Synopsis:
On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity’s been missing for over a month. Most people in town—even the police—think she’s dead.

Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another…except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story—the real story. In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly disquieting breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend—a person she never truly knew at all…

What I really loved:
- I love Nick Cutter (/Craig Davidson). Grotesque is always the best word to describe his flavor of horror. If you enjoyed The Troop or The Deep, add The Queen to your list, because he delivers as always!
- I feel like Nick did a surprisingly great job portraying the teenage girl brain (at least for his purposes here). I didn’t just get a horror novel from a teenage girl perspective, but I got an unexpectedly exploratory commentary on female friendship, what it means to start growing up and growing apart, and the complicated and sometimes scary dark depths of the teenage heart. I didn’t expect to close this book thinking, “This could make for good analysis and conversation in a high school lit class” (because we could also talk about societal expectations, girlhood, abuse, group think, victims and perpetrators, class dynamics, and more).
- Always a plot that delivers. You get thrown into a bit of chaos at first, but if you stick with it, everything is revealed and what a reveal and an ending.
- There’s so much more I could say about what I loved and what I’d love to talk with other readers about but I don’t entirely know where to start. I know that, as with all Cutter stories, there’s a new “thing” I’ll never look at quite the same again (hello, ant. hello, wasp.), and that’s powerful writing at its best - the kind that leaves an impactful impression.

What I didn’t love:
- I don’t know that there was much that I didn’t love. There were a few times more on the front end that I found myself a tad confused and wanting answers, but those questions always got answered fairly shortly on. I just had to trust the process and keep reading knowing that whatever felt a little loose and wild would have an explanation at the right time.

Overall:
I loved this one. Nick Cutter is an autobuy author for me as his horror has never once left me disappointed or wishing for something different. This was another knockout. I don’t know how he does it, but I eagerly await whatever next story he has ruminating in that caldron of his.

Thank you to both Gallery Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an early review copy!

I started reading this and didn't get very far, I want to finish it but I'm honestly so confused at what's even going on.

Okay, so this book was like so intense! It had me hooked from the very first page, and honestly, I couldn’t put it down. Imagine waking up one morning, and boom! You find a phone on your doorstep with a message from your bestie who’s been missing for a month. I mean, can you even?! The whole story takes place over just one day, and it’s a wild ride of secrets, betrayal, and some seriously creepy gene manipulation stuff. Like, think science experiment gone wayyy wrong. 😱

The best part? It’s not just horror—it’s got this cool sci-fi vibe, too. There’s a tech titan involved (because duh, of course there is) and some insane revelations that really take the story to another level. It kinda felt like you were unraveling this giant mystery alongside Margaret, and every clue was more shocking than the last.

Now, I have to mention the body horror—omg, it’s BRUTAL! If you're not into creepy crawlies and freaky transformations, you might wanna brace yourself. The descriptions are vivid and will totally make your skin crawl. At one point, I was like, "Nope, I’m good!" But, honestly, that’s part of what made it so gripping. It was like a twisted treasure hunt, and even though I was totally grossed out at times, I had to know how it ended.

There are a few things that threw me off, though. The friendship between Margaret and Charity? A little weird. They’re supposed to be super close, but Charity’s actions were kinda hard to follow—like, girl, what are you doing?! I guess the whole gene manipulation thing messes with people, but still. Also, the ending wasn’t exactly what I expected. It was intense for sure, but it left me with some questions.

But overall, if you're into dark, messed-up stories with a bit of sci-fi flair, you’ll probably love this one. It’s disturbing in all the right ways, and even though I wasn’t obsessed with every single part of it, the book is still an experience you won’t forget.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Can we just start with that cover? It is a work of art. I know the old-school horror mass market paperback look is all the rage right now and hell if it isn’t working.

This is my second read by Nick Cutter. My first was The Troop. Both are absolutely disgusting with some horrific imagery and body horror galore. Both also have a lot of heart, and this is my favorite thing about Cutter’s writing. I liked The Troop, but I definitely liked this one better. I found myself really caring for these characters and feeling so bad for them. God bless teenage dread.

