THE TROOP (Nick Cutter) - July 20/21

 I think the best way to describe this is Lord of the Flies meets The Ruins, and on that level it works. I was concerned that the emphasis on five teenagers would be tedious but Cutter does a good job of turning them into relatively compelling characters. (And Shelley is certainly as evil a figure as one could imagine.) I was surprised by the fat kid's death, and some of the horror-related interludes were quite gripping. I don't understand why there was an ongoing emphasis on animal-related cruelty, though. I skipped over all those parts. This Cutter guy seems to really hate animals. **1/2 out of ****