It’s another horror book set in Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in any of the world’s oceans. The Troop may have been okay in a Chizine short story anthology, barely, but as anything over 50 pages is a waste of trees. I would hate to believe that he was this bad at Horror on his own. I’ll probably die before I take a crack at even half of those things!Īny way you could give us a hint about what you've been working on? Cutter must have been getting close to his deadline and had to add tens of thousands of nothing words to meet his contractual agreement. Lots and lots of things I’d like to tackle. I’m glad those books exist, I’ve read many of them and they’re damn good, I just wish we didn’t have to gild the lily quite so much.Īre there other genres you've been tempted to try? If so, what are the novels that makes them look fun and meaningful to you? I’m not saying they’re slumming, and I’m sure they wouldn’t say so either, but it seems that sometimes that’s the only way to get a horror book out there and get some attention is to have it written by a literary writer, who, lover of the genre though he or she might be, is taking a distinctly deconstructivist/literary/ironic take on, say, a zombie crisis or a vampire narrative. Now it seems like a few horror books come out every year, there are a few dedicated “ horror” writers, and the rest are often “literary takes” on horror themes written by literary writers. I came of age during that boom, though, and I was influenced by not only the bigtime masters, Stephen King and Clive Barker and Robert McCammon and Joe Lansdale and Dean Koontz, but some of the lesser-known but still vital and incredible practitioners like Jack Ketchum and Bentley Little and David Morrell. Some people blame the horror boom of the 80s and 90s-a bunch of crummy books with lurid covers oversaturated the market, turning a lot of casual readers and even a few dedicated ones off the genre. Winner of the inaugural James Herbert Award, THE TROOP is a novel that will not fail to get under your skin.It’s weird, I know.

To survive they will have to fight their fears, the elements.and eventually each other. Sick in a way they have never seen before.Ĭut off from the mainland, the troop face a terror far worse than anything they could have made up around a campfire. Which is when he looked down.įor 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.īut when an emaciated figure stumbles into their camp asking for food, the trip takes a horrifying turn. 'THE TROOP scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. LORD OF THE FLIES meets STAND BY ME and THE THING in this fast-paced and completely addictive psychological thriller that will really get under your skin.

The troop nick cutter review