The book was structured mostly over the course of one day. And what a day! In my mind, I thought this would make for a fast paced read. It definitely wasn’t. We lived every minute with Margaret, our MC, and at times it felt like it. The prologue starts off with a bang, giving the reader a peek at the climatic moment of the book, but the first two of four parts had some pacing issues. I will say that it definitely helped build some emotional attachment to the characters, though (Harry 4 Lyfe), so it was not for naught.

The vibe was very much ‘hell is a teenage girl’ (I’m looking at you, Jennifer’s Body). A vibe that works very well for me. I loved the sci-fi aspect and the unhinged antagonist with a tragic back story. Pacing aside, this really worked for me. I loved the epistolary ending.

Overall, if you’re a Cutter fan then I definitely recommend. If you like sci-fi/experiments gone mad horror, also recommend. If you like horror at all and have a strong stomach and aren’t triggered by bugs, I recommend.

Nick Cutter cdd as b truly write horror that will stick with you for a long time. The MC of this story will live in my head forever. If you liked his other books, this one will definitely peak your interest. A great creepy fall read!!!!

What's the opposite of a slow burn? A firecracker?? Well, this one starts with sparks and some loud bangs and the intense buzzing in my ears never ceased as I turned page after page . 🐝🫣

This author can really write a horror scene, like damn! To fully appreciate this book, you've gotta be ok with gruesome body horror and writing that leans toward campy.

If you're not a avid horror reader, I suggest you sample the first chapter if you can. If you're not able to handle those quite creative descriptions, then this probably isn't the book for you.
Because the descriptions go HARD. 💥🤛

I loved that there was a mad wealthy scientist doing some Frankenstein type of stuff resulting in a bloodbath that would rival Stephen King's Carrie. This story was an exploration of adolescent friendship, growing up and growing apart, and the many suspensful elements worked to create a read that was dark, murky, and completely foul.

I loved it. 🙃

Overall, this was an entertaining and properly disturbing horror read that fans of Grady Hendrix, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Chuck Wendig should grab this.

By far Nick Cutter's best book since The Troop. This was absolutely vile in the best possible way. I truly think he has hit the sci-fi/horror nail on the head with this grotesque version of creating insects out of humans. I'm so insanely glad we're back to disgusting science with kids haha

Thank you to Gallery Books for the advanced copy!

I unfortunately decided to DNF this one, I think the synopsis led me to believe this one was going to be very different from what it actually is. That might be on me for not investigating further.

I will only rate this on NetGalley as I don't typically rate or review books I don't finish.

(Rounded from 3.5)

