Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice-for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Reams of practical advice for those embroiled in troubled relationships but, fictionwise, not too much to chew on even for series fans.Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Even with the richly imagined backdrop and distinctively earthy narrative voice, it’s all a bit of a stretch, with a too-brief adventure sandwiched by lengthy disquisitions on interpersonal trust-building. Priya stomps off in a huff, so now Karen has two issues to resolve. Micajah Horner, a stage magician performing as her late husband’s stand-in. Karen unthinkingly rushes off to investigate along with the Arcade sisters and Mrs. Clearly, or so Karen thinks, there’s a tommyknocker-a generally helpful supernatural creature whose normal habitat is the gold mines of Alaska-loose in the basement, and it’s very upset about something.

Tables flip over and other weird damage occurs, for which Hypatia and Hilaria Arcade, a pair of spiritualists, are blamed. This time, the hero of the previous adventure, horse-breaker and retired 17-year-old “seamstress” (or prostitute) Karen Memery, enjoys dinner and a show at the Rain City Riverside Hotel with her partner, Priya, a mad scientist who converted a steam-powered Singer sewing machine into a suit of battle armor (yes, it still sews), when a series of loud knocks interrupts the proceedings. Follow-up to Bear’s feminist steampunk yarn, Karen Memory (2015), whose setting is an alternate-world gold rush–era city in the Pacific Northwest.

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