My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As The Troop is nominated by the Ontario Library Association’s for the White Pine award, I picked it up in audiobook. This book is seriously scary….I have an 11 year old boy named Maximilian (weird coincidence) and the idea of him going anywhere overnight is nerve-wracking. Now I’ve taught Lord of the Flies, read Island Heart of Darkness and Robin Cook so I’d like to think that I had a pretty good idea of where Cutter was going, but there are many surprises along the way.
I enjoyed the experience of Cutter’s suspense, and there were times where I had to do deep breathing exercises to summon the courage to keep listening as the boys first are without guardians, turning on each other or hiding in the cellar. But while it was about the right age group for White Pine readers, and Cutter’s style in and out of the action and aftermath was masterful, I didn’t really enjoy it. Is it because I’m not in the right demographic? Maybe. But I also think it’s because the creation of horror is more important to Cutter than the originality of his premise.
threadbare beauty 