The Troop (Review)

If you’ve ever found yourself looking for a book that will simultaneously make you feel as if you’re starving but also so nauseated and disgusted that you never want to eat again…The Troop is definitely the book for you. 

Although I…well, to say ‘enjoy’ seems the wrong word…respected?gracefully suffered?…this book, I can’t recommend it to many. Strong stomachs are highly recommended. Detailed and intense descriptions of gore and violence will ensure.

“The past had a perfection that the future could never hold.”

This book made me uncomfortable, a little paranoid, and absolutely on edge. And let me say that I read and watch enough horror that this has become a rare occurrence.  It made my skin crawl and my stomach turn. It was a work of horrifying and disgusting art.

The Troop brings us to a small uninhabited island in the waters off the Eastern coast of Canada where Boy Scout Troop 52 is on a short retreat to earn some badges and learn some survival skills. 

They aren’t expecting visitors, and certainly not a skeletal man who wanders onto land, clearly sick and starving.

This book is a mixture of third-person narration, testimonies, and news articles, which slowly reveal what really happened and how everything began. 

From early on you’re told how many people survive, and it was a whirlwind of guesswork to figure out which characters will claim the honor, not to mention the many other twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat from page one all the way until the end.

Especially since none of the characters are what I would call ‘likeable.’ Readers are forced to sift through the stench of toxic masculinity and boys-will be-boys-behaviors leaching from these characters in order to find the small nuggets of good in any one of them. (And don’t expect female characters  to save you either…because there aren’t any.) 

Luckily, you have plenty of opportunities to learn all about their faults thanks to the many perspectives, which switch with increasing regularity until they can be found swapping paragraph by paragraph in some later chapters. But thanks to the clear-cut voice and characterization of each of them, in addition to the third-person narration, you’ll never be confused as to who is the focus. Bravo to Cutter for navigating such a challenging ordeal.

“You hold on to life until it gets ripped away from you. Even if it gets ripped away in pieces. You just hold on.”

I would highly recommend The Troop to fans of Stephen King, especially if you like (questionable word choice once more…) the bullies in IT or the format of Carrie. Fans of The Cabin at the End of the World, will likely also enjoy this one. 

I rated The Troop 5 out of 5 ruptured stomachs…I mean…stars.