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The Troop

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The Troop

By: Nick Cutter
Narrated by: Corey Brill
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Once every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads a troop of boys into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip - a tradition as comforting and reliable as a good ghost story around a roaring bonfre. The boys are a tight-knit crew. There’s Kent, one of the most popular kids in school; Ephraim and Max, also well-liked and easygoing; then there’s Newt the nerd and Shelley the odd duck. For the most part, they all get along and are happy to be there - which makes Scoutmaster Tim’s job a little easier. But for some reason, he can’t shake the feeling that something strange is in the air this year. Something waiting in the darkness. Something wicked...

It comes to them in the night. An unexpected intruder, stumbling upon their campsite like a wild animal. He is shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry - a man in unspeakable torment who exposes Tim and the boys to something far more frightening than any ghost story. Within his body is a bioengineered nightmare, a horror that spreads faster than fear. One by one, the boys will do things no person could ever imagine.

And so it begins. An agonizing weekend in the wilderness. A harrowing struggle for survival. No possible escape from the elements, the infected...or one another.

©2013 Nick Cutter (P)2014 Simon & Schuster Audio Genetic Engineering Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Fiction Scary Camping Suspense Haunted Exciting Fantasy Paranormal Gory Horror

Featured Article: The top 100 horror books of all time


This list encompasses the full spectrum of what horror can be—campfire-worthy tales, stomach-churning gore, and incisive social commentary. The classics are accounted for, but it also spotlights more recent titles, because that’s the nature of the genre—it is as perennial as it is ever-evolving, conjuring whatever frights most haunt our collective consciousness. Each title does have one thing in common: It makes for devilishly good listening. So cut the lights and press play—if you dare.

Featured Article The top 100 horror books of all time
Compelling Character Development • Vivid Descriptive Language • Effective Psychological Tension • Realistic Group Dynamics
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Horror fiction is in kind of a weird place right now. There's the old classic stuff, where the horror is all in the mind, and then there's the plain gross-out stuff. A lot of the first type hasn't aged well--the things that scare us now are so different than they were back then. And the gross-out kind, while fun, can get boring after a while: another eyeball falls out, another arm gets torn off, but does anything actually happen?

Not too many people are hitting the midline these days: psychological exploration of fear mixed with just enough yuck to keep things interesting. But this guy, Nick Cutter--he's right on top of that balance beam in The Troop.

Scoutmaster Tim and his troop of five boys set off for a remote location off the coast of Prince Edward Island (which itself qualifies as remote!). Everything's going great--for a little while. And then, almost immediately, things begin to unravel when a stranger arrives. A really strange stranger. Suddenly, everything is falling off the edge of normal, especially the scouts themselves.

Fans of earlier Stephen King novels may recognize the structure: everything's fine and then the Bad Thing shows up, making everyone show their true, ugly colors. But this book reads like a later King actually wrote it, especially in the characterization. The boys start off as templates: bully, nerd, weirdo, kid with issues at home, normal (if confused) kid. And then stereotypes vanish as personalities evolve and blur under the stress of the situation.

Other reviewers have mentioned that parts of this book are just plain disgusting. I actually yelled out "Oh, gross!" on the bus at one point, causing my fellow passengers to look around cautiously. But even the gross stuff wasn't just there for effect--it was disgusting, squishy, and smelly, yes, but it was also truly horrifying. Suddenly I remembered what "spine-tingling" actually means. Yikes!

The only issue I had with this edition, and it was a little issue, was the production value. The narrator was fine, but I heard a few page-turns and there were parts where the sound level dropped for a few seconds. But like I said, it was a pretty small issue.

I can't remember the last time I read a book with virtually no boring parts. This book didn't have any that I noticed. I wandered around with my earbuds on for an entire day, completely glued to the story. I kept listening for "tells" that might point to Stephen King actually writing this book--apparently it's a first novel, but that was hard to believe because it's just so good (I don't think Stephen King wrote this...but I can't be entirely sure!). If you love horror that's really horrifying, and you don't mind some squishy parts, you will love The Troop.

Horror that's really horrifying

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This book was very difficult to listen to and at the same time impossible to put down. I don't read much horror and I bought "The Troop" for a change of pace and because it had such great reviews. The topic of the book was particularly disgusting to me and I found it difficult to eat at times - I also started washing my hands excessively but the truth is I really loved it. Beautiful writing, talented story-telling... No matter how gross it was you needed to find out what was going to happen next. There were some harsh animal cruelty scenes that were so angering to me I had to step back and tell myself, "Self, this is just a story, this isn't a true depiction of anything, calm down". Even if you aren't into horror, if you can handle gore you shouldn't miss "The Troop".

Wow

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I was expecting a long set-up where we get to know the characters, so was surprised when the troop comes in contact with the stranger almost immediately. I thought, "now what? how will he keep this going?" But Mr. Cutter keeps your interest because the character development happens AS the different personalities deal with what is happening to them. Excellent writing. Great narrator.

Stephen King does Lord of The Flies

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Would you try another book from Nick Cutter and/or Corey Brill?

Possibly but not likely. I've also read Nick Cutter's "the deep" and found it to be equally "ok".

Would you recommend The Troop to your friends? Why or why not?

Not likely. I would have had troubles getting through this book if it weren't in audiobook format. It just wasn't that particularly scary, and there were some pretty obvious editing problems (reuse of the same adjective in three, even four separate sentences was really grating for me).

Have you listened to any of Corey Brill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't.

Could you see The Troop being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe a movie, not enough content for a TV series.

Any additional comments?

I really wanted to like this book overall, but I just found it forgettable unfortunately.

Decent but nothing great

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Dang. Great story. Very graphic, I lost my appetite while listening to this. I admittedly fast forwarded through a couple of really disturbing parts involving animals. Writing was so-so: repeated metaphors & repeated unique words took away from it. Awesome story though

Great story, graphic gaggy parts, ok writing

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I found this book entertaining. The story was good as a whole. I was not on the edge of my seat per say but as the story progressed to its conclusion I felt more invested in seeing the outcome. I never found myself fully vested in the characters as I have in other books. It may have been the writing style of this author.

All in all a good read. You won't walk away from reading this book as awestruck, but you will most likely feel in the end it was a decent story. It wasn't a scary story but more of a mac-cob tail of how horrifying small things can be as opposed to say a great white in Jaws.

The narrator was not as good as say R.C. Bray, but he did a good job all in all.

Chilling Tale but not an Epic Horror Novel

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I very much enjoyed all aspects of this story and would highly recommend it. Will look forward to more from this author.

Most excellent

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this book had me sick with fear, sadness and disgust but the story was so compelling I had to finish. if you want an engaging read, this is it.

increadibly uncomfortable, couldn't stop

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This book was really good. The way the book begins gets you hooked and excited like your watching a movie.

Scared!

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Not sure why this book has been reviewed as being too gory, or overly bloody. I mean, there is some of that in this book, but it was not nearly as bad as some of the reviews made it seem to be. This is a very good book, and a great insight into how people deal with uncontrollable circumstances, mental illness, and complete horror!

The parallel to The Lord of the Flies is at once obvious, and so very welcome! I loved trying to guess how each of the boys were going to handle the overwhelming situation they were placed in. So great! The storyline did not play out the way I thought it would, and I love that! Really made me think about the human condition, and just how frail and fleeting life can be. I also loved the mental illness angle that played into this novel.

Truly a horrifying book, and one that I will read again. Well done!

Better than the reviews!

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