Title: The Troop Author: Nick Cutter Genre: Horror, Suspense Blurb: 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 bonfire. But when an unexpected intruder stumbles upon their campsite—shockingly thin, disturbingly pale, and voraciously hungry—Tim and the boys are exposed to something far more frightening than any tale of terror. The human carrier of a bioengineered nightmare. A horror that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival with no escape from the elements, the infected…or one another. Part Lord of the Flies, part 28 Days Later—and all-consuming—this tightly written, edge-of-your-seat thriller takes you deep into the heart of darkness, where fear feeds on sanity…and terror hungers for more. My Review:
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 Stars Cover: 3 out of 5 Stars I can honestly say this book is very much "old school" horror. It relied on gore and definite shock value to catch the audience's attention. I think that's probably one of the things I appreciated the most. Parasitism is a huge fear of many people. The idea of something "growing" inside of us and the fact tapeworms could indeed carry some biological warfare capabilities further added to the "gulp" factor. The way the book was written was decent. It flowed well - though a little draggy at times- and let's face it, could have used a better inciting incident. No doctor is going to take a young boy in the room with a stranger - never mind the sick value. That was unrealistic and probably one of the worst parts of this book. Oh and the "random" military appearances. Someone would want to find some answers. Now, what really - and I mean really - irked me was all the references. I saw so many similar things from many different sources. Ephraim trying to cut the worms out - The Ruins anyone? Shelley being impregnated and going "hive-mind/daddy crazy" - Um.... Slither anyone? King's Dreamcatcher. The Invasion. Lord of the Flies. Just too many things die hard horror fans could pick up on. This being the case, I know inspiration happens but can we at least not pack so much into one place? Also, I wanted more worm, less Lord of the Flies. If the author wanted to go Flies then something I think would've helped would be to explore the human condition. Where was the character depth? They were cardboard for goodness' sake. I knew Shelley was psycho and would lose his mind. I knew Max would be the lone survivor and that Newton was the voice of reason. Good grief, Ephraim should've given more of a fight - worms or no. He was built up to be a badass for night's sake. He obviously didn't trust Shelley from the start so why on Earth do something so drastic as to listen to him and cut into himself? Just no. All of this said, I actually enjoyed this book. It didn't terrify me, really, but I'm an avid horror fan so I guess I'm a bit numb. I will be reading more of the author's titles. I think there's definitely some potential here. Amazon // Goodreads // Website
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AuthorMy name is Iona Caldwell. I'm the author of the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London's Fog set to be published by FyreSyde Publishing October 2019. When I'm not busy weaving worlds of the arcane and dark, I'm spending time out in nature. I love books. My biggest inspirations are H.P Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Edgar Allen Poe. I blog about many things but mostly everything bookish. Archives
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