DEATH IN THE SNOW ... death that comes on two legs, eight feet tall, with arms of iron and hands that can tear the head off a man and fold his rifle into a pretzel! Author M.E. Knerr presents an all-too-plausible story of what could - no, what will happen, when a gentle forest giant is pushed into a frenzy by the encroachment of our modern world. When that happens, all will fear the name SASQUATCH!
Knerr's story is not quite the over-the-top gonzo thriller like Bogner's Snowman was, with its globetrotting, nuclear bazooka action, instead tracking the violent outbursts that threaten the small town milieu in Lodgepole, CA. Knerr's characters are cleanly drawn and get the job done well enough, and he doesn't waste too much time getting where he's going. Characters are here one minute, dead the next, as they tell each other what they know about the mysterious Sasquatch, argue about if he even exists, and run around on each other between the town's sole, sleazy bar and the ski lodge up the way. It all leads up to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it climax typical of vintage thriller writing. Where Knerr really excels is his sense of place: you can almost hear the snow crunching underfoot as cowboys and coppers skulk around the woods searching for the beast!
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There's not a lot out there about author Michael Knerr, aside from that he worked under a lot of pseudonyms writing quickie sex and genre titles for cheapie publishers like Monarch and Pinnacle. A guest post by SF author John F. Carr at the Mystery File blog dredges up some biographical detail, including Knerr's relationship with classic SF writer H. Beam Piper ... be sure to read the comments, too!
Knerr's terror tale was originally published by Belmont/Tower Books as Sasquatch: Monster of the Northwest Woods in 1977. This edition goes for ridiculous prices online due to kitsch value, which is why I finally wrangled a copy of the NEL edition from the following year and threw it up on the archive for all to read, absolutely free: here it is in all its scanned glory!
For simple pleasures and knowing glances, Knerr's Sasquatch earns a 3/4 rating.
New English Library, 1978 (original pub. 1977)
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