The Fervor: A Novel by Alma Katsu  

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 West. 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. 

I have found that there are generally two types of horror novels: those that aim to shock you with their monsters, and those that let the horrors of the story slowly creep their way through the narrative and to the reader. The Fervor is clearly in the latter. As the summary states, this takes place during the 1940s when the United States was holding Japanese people in interment camps. Between the growing racist jingoism and the very fact that the US was imprisoning citizens, there is already plenty of horror to fill a book. 

But there are also monsters in this book. In this case they are yokai, a type of Japanese spirit. This book does a brilliant job of weaving two disparate things together. The historical horror of the camps and supernatural horror of the yokai could feel at odds with each other. But Alma Katsu manages to play these horrors against each other. The camps and racism from white Americans feels like an outside threat while the yokai feel like something that should have been a refuge (their own Japanese culture) has turned against them as well. These threads twist together into a singular pressure of isolation and danger. 

There are four narratives throughout the novel. And while I was most engaged with the one that followed Meiko and Aiko in the camp, the others do serve to flesh out the events and social temperature of the country. The historicity of this story feels so grounded that it elevates the tension. This book is not an easy read because of how real it is. But I think you’ll find it’s absolutely a worthwhile one. 

Review by Adam

Every Man a King by Walter Mosley 

I bumped into a regular patron of a local Trenton jazz club a few weeks ago.  He was leaving the club with a new book under his arm.  Retired now, he said he reads about a book a week.  Music to a librarian’s ears!  “Read anything good lately?” I asked.  “Yes!” he said, “Every Man a King by Walter Mosley.”  Perfect – I had this month’s selection! While I’d heard of the prolific Walter Mosley,  I’d never actually read any of his books.   For shame!  Mosley has written over 50 books and received over a dozen literary awards in the last 4 decades.  A writer known for crime fiction, he has 5 series of books that follow popular characters (Easy Rawlins the best known)  and numerous standalone books, one of which was the 2018 Edgar Award-winning book, Down The River Unto the Sea.   Or maybe that was just the start of a new series that introduced the character of Joe King Oliver, an ex-NYC cop, ex-Rikers Island inmate and current private investigator. In Every Man a King,  Joe King Oliver is back and has been hired by a white billionaire (who is dating Oliver’s straight-talking 93 year-old black grandmother) to investigate the kidnapping/arrest of a notorious white nationalist.  How could he possibly want to help that awful man, Oliver’s teenage daughter asks him. Meantime, Oliver’s ex-wife asks for his help with her current husband’s arrest from a heating oil scam with Russian mobsters. While I must admit I found the various storylines confusing (and probably why I tend not to read much crime fiction),   the characters and multiple settings  – from all over NYC to Vermont to South Carolina, from mansions to jails to gritty motels to fancy gentlemen’s clubs – were all interesting and I kept reading to hear Oliver’s (Mosley’s) voice and his spot-on nuggets of social commentary and really, his comments about anything and everything along his adventures.   The plotlines may veer and trill about like jazz riffs but the book comes together as a highly entertaining song of storytelling.  I really enjoyed this book. A Washington Post review described this as “…noir with a social conscience.”   It has started me on a Walter Mosley kick and while I plan on reading many more of his books, I took time out this week to rewatch a young Denzel Washington,  Tom Sizemore (who recently passed away), Don Cheadle and Jennifer Beals in the 90’s movie based on Mosley’s first book, Devil in a Blue Dress. Wonderful treat – classic, moody noir that goes right along with every timeless local jazz joint and hard-boiled crime story.