Nick Cutter definitely has a skill for getting under your skin, doesn’t he? This fast-paced, coming-of-age body horror will keep you squirming on the edge of your seat. The world-building and atmosphere are tangible, giving a great experience of late teenage awkwardness from someone sitting as far away from the cool kids’ table as possible. The main character feels complicated and genuine, and the constant flip-flopping, or tug-of-war, which comprises her emotional journey feels both earned and relatable. And the horror set pieces, which are well spaced throughout the story, are violent and gooey, visceral and upsetting. The writing is strong and propulsive too, combining first-person narration with text messages and voice mails when we follow our main character, and then a close third-person when we follow an ancillary character, the main (human) antagonist. We spend far more time with the MC than not, but this movement back and forth does a good job at keeping you engaged and really creating a shape to the story.
All that well-earned praise out of the way, I did experience a few stumbles with this book. I enjoyed the “treasure hunt,” or cat-and-mouse, quality of the majority of the book, our MC following an evolving trail of breadcrumbs to reach the climactic events. But the more I thought about it, it is hard to really reconcile why Charity, the titular Queen, would send her friend on this kind of hunt. I understand the need for our MC, Margaret, to bear witness. The heady and confusing amalgamation of attraction and repulsion, desiring validation and also revenge, all of that makes sense and it fits with the story… but this whole treasure hunt situation just feels contrived. I have no problem suspending disbelief for regarding the scientific and horrific elements of the story, but in part suspending that disbelief depends on all of the other scaffolding to be not just solid but impregnable. This narrative device, while it was fun and did keep the story moving, didn’t feel like it was grounded in any genuine or understandable motivation. Basically, it felt like something that came from the author not the character, and that isn’t an experience I generally want when reading, even when that narrative device is used to good effect in terms of pacing and unraveling the story’s mysteries. Speaking of pacing, I did think it was really strong. The prologue starts with a great bit of terror to get you hooked, then goes back a day so you have a foreboding knowledge of what is to come as you go through the more mundane actions of the story. And right when the story feels like it may be getting a little soft we switch to the POV of a new character and get a horrific flashback that feeds our need for the grotesque. Like this he does a great job at inserting little bits of violence and mayhem throughout the story, never giving us a chance to get bored, with horrific scenes that are disturbing and will make you skin crawl. However, with that said, going back to that original flashback, which serves as our (human) antagonist’s origin story… yeah, I’m not buying it. I mean, I buy that scene, that event, in all its upsetting detail. But how that trauma lead to his eventual obsession and the poisonous, deadly fruit it wrought? It just feels like a stretch, one I had a hard time making. It might have worked for me if there was more connecting the trauma to his eventual obsession, but that connective tissue was lost, and what is left made it really hard for me to ground his actions or motivations in any meaningful way, which just kept him at a distance for me, which just let some of the seams of the story show when they should have been hidden. And as long as I am kvetching, the last section before the Epilogue, which was more than 10% of the book’s length, felt like a giant distraction. The whole thing is written as an Esquire article that is exploring the events of the book, and it totally takes us away from the perspective of the characters that we cared about. Instead, it has a middle-aged male journalist, clearly standing in for Cutter himself, telling us how the whole events of the book make him feel, somewhat bluntly hitting us over the head with some of the themes and ideas the book itself is exploring. It feels like Cutter maybe didn’t trust us to see the nuance in his story, and he wanted to make sure we realized there was a lot more grey than black and white? I don’t know. It does give some follow-up information, a kind of high-level narration/summarization, but I would have loved for that to have come in Margaret’s voice. I appreciate what having an outsider to the events brought to it, an exploration of how a single story can infest a country’s collective attention span, can have a far larger blast radius than it might seem at first. There is a kind of honesty to what the after-effects of this horror story might look like in terms of government response and public safety/obsession, which I enjoyed. I just think I would have enjoyed it all more if it was time spent with our main character, so we could see her navigating the after-effects, her dealing with these multiple traumas, while also processing how the world outside of her was interpreting events. Instead of telling her story it felt like she became a specimen, pinned to a board to dissect, which felt contradictory to the intimacy of the rest of the journey.
That seems like a lot of complaining, especially when compared to how fun this story is. Because the truth of it is that it is a fun, brutal story that does a great job balancing graphic horror with genuine emotion. The writing is clear, direct, and effective, and the pacing is skillful and energetic. From a bird’s eye view the story is not completely original, something Cutter himself points out in his Acknowledgments, but it never feels derivative. Instead, it feels like a fresh take on the trails and tribulations of a coming-of-age story, just set against the backdrop of genetically modified monstrosities and Cronenberg-ian body horror. It is a fun, quick read that keeps you invested and a little grossed out the whole time, and it is definitely worth picking up.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Gallery Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Gross out horror with a really interesting plot.

I haven’t read anything from Nick Cutter alone, so I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. This one starts pretty gruesome and never really lets up.

Charity has been gone - missing - for a month when she contacts her best friend Margaret. Everyone assumed her dead, and while Margaret is apprehensive, Charity has been her best friend for her entire life.

Something has changed in Charity, though… Margaret must come to terms with the fact that Charity was never who she really thought she was. She was never even who Charity herself, thought she was…

Part of something bigger and much more nefarious, Charity is realizing who she is and what she is capable of. And she wants Margaret to know all about it.

This is pretty graphic in the horror content. A great time, but very visceral.

