by Nick Cutter
It stinks to be sick. For most ailments your body's immune system can marshal some pretty effective defenses to isolate and/or kill anything in your body that is not you. Your body is even smart enough to recognize what it kills and develop immunity to new versions of what it killed and ejected. Occasionally however you run across some creatures, bacteria or viruses that aren't so easily dismissed. Some of these things might even become permanent residents of your particular universe. No power on earth can get rid of them. You have no choice but to deal with them.
Canadian Scoutmaster Tim Riggs and his five teen Boy Scouts are on a wilderness camping trip to a small deserted island, one that will allow Riggs' charges a chance to put their outdoors skills to the test and of course gain more scouting patches. Some of the boys are more enthusiastic about this trip than others. All of them are right around the age where girls will become more interesting than running around the woods tying knots or identifying edible types of fungus. They are also around the age where they're starting to test how far they can challenge adult authority.
Kent-a popular jock who is large for his age and not above some bullying. Son of the local police chief and wannabe leader.
Ephraim-popular at school despite his horrible temper-probably the only boy not afraid to mix it up with Kent. Ephraim's father is imprisoned.
Max-Ephraim's best friend and the coroner's son. Max and Ephraim finish each other's sentences and never fight.
Newton-the smartest of the group and the fattest. Often the butt of jokes that can sometimes get mean-spirited. Not a fighter in any sense of the word.
Shelley-an outcast with some strange proclivities. No one really likes to have Shelley around. But they like it even less if they don't know where he is.
On the first night of the troop's trip to Falstaff Island a sick man who is almost skeletal and very hungry shows up and joins them. As a doctor, Riggs feels compelled to try to assist the man. That proves to be an unwise move. Cutter skillfully mixes up the pov by jumping back and forth in time and using letters, official medical and political documents, newspaper articles, and diaries to slowly pull the covers back on just what's going happening. I say skillfully because like every good storyteller Cutter leaves the reader in suspense for as long as possible. This is really powerful intense stuff with descriptions that will make a lot of readers squirm in their seats, question that new spot on their hip or wonder if that cough has lasted longer than it should. There's also an obvious Lord of the Flies influence. None of the visceral, pulpy stuff would work if Cutter hadn't carefully taken the time to create realistic characters which the reader cares about. This isn't cookie cutter gore. Equally, it isn't for people who are faint-hearted. Those of you who don't like horror shouldn't read this but if you're a fan of, as mentioned, Cronenberg, or the Alien franchise, you really should read this book!!!!
