Another amazing horror novel from Nick Cutter! I'm always excited when it's announced that he has a new book coming out because each one of them is epic! Just like this one. It's so original and I couldn't put it down

Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

If you’ve seen my reviews in the past, you will notice I am a HUGE Nick Cutter fan! So naturally when I saw another of his books coming out, I immediately had to pick it up! That being said, I have been dragging my feet to write this review because it will not be very positive. And if I’m being honest, I feel bad even saying these things because I adore and respect Nick Cutter as an author so much. But I must.

This book isn’t absolutely terrible, it’s just not IT. The biggest issue is the pacing. OH MY GOD the first half is a SLOGGGGGGGGGG. I was literally contemplating my life in the beginning of this book trying to get through it. I assumed it would pick up on the next page, but it never really did until it was too late. By the time things started to happen, I really didn’t care anymore...and that bums me out to say.

Nick Cutter books are known for being gory and wild with the horror and this one definitely does the same. Unlike his other books where the gore and horror were well placed and incredibly written, the gore here just felt like an author attempting to get a rise out of their audience. It was weirdly placed and overly descriptive in odd areas of the book that just made me feel confused as to what was happening and what it had to do with the actual story.

I assume Nick Cutter has a teenage daughter because this book is about two teenage girls and their relationship as you get older and move away from each other physically but also emotionally. I could relate to BOTH the female characters because I’ve had friendships in High School where I was on both sides of their issues. At the end of the book there is a recap of sorts from a perspective that feels like Cutter speaking to his own daughter, and honestly that was the best part of the book. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be an homage to his daughter (sister maybe? Just women he knows in general?) but it doesn’t paint a great light for females.

I understand that Cutter himself is not and has never been a teenage female, and although he does address that, stating he tried his best to create two characters he was not, it really did fall flat for me. I felt almost offended with some of the ways this female teenage friendship was shown. Having gone through some of those issues myself, I felt like it was simplifying and dumbing things down in order to have these characters fit the gory story that was going to SHOCK the readers. I don’t think it was meant to be offensive, I just think it wasn’t glanced over by enough teenage girls to really make the main message sink in.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this one. I am sad to even write that. I adore Nick Cutter and I will continue to read anything he writes from here on out, and just forget this one was ever written. I would suggest reading The Troop or The Deep from him, both in my eyes are incredibly well written, fun, and books I could not put down!

Nick Cutter never disappoints, and I’m absolutely obsessed with his brand of horror. This book was disgustingly thrilling and diabolical in the best possible way. The villain’s origin story was fascinating, and I honestly wanted even more of it. I loved the climax—it totally exceeded my expectations, especially since I wasn’t sure where the story was heading at the halfway point. It turned out to be even better than I imagined. Highly recommend this one!

I was having a great time with this book up until the end. It just felt like it was building up to something really big, then just kind of stopped. It was a wild ride for most of the book, so I'm not sure why it ended the way it did. There were monsters, gore, body horror and all kinds of interesting twist and turns for most of the book, so to see everything kind of wrapped up in a frankly pretty boring epilogue was very unfortunate. I still really liked it and will read anything Nick Cutter puts out, but that really affected my opinion on this pretty hard. Before that, I was a little turned off by the YA leaning nature of it and the Serena stuff, which I found kind of convoluted and dumb, but I was still having a great time and would have easily recommended it to any horror fan with a strong stomach, but I would definitely have to do so with a pretty big caveat because of that ending. Again, very unfortunate because it was great before that!

The plot took a different path than expected and it was a little too gross and gory for me. I found the hard way that I do not like reading about insects. The characters were dynamic and interesting, though the story didn't always connect for me. I am definitely not the audience for this one but it wasn't a bad story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Nick Cutter has a way of burying under your skin and living there.
The body horror in The Queen is nightmare fuel, and Cutter is constantly throwing more gasoline on the flame.
It's dark, depraved, and disturbing. A horror feast that will leave you terrified and paranoid of that buzzing sound you can't seem to get out of your head.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read about half of this book but had to give up, I did not finish. I'm not sure what was supposed to be happening here but it just was not anything I was interested in continuing.