Any reader who has picked up a book by Nick Cutter knows what’s in store with his novels. The Queen is no different so, if you’re unfamiliar with the author or are not a fan of the most extreme, repugnant horror, you may not like it. I read a lot of horror and am not easily impressed but some of the scenes here grossed me out. This time he tells the story from the point of view of a teenage girl. The author is obviously not a teenage girl himself so I was impressed at how well he gets the psychology, as well as the love-hate relationship between best friends. as that age. The plot could have been a little more condensed, in my opinion. I really wanted to get on with the meat of the story and some parts had too many details and they didn’t work for me. Regarding how extreme the horror is… well, as a fan of non-fiction books about animals, I was not surprised. I’ve read a lot about ants, bees and insects in general and, for what I can tell, Cutter’s research is spot on. I liked Margaret’s voice. She is extremely resourceful for an immature teenager and her sense of humor is dark and funny. The writing is also of superior quality. So, in short, this is not a book I would recommend to everyone but, if you want to get freaked out with a great story, pick this up now.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Gallery Books.

So here’s the thing. Did I hate it? No. BUT!!!!!!! it was okay!!! I LOVED the gore in this book but story wise, I just wasn’t super into it and just didn’t care when I finished reading it. Normally what I look for in a book is to be sad when it’s over. I think this is a sold read if you value gore!!!!

The Queen
By Nick Cutter

Typically am a fan of Cutters storytelling however this one wasn’t for me. Regardless Nick is a super talented horror writer and will keep an eye out for his future endeavors.

📚Expected Release October 29, 2024📚
Thank you Gallery Books, NetGalley, & the brilliant author Nick Cutter. I’m super appreciative for the opportunity.📚

Nick Cutter has a reputation for crafting chilling horror stories which is what we expected heading into his latest novel, The Queen. While we got the gory horror that we wanted, the book fell a bit short of our expectations feeling a bit more science fiction than horror in the end.

On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity’s been missing for over a month. Most people in town—even the police—think she’s dead.

Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another…except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story—the real story. In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly disquieting breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend—a person she never truly knew at all…

Nick Cutter has a great ability to craft wonderful novels that is for sure. While some may find The Queen right up there alley, I did enjoy Cutters stunning ability to write gory scenes, but I just didn't get the same feelings as I have in previous Cutter works (read The Troop). This latest novel was not exactly what I was expecting. These things sometimes can fall on the reader as we set up our own preconceived notions of what the book should be before even reading it. The Queen was definitely an interesting enough read, but had a very different vibe than I was expecting.

As I said already, Cutter can craft a gory novel and The Queen is that type of body horror. The writing screams that Cutter is a fan of classic horror films such as Frankenstein or even David Cronenberg's The Fly. Nick gives us a tale filled with intensely graphic scenes that will make even the most seasoned readers skin crawl. However, writing a story that balances between science fiction and horror can sometimes bleed into one or the other and the fact this one leaned more into the sci-fi realm was one place that lost us. Yes, I understand that can be hard to understand for some, but that is how we felt when closing the book.

Lastly, the pacing was a bit off for me. Cutter has had some stellar novels published with no issues in pacing, but I felt The Queen was strange in the pacing department. Additionally, I had a hard time getting into the style of writing Cutter used in this novel. Those two things added to my struggles with the type of book didn't outweigh the quality of the story, but had some effect on my overall liking of the novel.

Nick Cutter has crafted a horror sci-fi novel that may not have met my expectations, but is definitely the wheelhouse for a lot of readers. The Queen is not what I expected when I open the first pages, but in the end we get a plot that is worth the journey if you can see past some other elements such as pacing and writing style that had me hung up. In the end, the book is definitely not a complete miss, The Queen will likely be held up against Nick's other offerings and with good merit.

I didn't hate it. That's never really how you want to start a review, but really, I didn't hate it. It's gory as hell, there's bodies splitting open and "runny egg-yolk eyeballs" dripping down faces. But, at a certain point, I just moved into the "I don't care" realm of being a reader and that's never a good place to be. It's very boring in parts, there's loads of teenage angst, which is not my bag. And a story that progresses and leaves the reader wondering, "what is happening and why?", but not in a way that lends itself to a desire for discovery, just a "uhh, I don't know what's going on."

If you are a horror fan, you should certainly read Nick Cutter. The Troop is awesome.

