The Troop

The Troop

Author: Visit Amazon's Nick Cutter Page | Language: English | ISBN: 1476717710 | Format: EPUB

The Troop Description

Review

"The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. This is old-school horror at its best. Not for the faint-hearted, but for the rest of us sick puppies, it's a perfect gift for a winter night." (Stephen King)

"Lean and crisp and over-the-top....Disquieting, disturbing." (Scott Smith, author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan)

"Nick Cutter brings a bone-chilling spin to a classic horror scenario in The Troop. It's Lord of the Flies meets Night of the Creeps, and I enjoyed it immensely." (Mira Grant, New York Times bestselling author)

"A grim microcosm of terror and desperation…haunting." (Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author)

"Nick Cutter pulls out all the stops in The Troop. This is a brilliant and deeply disturbing novel that you absolutely cannot put down. Highly recommended." (Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Code Zero and Dead of Night)

"Brilliant, and dialed to eleven on the creepy meter – an absolute blast." (Robert Pobi, author of Eye of the Storm)

"Some thrillers produce shivers, others trigger goose bumps; Cutter's graphic offering will have readers jumping out of their skin…intense…packs a powerful punch….Readers may wish to tackle this heart-pounding novel in highly-populated, well-lit areas—snacks optional." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Suspenseful….sinister….horrifying." (Library Journal)

About the Author

Nick Cutter is a pseudonym for an acclaimed author of novels and short stories. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

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Product Details
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Reviews

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Gallery Books (February 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476717710
ISBN-13: 978-1476717715
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

As a part-time online book reviewer and fulltime editor, I am constantly on the search for talented new faces in the literature world. After hearing about two up-and-coming novels, I am Murphy's Law by C. E. Scott and "The Troop" by Nick Cutter, I decided to check them out, and I instantly understood what all the buzz was about.

"The Troop" is classic pulp and gore horror at its very finest. Take an isolated island, five incoherent boy scouts and their somewhat inapt leader, a stranger who suddenly appears out of nowhere with a deadly parasite consuming his body, and you have yourself an unmerciful tale that takes hold of your fear and doesn't let go

"The Troop" doesn't read like a book from a new author at all. It was more like a novel written by a seasoned veteran in the field, and I was taken back to the first time I read Carrie as I raced through its pages. I swear, if one of the boys possessed psychic abilities, I would have bet my salary that it was written by Stephen King under a pseudonym. But nope, no Richard Bachman here.

The bioengineered tapeworm in this novel is the perfect killing machine. It not only wastes away a person in a matter of hours, but it also alters their thinking process, making the person make rash and tactless decisions (which leads the characters into a horrible downward spiral). It also spreads like no other contagion, through blood, saliva, other bodily fluids, and coughing, and if I was on the island, I would not touch anything that had even been near one of the contaminated.

What could be worse than being stranded on an uninhabited island? How about being stranded there with a deranged lunatic who is infected with highly-infectious parasitic worms. Not enough? Well, how about not just being stranded, but physically trapped there by shadowy military forces who won't let so much as a bird or fish escape its shores. Still not enough? Well, how about being trapped there, fighting the parasitic worms inside you, with an adolescent sociopath who is only too happy to exploit the situation. Still not enough? Well, how about we add a thin layer of conspiracy, with the very tangible suggestion that those military forces are deliberately allowing the horror to play out. Gotcha.

Yes, in a book that's been described as part Lord of the Flies and part 28 Days Later (which isn't a bad comparison, even if it only tells half of the story), The Troop proves to be a throwback to old-fashioned, late 80s, pulp horror, with a little 90s cynicism mixed in. Nick Cutter has crafted a grisly tale here that pulls no punches, and which wastes absolutely no time in getting to the good stuff.

At first, the story structure seems a little odd, especially since it spoils its own ending early on. The bulk of the story takes place in real time, exploring the Boy Scout troop's struggle to survive a situation they barely even understand. Spaced in between chapters, however, is a series of newspaper articles, scholarly pieces, and courtroom transcripts of the inquiry that is destined to follow. Ultimately, however, that second layer of storytelling really enhances the story, adding additional weight to the situation, and creating new doubts and questions for the reader.

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