The Troop

by Nick Cutter

Winner of the inaugural James Herbert Award, THE TROOP is a novel that cannot fail to get under your skin...

He felt something touch his hand. Which is when he looked down.

For the scouts of Troop 52, three days of camping, hiking and survival lessons on Falstaff Island is as close as they'll get to a proper holiday.

Which was when he saw it.

But when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for food, the trip takes a horrifying turn. The man is not just hungry, he's sick. Sick in a way they have never seen before.

Which was when he screamed.

Cut off from the mainland, the troop face a terror far worse than anything they could have made up around a campfire. To survive they will have to fight their fears, the elements ... and eventually each other.

• ISBN10: 1476767378
• ISBN13: 9781476767376
• Publish Date: 25 February 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: The Gallery Press
• Imprint: Gallery Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 358
• Language: English

Reviews

oh boy

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

*Review to come!*

[elvinagb]

A great read. I listened to this on audio borrowed from the library and it is very well produced and the narration is great.
Having finished this I understand the cover blurb attributed to Stephen King.

[kimbacaffeinate]

creep-tastic review to post soon

[Lianne]

I was provided an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. My review (and the accompanying Q&A with the author about the book) is part of a book blog tour for this novel. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/02/18/review-the-troop/

The author does a wonderful job in fleshing out and representing the boys as well as the other characters (the adults) in this novel; I had no problem believing that these characters that I was reading and following were teenage boys. As their situation becomes more and more dire, not only do readers see allegiances and alignments shift between the characters on what to do next and how to stick together but also how they sort of take each other out. I also found it interesting how the narrative discusses the differences between adults and children, their perspective and how readily the children were able to accept the situations they were in compared to the adult (in this case, the troop leader).

The danger they are facing is very creepy, very hard to avoid--especially as events unfold--and very gross; the reader can easily understand how one can become very paranoid having to face those creatures and the possibility of them...infiltrating (you'll have to read it for yourself to understand what I mean here). I really enjoyed the snippets between the chapters from newspapers and court hearings about the events of the novel and where things went wrong. They fill in the spaces in the narrative that the reader would not have otherwise learned through the troop's experiences.

In conclusion, The Troop is a really eerie, really creepy and really gross novel (and I say this with all my affection =P). I couldn’t put this novel down, it was quite a page-turner and the ending quite haunting.

P.S. The letter that came with the ARC also mentioned a precaution about not eating anything while reading this…or read this book after a meal. If you have a weak stomach, you might want to adhere to this =P