11-13 update: posted expanded review on Tiiktok. The link is below.
The Queen is one of the best new releases I've read this year in any genre. 
At the heart of this book is the passionate friendship of two teenage girls. The forces around them–and acts sparked by a long-ago horror–add layer after layer to the story. It grows with a clear though-line, with the economy and pacing of a perfect short story. It's a gem of a novel. 

The precision of the writing makes it a feast to read. The descriptions of the sights and sounds bring the events into clear, close focus. The horror builds, treading in small specific ways and creeping hugely–a devouring thing that like the best monsters retains shadowy edges. I particularly enjoyed the insect research and fantastic details that made some of the most imaginative and far-out aspects of the tale read as being possible. 

The atmosphere, the dread, the well-timed reveals, the clawing suspense, and the complex characters kept me in thrall. The depth, humor, intensity, and moments of tenderness raise this novel to a memorable level.

Highly recommended for readers of horror and thrillers who are comfortable with intense, graphic scenes. Thank you, Gallery Books, for the eARC for consideration. These are solely my own opinions.

Prepare yourself for a chilling ride with Nick Cutter’s latest horror novel, “The Queen.” This book is a masterful blend of body horror and psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

🧬 Plot Summary: Margaret Carpenter’s life takes a terrifying turn when she receives a mysterious iPhone with messages from her missing best friend, Charity Atwater. As Margaret delves deeper into the mystery, she uncovers a shocking truth about Charity’s involvement in a clandestine gene manipulation experiment. The story unfolds over a single, harrowing day, filled with suspense, dread, and unexpected twists.

This story is fast paced and reels you in from page one. The plot revolves around the FMC, Margaret, searching for her missing friend, Charity, and her journey is both relatable and heart-wrenching, adding emotional depth to the horror. Honestly, I had an emotional connection with several of the characters. There was so much going on and to learn, I could not put this book down. If you enjoy your horror with a sci-fi twist, you will enjoy The Queen, but be warned, it includes grotesque and disturbing transformations of the human body.

Nick Cutter takes the nightmare fuel of the insect world. I felt bugs while reading. Will recommend for fans of body horror.

A young woman wakes to find an iPhone on her doorstep. That phone will lead her to discover the horrific circumstances of her best friend's disappearance. Some very creepy and gory moments, but a little overlong, a little confusing at times, and the ending is not terribly satisfying.

Margaret Carpenter receives a mysterious text from her best friend, Charity Atwater, who has been missing for over a month. Despite the police believing Charity is dead, Margaret is determined to uncover the truth. As she delves deeper into the mystery, she discovers a shocking secret about Charity's involvement in a clandestine gene manipulation experiment, Project Athena. Charity, codenamed Subject Six, possesses extraordinary abilities that manifest during a traumatic event at a high school party. As Margaret uncovers the horrifying details of the experiment and the tragic consequences, she realizes that Charity's disappearance is far more sinister than she ever imagined.

I'm giving The Queen 5 enthusiastic stars. Cutter is a master horror storyteller. Other great novels that I have read by Nick Cutter that I highly recommend are The Troop and The Handyman Method.

An interesting horror title from Nick Cutter. I've read his previous works, The Troop and The Deep and this one has a similar but a little more chaotic feel to it. The narrative changes a bit more so there were chapters where I was more interested than others but the overarching writing was engaging.

The Queen is the newest horror novel by Nick Cutter that will make your skin crawl (in a good way). We meet Margaret, whose best friend has been missing for a few weeks, when she receives a cell phone at the door from Charity, the missing friend. Charity takes Margaret on a scavenger hunt that reveals what truly happened, and each steps becomes more and more terrifying as we learn of Charity's outcome. Charity has been part of a genetic experiment started by a man, Rudyard, with unimaginable wealth and resources, and an unhealthy obsession with the insect kingdom.

