The Troop cover art

The Troop

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

$8.99/mo after trial ends. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

The Troop

By: Nick Cutter
Narrated by: Corey Brill
Try for $0.00

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $7.99

Buy Now for $7.99

“The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best.” —Stephen King

Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later in this “grim microcosm of terror and desperation haunting” (Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author) following a scout troop on a terrifying fight for survival when they come across a mysterious—and deadly—stranger in the Canadian wilderness.

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 horrifying contagion that spreads faster than fear. A harrowing struggle for survival with no escape from the elements, the infected…or one another.

Part parasitic horror, part survival thriller—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. Genetic Engineering Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Exciting Gory Horror
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
Be warned: Don't listen to this while you're eating.

Nick Cutter presents us with a modern-day Lord of the Flies. With a balls-to-the-wall circus of gore and viscera flung at you until the very end. And while it definitely fits well into the its label of horror, it doesn't transcend it; unlike the more heavy hitters in the genre. But Cutter certainly does know horror well. His descriptions of gore and even retelling of simple memories, are twisted into something macabre; inciting squeamish disgust in listeners. At times, Cutter uses too heavy a hand with the memories. The plot scarcely moves forward before one of the boys remember something gross in their childhood and it becomes almost rhythmic, and listeners fall into a pattern. The characters themselves are flawed, though quite one dimensional. The boys all fulfill a stereotype except for Max, whom is so vaguely constructed that he would be utterly forgettable, if Cutter didn't have big plans for him in the plot.

But perhaps this reception of the boys is due to the narration, which is monotone at best. And downright lazy at worst. Corey Brill reads the novel like he's never read it before. Every time he reaches the end of a chapter, usually a time for narrators to construct some sort of distinct tone, he make it an anticlimax. So much so that listeners can almost believe he is mid sentence, before the next chapter starts. So it's no surprise then that his dialogue lands flat. And while his monotone is a compliment to the gore in the novel, it feels more like a scientist droning about his research, than an actual horror novel.

A modern Lord of the Flies

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found this a tough one to get through at first, but really enjoyed the final conclusion when more of the origin of the infection is revealed. This is very much a body horror story so is not for the squeamish at all. There's also a couple of fairly graphic scenes involving animals that are not pleasant to listen to (and not easily skipable in the audio book format). Overall though, this is definitely worth a listen if you enjoy body horror with a bit of sci-fi mystery blended with Lord Of The Flies.

Slow build, but a great final act

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic. Story had me curling my toes and gritting my teeth. Narrator was amazing

Savage and gory

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
the troop is a standout in the genre. i enjoy couldn't put it down. Great work to the author.

full on, but good full on

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performance of this text is superb and really brought it home for me; a subtle emotionality that I found gripping.

The book is gross in a good way and I found I had to take breaks regularly, especially during horrific sequences that weren’t even necessarily to do with the horror aspect of the story.

Satisfying in a way that kept me wanting more. I love the closed environment that the story was set in (on an island); a bottle piece with a wide neck. Took a wee while to keep track of the characters but ultimately grew to understand them as unique from each other. Just don’t pick favourites…

En(gross)ing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.