party-inspired horror movie. True West Magazine

"Katsu grips and tormets readers with an eerie, well-researched facsimile of 19th-century America, vivid imagery of the harsh pioneering life, and the gnawing suggestion that malevolence, and not merely bad luck, may have shaped the Donner Party's fate." Matador Network 

"In the case of The Hunger, inspired by the travails of the Donner Party, Alma Katsu blends evocative images of the American West with unnerving scenes of the supernatural, making for a uniquely gripping read." InsideHook

Katsu injects the supernatural into this brilliant retelling of the ill-fated Donner Party....Fans of Dan Simmons s The Terror will find familiar and welcome chills. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

For fans of historical fiction and the supernatural, Katsu s goosebumpy and spooky plot makes for an original and surprising read. Library Journal (starred review)

A suspenseful and imaginative take on a famous tragedy. Booklist

An inventive reimagining...Westward migration, murder, sensation: the story of the Donner Party has all this....Katsu creates a riveting drama of power struggles and shifting alliances....The tensions [she] creates are thrilling. Kirkus Reviews

Grips readers from the opening paragraphs and doesn t let go. Full of richly drawn and fascinatingly flawed characters, this is a story that is respectful of the history it relates, but doesn t shy away from the sins, mistakes and bigotry of the past, to impressive effect. RT Book Reviews

The isolation is anxiety-inducing and the tension is perfect....Well-written and gripping with a strong conclusion, The Hunger is an inventive take on an already morbidly fascinating historical event. Recommended. Historical Novel Society

Escalating terror and excitement, leading to an ending that's beyond unsettling... Katsu does a remarkable job of transforming a true story into a hard-to-put-down work of fiction.... Unique, literary and entertaining. The Oklahoman
 
Take the already gruesome Donner Party story, add a wagonload of frightening supernatural elements, and you have the ingredients that animate this chilling novel .A compulsively addictive retooling of historical fact. Brandeis Magazine

An unsettling and slow-burning tale that combines history and the supernatural that sure to please anyone with interest in either. SF Reader

It's a testament to Katsu's skill as a writer that she creates characters so compelling that we can't help hoping they will escape the fate we knew was hurtling toward them the moment we opened the book. She ends the novel with an image of sacrifice and an image of reconciliation, each of them powerful and affecting. They give the book a melancholy resonance. It's a fine novel. Locus Magazine

Author Alma Katsu is one of the genre s new stars, and her reimagining of the Donner Party tragedy is one reason why. Mental Floss

Katsu dangles the grisliest elements of the story just out of reach. . . . For those who appreciate authenticity and great character work, it s a piece of historical horror that takes exactly the route it should. Esquire

Alma Katsu has taken one of the darkest and most chilling episodes in our history, and made the story even darker, even more terrifying. I swear I'm still shuddering. A fantastic read! R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series

Like The Revenant but with an insistent supernatural whisper. The setting and the story are utterly chilling. And the telling of it is so well done. Sarah Pinborough, author of Behind Her Eyes

The Hunger is a terrific historical novel with a thrilling, bloody twist. Alma Katsu s brilliant reimagining of the Donner party s fate is rich with character, laden with imminent doom, and propelled by chilling mystery. A novel that book clubs and dark fiction fans should devour with equal relish. Christopher Golden, author of Ararat and Snowblind

If you think the story of the Donner Party can t get more horrific, think again.  In this gripping, atmospheric reimagining of that dark tale, Katsu has created a deeply unsettling and truly terrifying masterpiece. Jennifer McMahon, author of Burntown and The Winter People
 
An uneasy, nauseous, slow-burning tale that marries historical fiction with a hint of the supernatural. Great detailing; colorful characterization; some supremely ominous stuff, but always reined in at the final moment to rack up the tension even more. Loved it! Joanne Harris, author of Different Class and Chocolat
 
The Hunger is a bold and brilliant novel, heavy with foreboding and dread, and with a rich vein of humanity at its core. I challenge you to read it without experiencing your own hunger pangs. Tim Lebbon, author of Relics and The Silence

In an audacious twist, Alma Katsu has made something new and suspenseful from the legendary story of the Donner Party. The Hunger is filled with terror, pity, and grue. Keith Donohue, author of The Boy Who Drew Monsters and The Stolen Child