Nick Cutter is a very descriptive writer that immerses you into Rudyard's horrific background and Charity's evolution into a hybrid human/wasp. The story has a great pace as it toggles between the present and the past to fill in the background needed to move the story forward. Underneath the layer of horror, the story also speaks to the haves vs the have nots and the dangers of someone with too many resources and no checks or balances. I also like how the after the story ended, additional background was given in the form of other observers that really tied the pieces together.

I definitely recommend this book to fans of horror and Nick Cutter. Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery books for supplying a copy.

This is the most difficult review I've had to write because it pains me to rate it so low. It was early this year when I discovered The Troop. It was one of my favorite reads of the year - one of my favorite horror novels ever. When I saw Nick Cutter had a new novel, I was through the roof with excitement. Unfortunately, the only times I felt pulled into this book were during the scenes of Rudyard's past & during a small portion of the "event" scenes at the end.

As for some of the positives, I do think Nick Cutter is an incredibly talented writer. This book felt very Stephen King-ish. If you love extensive description & A LOT of side stories, you'll love the way this book is written. I also found the subject matter to be very interesting. It requires quite the suspension of disbelief, but still was fun to visualize the events & "things." It was very true to Cutter's creepy-crawly fashion.

Now for the negatives:

1. If a book is Stephen King-ish, that's a negative for me. I want enough description to visualize what's happening & side stories that contribute to the story. I don't want enough to bore the shit out of me, make me forget what's actually happening in the story, and have me rage skimming. Why do I need to know the make/model phone that each student pulled out of their pocket? How does that contribute anything? It's like when you have a 3,000 word essay & start putting in random stuff to fill the word count. When the end gave me magazine articles & a letter, I nearly DNF'd out of annoyance. All a wanted was to know about our MC & that bundle of stuff gave me nothing.

2. It's mostly the POV of a teenager. When you have strong characters & a well-paced story, it's okay if the POV is annoying or immature - it's a teenager after all. It doesn't work when the characters aren't strong & I'm getting bored. By then, I'm so uninvested that I'm picturing these things coming out of the author's mouth & I get secondhand embarrassment. Examples:
- YAS KWEEN
- This shit's crazy amirite?
- Mr. Foster, shit man. Bro's life is over.
- On god, I swear they did.
- Rape apologist! Enabler! Victim blamer! Cuuuuuuunt!

Okay, you get it...eye roll inducing. Awkward. Hated it.

3. Because of the two points above, the book felt jumbled. There wasn't enough relevant information & too much irrelevant information, which made me feel so bored and miserable while reading this. The best parts were those of Rudyard's childhood. I wish we had gotten more solid chapters of that & the girls' past, not a bunch of paragraphs thrown in throughout the whole thing. It slowed down the pacing so much that I couldn't wait to be done.

I truly hope I am the minority in how I feel about this book because I absolutely LOVE the previous Nick Cutter book & I still have high hopes. I'll still be excited to read another one of his novels, but will be hoping on everything I love that it's more like The Troop & not like The Queen. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

I was so so stoked to receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley, so thanks is due to them right off the bat. Nick Cutter you sick bastard, this novel was tough to get through at times haha. Truly a unique and interesting concept- a millionaire with some severe insect trauma and way too much fuck you money tries to create the ultimate insect/human hybrid? Chaos ensues. Wild that most of this book takes place in ONE day. I’m only giving it 4 stars instead of 5 because personally the body horror was really tough to get through at times but this was a killer book. Would recommend, but only to fellow weirdos like myself hahah.

Thank you to Gallery Books, Nick Cutter, and NetGalley for an opportunity to preview this title in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Or yikes. I can't necessarily decide. On one hand, Nick Cutter did it again by weaving a tale that is both haunting, touching, and, at times, gross. For anyone that has read a Nick Cutter book, you will know that he does not shy away from body horror and this time that body horror was mixed with insects, quite literally.

This book follows a teenage girl, Margaret, as she goes on a scavenger hunt of sorts from her best friend who has been missing for weeks and was presumed dead. One of the characters mentions that this scavenger hunt has a "13 Reasons Why" feel and I could not have described it better. The story is told through the protagonist visiting different areas of her town, and thus hearing the story attached to that place. This helps the reader to understand how Margaret comes to be locked in a country club kitchen fighting off giant, killer wasps, which is exactly how the novel begins.

