Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Troop by Nick Cutter

13 reviews

jamiee_f's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This book was so hyped up, I was prepared to love it! A supernatural/menacing force collides with a boy scout troop on a remote island? Oooh!

However, what this actually ended up being was a gross lord of the flies retelling with more animal abuse and more sociopathic boys. Not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be with this story....

it truly was just a bunch of fucked up kids torturing each other while they become infected with the insatiable hunger the government accidentally set loose.

there were some redeeming qualities with the open ended final portion of the book. I liked how maybe the last boy is returning to the island because he DOES have the hunger, but more likely he is just hungering for the last time he ever knew normalcy.

I just wished for more story, more character motivation, less gore and pointless gross.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Medical trauma, Death, Abandonment, Violence, Bullying, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Stalking, Gore, Body horror, Murder, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Child death, and Blood

poop_scoop's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Murder, Vomit, Suicide, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Bullying

mbayram's review

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fatphobia, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Cannibalism, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture

Minor: Stalking, Vomit, and Sexual content

It's wild. Went into this book blind except I knew it was intense and crazy and that's absolutely true. It's one of the best books I've read in a while. The writing is great and the characters are well rounded. Definitely had me squirming in my seat!

benjiaprout's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I didn't like worms before. I really don't like them now.

The prose is very readable, and the premise is interesting. But considering my copy had a Stephen King quote saying it scared the hell out of him, I'm confused. It was grim, sure, utterly disgusting - the worst body horror I'd read and I've had a mosey about. It made me feel sick, but not scared, there wasn't an awful lot of suspense as the basic plot gets spoiled relatively early on and anyone with decent grasp of story and character can guess where the plot and scouts will end up. Not bad, but I'm not as impressed as I hoped to be, seeing as I'd seen so many people recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Stalking, Violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, and Torture

ladyinverse's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

what a fucking bleak book holy shit. absolutely disgusting. i feel distinctly unclean :')

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Self harm, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Bullying, Gore, Violence, Confinement, Cannibalism, Murder, Cursing, Abandonment, Stalking, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Animal death

major tw for very descriptive animal death/cruelty from pages 194-198 specifically about a cat. i couldn't read those pages but just glanced to see when it ended.

hydratingtoner's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

netsreik's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Gave me the creepy crawly, icky feeling, but very well written. Great imagery and descriptions.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Body horror, Cannibalism, Self harm, Violence, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Gun violence, and Toxic friendship

viireads's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Vomit, Body shaming, Child death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Eating disorder, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

entityj's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Excrement, Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Vomit, Gaslighting, Sexual content, and Confinement

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

I had to stop reading this book several times. I'd read in forums that this book was too gory, too disgusting, too much. I thought people were exaggerating. They're not.

It was very well-written and the concept was good, but there was too much detail. I learned too much about some of these characters, especially Shelley.

I honestly don't believe we needed to know that he was erect as he murdered that poor kitten. Things like that are just thrown into this book for shock value and add no substance to the story. The worm swimming into his urethra was disgusting, but that's fine because it explains how they infected him. The erections were pointless and weird to imagine when reading a book about minors. I do know that serial killers do feel that way about their heinous acts of violence, but I don't need to know that about this child. It happens multiple times throughout this story. Bleh.

Is it scary? No. Is it gross? Absolutely. I'd only recommend this abomination to those that just want to read about some gross worms and gets off to body horror.

I'd recommend this to Shelley.

Overall, it was well-written and I genuinely enjoyed Max, Ephraim, and Newt. I don't think Kent's character was fleshed out enough for me to care about him. His father's character made more of an impact. I am not a religious person by any means, but I do think the author may benefit from Jesus and some therapy. In fact, I need therapy after reading this. My appointment is scheduled for three weeks from now. I'm not hopeful that I'll make it until then with this content wiggling around inside of my head. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Animal death, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Murder, Mental illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Stalking, Vomit, and Self harm