Devils Unto Dust

Starred review from March 5, 2018
In Berquist’s blistering debut, it’s 1877, and strong-willed 17-year-old Daisy “Willie” Wilcox is struggling to support her three younger siblings in the desert town of Glory, Tex. The sickness that killed Willie’s mother has ravaged the country, creating “shakes,” the cannibalistic infected people who roam outside Glory’s protective fences. Willie’s father has run off, and when two men claim that he stole $400 from them, Willie is given a week to find and retrieve him. She reluctantly hires two shake hunters, brothers Benjamin and Curtis Garrett, to accompany her across the unforgiving desert. Willie narrates, taking readers on a harrowing journey across a searing desert filled with ghost towns and the walking dead. Exploring the bonds of loyalty, friendship, and bravery in the face of impossible odds, Berquist cleverly riffs on the work of Cormac McCarthy, blending the excitement and harsh beauty of the frontier with a straight shot of zombie terror. This wild western will delight horror and adventure fans alike. Ages 13–up. Agent: Heather Flaherty, Bent Agency.

Guitar chords reverberate as Berquist's gritty postapocalyptic Western opens. An infectious disease ravages post-Civil War Texas, transforming people into ravenous corpses known as shakes and cutting off train access and Northern aid. Narrator Devon Sorvari captures Daisy "Willie" Wilcox's slight drawl and pragmatic tone as she sustains her close-knit siblings in a fortified town where they are surrounded by the dead and controlled by a man called The Judge. When saddled with her absentee father's debts, the resilient teen reluctantly hires shake hunters to accompany her across bleak and treacherous terrain to find him. Sorvari's keen depictions reflect characters faced with difficult decisions and experiencing intense emotions in this immersive alternate history. Spare prose and an insightful performance reveal heartbreaking strength, beauty, and hope in a world dominated by loss. J.R.T. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine