Spirit of Sasquatch by Ernest Solar

Spirit of Sasquatch is a must read for fans of cryptids, especially followers of the big man.

Brock Blackwell’s mother disappeared when he was a baby, spirited away by a bigfoot, or so his father says. Brock tries to please his angry, abusive dad but never seems to succeed. Things change when, during a routine family forest excursion to find his mother, Brock has his own face to face encounter with the mythical hominid.

The author has obviously done his research on the lore of international large hairy ape like creatures. While the North American varieties are the focus of this novel, the Vietnamese Rock Apes and the Russian Almas are also mentioned. When it comes to Sasquatch, Solar ingeniously incorporates all of the different types sighted and manages to weave a believable tale of both a flesh and blood creature and a supernatural entity that provides a satisfactory explanation for the many contradictory theories about the elusive entity.

However, Solar goes further than mere cryptozoological authenticity. The Blackwell family provide the human tragedy and heart that this story needs. A grieving father driven to obsession by the loss of his wife. An older son working hard to keep his family together. A younger son, desperate for his father’s approval. Brock is the anchor to this novel, combining the different threads and providing a character for the reader to empathize with and champion. Unfortunately, while his narrative was mostly resolved by the end of the book, it was disappointing that there were still some loose threads left hanging in regards to his family.

I am a fan of cryptozoology, and while Sasquatch is not where my main interest lies, there was a time when I was well up on the latest sightings and theories. Perhaps this knowledge gave me a deeper appreciation for Spirit of Sasquatch, as I repeatedly found my head nodding in approval at how the different hominids were described.

The inevitable government conspiracy provided gleeful nostalgia for my childhood, when I devoured The X Files and was a regular reader of The Fortean Times. Perhaps I was even more primed to enjoy this book, as I’ve been looking for a bigfoot novel since I read a book several months ago that included tree knocking that left me disappointed when it wasn’t about the big man.

However, what kept me from giving Spirit of Sasquatch top marks was that several plot points were not resolved to my satisfaction. I don’t expect a novel to answer every question and tie up every loose end, but I would have appreciated some more information in order to draw my own conclusions. These elements were not sufficient to warrant a sequel, and I don’t think they were purposefully left vague by the author, but I sought more closure than provided for a few of the characters.

I award Spirit of Sasquatch…

Spirit of Sasquatch is available for $5.98 ebook and $15.95 print book on Amazon.