michaelpatrickhicks 's review for:

The Fervor by Alma Katsu

3.0

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The Fervor is a solid work of historical fiction (it’s billed as a horror novel, but I’m hesitant to call it as such given how sparse the supernatural and horror elements are here) exploring the internment of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II, a viral outbreak, and a dash of government conspiracy for good measure. Alma Katsu uses this historical backdrop to explore white supremacy and violence against Asian-Americans, and despite being set in the waning days of WWII the social commentary is, sadly, as topical as ever given current-day Republican politics, Trumpism, and violence against Asians in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, racism in America is hardly anything new — hell, this country was founded on genocide and slavery, so white supremacy is pretty well baked in — but I was surprised to learn about the Japanese Fu-Go balloon bomb attacks on US soil near the war’s end. I wasn’t aware of any such attacks prior to reading The Fervor, and am keen on learning more about them.