Book Review: The Troop by Nick Cutter

Paperback

368 pages

Expected Release Date: February 25, 2014

Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Author: Nick Cutter

HUGE thank you to S&S Canada for providing this book for review!

Boy Scouts live by the motto “Be Prepared.” However, nothing can prepare this group of young boys and their scoutmaster for what they encounter on a small, deserted island, as they settle down for a weekend of campfires, merit badges, and survival lessons. Everything changes when a haggard stranger in tattered clothing appears out of nowhere and collapses on the campers’ doorstep. Before the night is through, this stranger will end up infecting one of the troop’s own with a bioengineered horror that’s straight out of their worst nightmares. Now stranded on the island with no communication to the outside world, the troop learns to battle much more than the elements, as they are pitted against something nature never intended…and eventually each other.

Morbid, gross, disturbing, disgusting, shocking, horrifying, and a HELL of a lot of fun!

Let me start by saying that this book is NOT FOR TEENS.
This is an adult read. through and through.
It's very graphic and NOT for the squeamish. I have a stomach of steel, but even I had to skim over some parts (especially one involving a turtle), and take short breaks while I read to look at pretty rainbows and cute puppies to wash my brain.

A group of teen boy scouts and their scoutmaster are camping on a deserted island off the shores of PEI,  when a very ill stranger shows up needing help.
I'm not going to get into the actual illness, but needless to say, what happens next is morbidly chaotic, and each boy handles it differently.

The Troop is being marketed as 'the book that scared Stephen King' and 'a cross between Lord of the Flies and 28 Days Later'.
While I didn't find it scary, I did find it delightfully gruesome and gory. The author pulls no punches with the blood and guts, and at times almost seems to be trying to 1-up himself with the shock value.

The character development is fabulous, the writing is fantastic, the pace is page-turning, and the subject matter is terrifyingly worrisome! :-O

If you're a fan of horror and psychological thrillers, you'll eat up The Troop!