Every year, Scoutmaster Tim Riggs leads his group of boys from Troop 52 into the Canadian wilderness for a weekend camping trip at the remote island, Falstaff which is off the coast of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Author Cutter fleshes out every character & the POV jumps between the characters quickly. So keep up! Tim Riggs (town physician/scout master), Kent (alpha male jock, rash, domineering), Max (gentle & calm), Ephraim (Max’s bestfriend, short-tempered, opposite of Max), Newt (nerd, sweet & intelligent but chubby & often bullied), & Shelley (creepy, quiet, loner).

Things immediately start getting twisted on the 1st night when an emaciated man with an insatiable hunger arrives on the island after them & they lose all contact from the mainland. He has brought with him something grotesque, sinister & invasive. We get bits & pieces of “news” from the mainland as the events are happening & the timeline goes from those news articles & “future” interviews/interrogations back to the current timeline with the boys. Very similar to how King writes his stories – it makes for a creepy gruesome tale. It was pretty ghastly & there were a few places of animal cruelty which it was just too much – but overall I really enjoyed Cutter’s style of writing, very intelligent & crafty. Things get even darker as the troop tries to survive & they realize there might be something else hunting them as well.

What a sickeningly well-written & well-executed story. With the campy, remote wilderness as a setting, SK said, “old-school horror at its best”. The characters are fleshed out & the intentions of the characters show the true nature of 14-year-olds & their need to be accepted. As the boys turn against each other with the group dynamic changing & essentially it becomes a fight for survival.

I got to know each character well & really was rooting for their survival. This would make a gruesome movie if it ever became one.