This one, I didn't hate, but I wish I could love it more.

_The Queen_ by Nick Cutter is a highly disturbing and immersive horror read with unsettling characters. The book mostly follows Margaret, the best friend of the missing teenager Charity, as she fights to survive and uncover the truth about her friend’s origin, all within the course of one day. It’s fast-paced with insect-human hybrids and gory details sure to disturb the reader.

3.5 for me. A lot of this was super fun, and I appreciated the gore, especially. There was one twist I didn’t predict, and when that was revealed, I literally gasped with glee. That being said, I do think there was a lack of payoff in the end. While there was a lot of body horror, I think the envelope could have been pushed even further. <spoiler>I didn’t see enough follow-through regarding Rudy’s purpose in creating the hybrid - the incest stuff was tiptoed around - and all of the “eat the rich” stuff felt forced and simultaneously too obvious. The last few chapters felt overly sentimental and explanatory to me. </spoiler> I did like the concept overall, and it held my attention during a 5 day power outage. I think I struggle with comparing every Nick Cutter book to The Troop, which was a 5 star read for me. This book felt more YA than that, stylistically and content-wise, which might have been Cutter’s point, anyway.

The Queen by Nick Cutter follows Margaret, a teenager whose friend went missing over a month ago but is now communicating with Margaret through a mysterious phone Margaret found on her porch. This leads Margaret to begin searching for her friend and things escalate from there.

I have read a few books by this author and really loved this one so I’m bummed I didn’t love this one. It was interesting enough but it had a very different vibe than I was expecting. The beginning is very confusing because it feels like there is a lot going on that you should already know about as the reader. I thought the writing style in general was a little hard to get used to.

While I enjoyed the way the story went, the pacing was definitely strange in some parts. I also never really felt connected to any of the characters so that made me not really care what was happening to them.

This is a gross, nightmare inducing book in the visuals it evokes but I don’t think the surrounding story added to it very well. I would recommend this to people who love really gross horror because I think that was the best part about this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Queen.

I've read a book by the author before and though I like his premises, the execution leaves something to be desired, in my opinion.

If you have entomophobia, the fear of insects, DO NOT read this book.

This is bug and body horror at its finest; its gross, it's gut churning, it's body splitting, it's all that and more.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy this book for the following:

1. The narrative reads like it starts in the middle, when stuff has already happened; kids are missing, and Maggie finds herself in the middle of the a fast moving plot.

2. Lack of character development. Who is Margaret? And Charity? Why should I care about these people? I didn't realize how young they were until Maggie mentioned high school was still in session.

Charity and Margaret's tight friendship is mentioned throughout the narrative but since Charity isn't there, there's nothing to validate their bond. Sure, there are flashbacks, etc, but talking about it doesn't make it genuine.

3. Rudyard Crane is a perv with serious Freudian unresolved issues with his deceased sister. I'm not a fan of pervy bad guys.

4. What's the point of the story; the author wanted to write a feminist retelling of "The Fly?"

Another big problem, Project Athena is hard to suspend disbelief for. A megalomaniac billionaire is nothing new, but I couldn't believe in his mutant creations and paying handlers to take care of them, etc. "The Fly's" sci-fi premise was more believable.

5. The narrative is chock full of background, flashbacks, and exposition, not to mention gross and frightening descriptions of the results of Project Athena, bugs flying everywhere, etc, etc, but I still didn't understand the point of the story.

The pacing dragged at times, and it didn't help that I didn't care about anyone nor what was happening.

The premise had great potential if more attention had been paid to character development and the plot went in a different direction.

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one. Most of it is fun, strange, and gross, and Cutter does a good job of intertwining the horror and the adolescent anxiety. There are some slow sections, though, and the in media res opening only sort of works. I'm not entirely sold on one of the character's motivation, which seems a little forced (even if the bizarreness is part of the horror), and I go back and forth on whether or not the alternate voicing of the epilogue works or is a disappointing shift.

If you're looking for a weird, page-turner horror book, this one will suit, but I feel like it could have been strengthened in ways that did affect my enjoyment (and not just possible formalist interests).