A review by ericarobyn
The Fervor by Alma Katsu

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

The Fervor by Alma Katsu is a gut-wrenching tale of violence, hatred, propaganda, and sickness. Set in the 1940s during the war in which darkness surrounds, there are also strong elements of love and bravery with the characters that we follow. 

Content warnings:
Forced confinement, hate crimes, and miscarriage.

Set as a tale that jumps between various characters, readers get to see the different perspectives and feelings about the state of the world from the main characters. 

  • First, we have a woman and her daughter who are stuck in an internment camp that are terrified when a sickness begins to spread.
  • Next we have a man angry at the world after the loss of his wife after finding something in the woods.
  • Then we have a reporter who has picked up on a story that she can’t just let go.
  • In addition to these characters, we also get snippets of journal entries throughout. 
Each individual storyline was intense in its own way and each flowed perfectly into the overall story-arc. I loved that each section slowly began to give us more information so we could start putting the puzzle pieces together. 

Even with all the hard emotions that came up by reading this, I just couldn’t put the book down. I needed to see what was going to happen with each of the primary characters! 

I don’t want to go too far into the plot, as this is a book that I think readers need to just dive into. But I will note that had no idea there were internment camps that forced Japanese Americans into them during the war. Over 120,000 people of Japanese heritage were relocated to the camps in the 1940s.

I love historical horror for exactly this reason, it shines a light on true, very real horror. It gets readers to learn more than what history lessons in school glosses over, and opens up the avenue to learn more. I certainly have a lot to learn about this, and I’m so grateful Alma Katsu opened that door for me. 

The Afterword is also not to be missed. 

My Favorite Passages from The Fervor

Rumors flow like wasps through the camp, each story more outrageous than the last. It was impossible to know what was true with all the lies, many of them coming from the guards.

Could it have been a ghost? The thought popped into her head, unwelcome. She didn’t believe in ghosts, not while the sun shined, but it was hard to feel as certain at night. 

There were always inner demons to be fought.

My Final Thoughts on The Fervor

Within these pages, there are so many elements that will make your skin crawl and your blood boil. The heartbreak you will feel while reading this is definitely worth the experience. It’s an especially important considering the rising tension in the US yet again recently. 

Stay safe. If you’re having a hard time with the current news cycle, you’ll want to tread lightly here. But please do give this one a read when you can! 

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