Mystery

Zada creates a strong sense of mystery in his book by relying on descriptive language and employing tropes pertaining to the Sasquatch, to mythical creatures in general, and to Indigenous folklore.

Zada employs charged and hyperbolic vocabulary to increase the reader’s sense of the surreal and the mysterious. He uses phrases and words like “monstrous humanoid,” (10) “blood-curdling,” (11) and “gargantuan,” (11) among many others, emphasizing time and again the otherworldly and strange elements of the Sasquatch, which looms large in the imagination. He also uses descriptive language to create a sense of urgency and panic, even when the dangerous element is unseen or unknown, thus also contributing to the sense of mystery that pervades his quest. For example, like an adventure novelist, he writes, “We emerge, bleary-eyed, from the darkness onto a bright, open estuary” (4) after describing a scene in which he and his hiking companion are chased through...