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In this intriguing fantasy, author Keith Devine mixes myth with some gently massaged facts. The story begins with a search for the elusive Yeti, a large hairy humanoid that supposedly dwells in the Himalayan Mountain range, feeding happily on all meat, including human flesh. An investigation is initiated by Nazi Heinrich Himmler to determine if the Yeti, with its blue-green eyes, might be a primitive member of the Aryan race, utilizable as labor for Hitler’s Reich. A reluctant zoologist, Hans Schröder, is sent by Himmler to the icy regions of Tibet and records his encounter with the terrifying species, including a Nazi vs. Yeti battle.
Fast-forward to the early 2000s, when Deng, a scholar living in Hong Kong, learns that his brother has disappeared in the Tibetan mountains. He makes his way there despite his fear of his cruel father, Tenzin, and the resurgence of sadness about the mysterious loss of his mother when he was a child, forming the eerie backstory for the savagery that unfolds. Deng finds his brother preserved in ice by giant, white-furred brutes hungry for fresh meat.
The author is a Canadian-born English business consultant who asserts that his well-conceived creation has a basis in recorded history, including the Nazi fascination with the Yeti—though Devine candidly admits he has taken some liberties with the facts. His writing is rich and highly readable, with a special zest for describing gore and gristle. The Yeti—its existence still questioned, its origins unknown despite various sightings—makes a compelling subject for Devine’s adventure-laden, manly yarn. He includes quotations alluding to the creatures from such antithetical sources as Himmler and the first Tibetan Dalai Lama, Gendün Druppa. Devine has deftly twisted the novel’s timeframes so that the ending is a recapitulation of past events leading up to a near-future, leaving room for a sequel.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review