NOMINATED FOR THE BRAM STOKER, LOCUS, AND THRILLER AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
GOODREADS READERS CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE
A GOODREADS’ ESSENTIAL READ FOR ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH
“Sharp social commentary in a feat of pure storytelling” – NY Times
“A must read” – Library Journal (starred)
“A stunning triumph” – Booklist (starred)
NPR: one of the best books of 2022
Library Journal’s Best Books of 2022
CrimeReads’ Best Historical Novels and Crime Novels of 2022
Locus Recommended Reads 2022
New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Publishers Weekly, Book Marks, Apple Books, CrimeReads, Den of Geek, BookRiot: One of the top books to read this spring
1944: As World War II rages on, the threat has come to the home front. In a remote corner of Idaho, Meiko Briggs and her daughter, Aiko, are desperate to return home. Following Meiko’s husband’s enlistment as an air force pilot in the Pacific months prior, Meiko and Aiko were taken from their home in Seattle and sent to one of the internment camps in the Midwest. It didn’t matter that Aiko was American-born: They were Japanese, and therefore considered a threat by the American government.
Mother and daughter attempt to hold on to elements of their old life in the camp when a mysterious disease begins to spread among those interned. What starts as a minor cold quickly becomes spontaneous fits of violence and aggression, even death. And when a disconcerting team of doctors arrive, nearly more threatening than the illness itself, Meiko and her daughter team up with a newspaper reporter and widowed missionary to investigate, and it becomes clear to them that something more sinister is afoot, a demon from the stories of Meiko’s childhood, hell-bent on infiltrating their already strange world.
Inspired by the Japanese yokai and the jorogumo spider demon, The Fervor explores a supernatural threat beyond what anyone saw coming; the danger of demonization, a mysterious contagion, and the search to stop its spread before it’s too late.
Praise & Reviews
“Katsu takes time to build depth and sympathy for the main players, bounces between perspectives, and ends chapters with cliff-hangers that beg readers to keep going, until the characters collide in the final third of the book. The unease is constant, as anti-Asian racism, a mysterious illness, government cover-ups, and Japanese demons permeate the pages, soaking readers in anxiety. . . Katsu has no peer when it comes to atmospheric, detail-rich historical horror, but this volume is more unsettling than anything she’s written yet, because its demons attack readers uncomfortably close to home. A must-read for all, not just genre fans.” – Library Journal (starred)
“With startling relevance to the ongoing pandemic and filled with insightful metaphors, the action leaps off the page and has a cinematic quality. The Fervor is a stunning triumph and unfurls like a masterfully woven tapestry. It is suffused with secrets, pain, Japanese myths long thought forgotten, and above all the guilt that permeates throughout… The ghosts of this story will haunt readers long after they’re finished reading.” – Booklist (starred)
An NPR Best Books of 2022: “Alma Katsu is the reigning queen of literary historical horror, and The Fervor might be her best book yet. While some supernatural elements are present, this is an honest, very well-researched and heart-wrenching view into the WWII internment camps that Japanese Americans were forced into. A scathing look at anti-Asian sentiment that also explores what happens when racism is allowed to flourish unchecked, this is a historical fiction narrative that feels incredibly timely.”
“An absolute must-read… a triumph that thrills and entertains.” – Locus Magazine
“Katsu weaves myriad perspectives into a powerful historical horror novel centered on the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. . . . The meticulous and compassionate portraiture, placed against the backdrop of what evils humans do to one another, creates a horror that renders even the creepiest spiders merely decorative in comparison. Horror readers looking for sharp social commentary should snap this up.” —Publishers Weekly
“…a tale of sorting truth from lies and paranoia, and allies from enemies… Well worth you while, but you may not be able to shake it afterward.” – Rue Morgue magazine
“The Fervor is set in 1944, but it’s about the world we live in now—and that’s terrifying.”—Stephen Graham Jones, author of My Heart Is a Chainsaw
“The Fervor is heartbreaking, beautiful, and unputdownable. It turns the mirror of the past on the present, showing us what we could become if fear is allowed to defeat sense. It’s a masterful accomplishment which will stay with me for a long time.”—Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street
“Masterfully written. Rich in historical detail and packed with complicated, compelling characters, The Fervor is a frightening reminder that those of us in the present are always on the cusp of repeating the sins of the past.” —Riley Sager, author of Lock Every Door
“THE FERVOR is a chilling, inventive supernatural thriller about a mysterious outbreak in a Japanese American internment camp during the frenzied nationalist days of World War II. The story is propulsive and dense with spidery scares, but the greatest horror comes from the deep resonance between this shameful episode of our history and the news we read every day.” —Steph Cha, author of Your House Will Pay
“A haunting, harrowing slice of historical horror conjured by a masterful storyteller.” —Chuck Wendig, author of Wanderers
“I’m in awe of Alma Katsu’s uncanny ability to take historical fiction and infuse it with something so dark and otherworldly. I read this book in two sittings and during the night in between, I dreamt about it. A supernatural story with true heartache.”
—Jamie Ford, author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
“Is there anything the brilliant Alma Katsu can’t write about? The Fervor is an utterly compelling combination of the historical novel, the medical thriller, and the supernatural scarefest. It’s also a hauntingly moving meditation on prejudice and suspicion that feels like it has as much to say about our present moment as it does about the past. This is sure to be considered one of the best, most original novels of the year.”—David Bell, author of Kill All Your Darlings