The Troop

By: Nick Cutter

Narrated by: Corey Brill

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Agreed. This is scary stuff!

Wanted to confirm that this really is an excellent choice in the horror genre. I love horror movies and books, and I had to take a couple breaks from this to something a bit more lighthearted every few hours' worth of listen. Some of the descriptions and the scenes thought up here are really quite graphic and hit on a lot of dark fears. A bit slower in the middle, but worth hanging in there. Have something fun and comedic to listen to right afterwards. Recommended!

do not read this

If you don't want your entire outlook on existence permanently altered DO NOT READ THIS BOOK it's disturbing repulsive and amazing basically imagine bathing in a disgusting vat of maggots rotting flesh and Boy Scout lard stephen Kings writing is nothing compared to this I'm going to give a bit of a spoiler in emojis 🐈💀🙀🙀 so if you're vegan DON'T READ THIS but if your a psycho and want to be disgusted READ THIS!!!

Creepy but grabs your attention

I’m torn on the format, in which the author gives away some of the suspense by inserting post-event information at various places in the book.
But it does make you think: Could this happen in real life?
Characters are well drawn, even the ones you hate.
just don’t listen right before bed or you’ll have nightmares.

Not exactly horror

Wasn't too impressed with the "horror" label it was given as it's more gore and science like. If you liked Lord of the Flies I'm sure you'll like this book as it has a survival likeness. I've never read a book or listened to a book that I thought was a waste of time. It has its good and its bad parts. I'd maybe use a credit instead of paying for it..

I Like Gross

When reading horror, I like to be scared and grossed out. I haven't read anything in this genre in a very long time. Most of the new horrors are too psychological and not enough gore. I like to read about cutting into flesh with full effects of horror. The Troop by Nick Cutter feels like a dated 80's horror book, like a summer camp gone wrong, but instead of Michael Meyers in the woods, slashing the campers, in "The Troop", we have tapeworms invading our bodies, turning us into worms. The graphic nature of this book is not so scary per say. It is more freaky than anything else. I really liked the terror and the descriptions of the worms and the gruesomeness. I was expecting camp fire stories that would spook you through the night, but I got a dietary pill that went horribly wrong by ingesting these worms that eats you inside out. The main plot of the story is a team of Scouts goes camping on an island and they are surrounded with these worms that were manufacture from the company. There is a lot more to the story, like trying to find spark plugs in a dead man's body to try to get off the island.

Very "Lord of the Flies" Meets "The Ruins"

While definitely a horror, with its vivid depiction of gore and gruesomeness, I wouldn’t necessarily call it “old school horror” as has been touted. To me, old school horror is more than pulp, shock and gore; old school horror relies most heavily on dread, not just as a character experience, but within the atmosphere that the author creates as well. Nick Cutter tries to create this atmosphere by isolating teenage boys on an island with an unseen and almost unconquerable foe, but fails to evoke that visceral, pulse-pounding fear that makes real old-school horror so special. However, the writing was good, as was the character development, and to be fair, I did actually experience some true, visceral horror, although I’m quite sure it was unintentionally evoked, when reading the rampant disrespect for women that gets cultivated in teenage boys as markers of being a real man. Gooseflesh, queasiness and shudders abounded.

Absolutely Gruesomely Awesome!

I loved this book. I downloaded it for a bus trip and couldn't stop listening. I love horror fiction and I think I may have found a new favorite author in Nick Cutter.. I love Stephen King but, I hate to say, he's got nothing on this guy! Definitely a delightfully gruesome surprise. Very well written and well performed!! 10/10 for me!

Don't read this book before eating.

I officially can't eat pasta, eggs, peanut brittle, dumplings, sausage, hot dogs, or jello.
It was a good story, very Cabin in the Woods meets Lord of the Flies, but it was almost too descriptive. Good problem to had, but I definitely limited my listening to non-food prep times. Pavlov and whatnot...

Absolutely worth the listen.

This was a grew story. Really gets under your skin and makes you feel uncomfortable, really uncomfortable.
The narrator was great as well. Very good job of pausing at the right moment, giving you a good feel for the emotions.

HOrrors! In the best possible way

Minus the gruesomeness I'd almost compare the inner dialogues and characterizations of to those of Cormac McCarthy's. Not a single heartbreaking action or thought out of place. Lord of Flies only much more harrowing and GRUESOME! The cause of the horror [I won't spoil it] happens to be my Achille's heel since I was 5 after an Army story my father told me - the single most horrific thing I personally could ever imagine to happen to a person, then multiplied by a thousand. In fact, it's a small paranoia of mine. For that reason, I had to skip over large chucks of narrative because Cutter spares no detail with gore, in fact he rolls around in it like a puppy in tall grass. I could not cope. Despite that, I loved this story through and through. To call it a coming of age story sounds trite, but the complex and morphing relationships and group dynamics of the these boys feels so true to reality it's easy to relate. How kids are to each other in small groups vs., large ones. How they are individually vs., together and how not everyone is redeemable.