There were many times that I was like "What did I just read?" in both the literal and metaphorical sense. This story describes a lot of insect parts, and at its climax also how those parts are mixed with the human form. For me, that was often difficult to imagine (which might be a good thing?). This book is quintessential Nick Cutter so his fans will definitely not be disappointed!

The author behind the disturbing body horror novel The Troop and unsettling aquatic horror The Deep is back, this time with a sci-fi horror twist to teen horror. Lifelong best friends Margaret and Charity are so close that they share everything and know each other well, save for one dark secret that Charity withheld: she happens to have been subjected to a gene manipulation experiment that’s altered her DNA. Cutter doesn’t hold back when it comes to disturbing, gag-inducing horror imagery here, with insects offering no shortage of inspiration for the twisted author to get graphic. In other words, this is for the sick puppies out there, like me, seeking a gripping page-turner that’s likely to leave you feeling a little queasy while getting the adrenaline pumping. All hail Nick Cutter’s dark mind.

Such an intriguing concept and definitely a very original story!

“Nothing made sense, but there wasn’t enough time to get my feet set because everything was moving too fast—and that felt purposeful, too: whoever was behind this didn’t want to give me time to catch my breath, to think.”

This quote is basically how I felt reading majority of this book. I had a hard time with the storyline. It jumped a lot, but also started in the middle and then slowly explained what was going on. I liked how things played out, but it was a challenge for me to get there!

I will say that the insects freaked me out.. I constantly felt like something was crawling on me!

Thank you to Gallery Books for this ARC

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. Good horror scenes, like the first ant scene.

2. Sometimes, Cutter's descriptive writing shines: He crushed me against his wide, freshly deodorized chest. I could feel the lub-dub of Dennis’s heart against my cheek, envisioning a fist covered in gristle bapping behind his ribs. p46

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. Oh no, it's got a writer MC. I might be genetically predisposed to hate this book.

2. Oh wow, this writing is not good.

3. When it dawns that I’m actually outside for the first time in forever, I’m rocked by a lightheaded spell. The sun stings my scalp. I’m an infant waddling around without a sun bonnet. This isn't really how sun sensitivity works. Or even hypersensitivity due to underexposure. Those conditions really don't care if you've noticed the sun yet. And such logical issues abound.

4. This plot is everywhere.

5. He keeps comparing characters to babies, toddlers, infants. Like, often.

6. He tried to turn "Leinengen Versus the Ants" into a novel. It doesn't work. For one thing, he switches bugs after the first 50 psges. The story is just a squirming mass of horror tropes smashed together and sort of resembling a mound of hungry ants.

7. The already rickety plot topples under its own complexity after the turn at the 30% mark. What a mess this book is.

8. This book is trying so hard to be The Return but Cutter is no Rachel Harrison. *edit It's also trying to be Annihilation, but it's not up to Jeff Van Der Meer's skill and creativity, either.

9. This plot is so convoluted and needlessly complicated that I basically have no freaking idea what's going on. I don't even know who the main character is at this point.

10. Miranda Lancaster was stunning in a floor-length, form-fitting, low-key slutty dress that glittered over her curves. p196 The narrator is basically a thin veneer for the author's voice. No big deal, happens all the time. And I didn't have an issue with that until the narrator/author started saying things about the female characters like the one I quoted above. Or this one: Put your eyes somewhere else, bitch, Rudyard thought, or I’ll pluck them out. p198

Okay I give up trying to discuss this book. I don't like it when I can't find anything nice to say.

Rating: 🐜 /5 hungry ants
Recommend? Nope
Finished: Oct 29 '24
Format: Digital, Kindle
Read this book if you like:
🧌 monster horror
🐝 stories about bugs, or uh, bug horror?
✔️ literary references

Thank you to the author Nick Cutter, publishers Gallery Books, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of THE QUEEN. All views are mine.