THE TROOP by Nick Cutter (Gallery), 368 pages, $18.99 cloth. Rating: NNNN
Be prepared: that’s the Boy Scouts’ motto. But even the best scout will be unprepared for what they encounter in Nick Cutter’s The Troop.
On a tiny island off PEI, a group of boy scouts (and their leader) are confronted by a ravenously hungry man. Soon the boys, including a series of types – the popular jock, the geek, the loner – are fighting for their lives.
Cutter (Giller-nominated Craig Davidson’s pseudonym) thanks Scott Smith and Stephen King in his acknowledgements, and you can see why. The second half reminds me a lot of Smith’s The Ruins, with its creepy look at nature and the sheer catalogue of gruesome details. The rich detailing of the boys’ lives, meanwhile, feels like early King. There’s even an homage to King’s Carrie in Cutter’s effective use of newspaper clippings, transcripts and other documents to give context.
The pacing flags a little, but the vivid characters and their increasingly high-stakes situation make this a genuine page-turner. Some of the imagery is extremely graphic. Doubtless someone’s bought the film rights, but I’m not sure I want to see some of the gross-out sequences onscreen.
As with any good horror story, there’s a disturbing social commentary – not to mention some suspicion around scientific advances – buried in the narrative.
Just be glad cottage season is over.
Cutter reads Sunday (October 26), 11 am, Brigantine Room, and takes part in the A Pox On Your Head round table, Wednesday (October 29), 7:30 pm, Studio Theatre. ifoa.org
