♡𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 &| 𝚎𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠♡
4 🌟
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Just know this book is U N H I N G E D! U N H I N G E D! Extremely heavy book, but it's so worth the read. But read at your own risk. Check TW!
𝙽𝚘𝚠 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎!
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Thank you, Netgalley, MacmillanAudio for the (ALC)-audiobook, and Tor Publishing Group for the (eArc)-eBook for my honest review.

I love queer horror and this book is the absolute perfect example of that. As someone who grew up queer in the 90s in a very religious family this book really hit close to home in place minus the monsters of course. And having multiple narrators really made this book stand out. Honestly this book felt very old school Stephen King but gayer and thats exactly what I wanted.

Wow. An intense thrill ride, disgusting body horror, conversion camp nightmare. A brilliant, bloody, sad ride.

There is a lot going on in this one. Conversion camp terror with a cosmic body horror alien imposter vibe raining down blood and bodily fluids onto the pages. Heavy themes and disturbing imagery throughout. Had a bit of old school feel to it with ample amounts of new school grotesqueries. And eggs. Nasty smelly sticky eggs.

My only peeve is that it did get a bit confusing toward the later chapters and harder to follow and the ending felt a bit rushed.

Still very well done and enjoyable. Gretchen Felker-Martin has a very distinct way of writing and I really enjoy the unique style.

A gory cacophony of character-driven camp horrors! The story is atmospheric and frightening if you can imagine yourself surviving society and surviving a lurking monster! I found myself gasping, cringing, and appalled in all the best horrific ways. I only wish there were less characters to keep track of. At one point, I kind of gave up. Just took each event and perspective for what it was in the moment rather than trying to connect it to the whole plot.

The audiobook is very well done! The cast - Amy Landon; Avi Roque; Grace Rolek; Kirt Graves; Nicky Endres; Sena Bryer; Torian Brackett; Zim Avaltrades - each brought a unique voice that supported the horror. I was not able to listen to the faster speed I had wanted though.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Gretchen Felker-Martin for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another fantastic queer horror story from the author of Manhunt. This book was great on audio with a full cast narration and perfect for fans of books like Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (another book about a summer gay conversion camp). Chilling and ripped straight from the headlines. The scariest part is this sort of thing (minus the murder) actually goes on so often. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker Martin and narrated by a multi cast. LGBTQ teens are sent to an aversion camp run by Pastor Eddie, his strange wife Meredith, some of their kids and a few followers. If you can keep up with the multi named many characters in the book it really is a pretty good listen. Despite being LGBTQ they also have other issues whether situational or mental anything to do with depression, abuse ET see and when they’re not lusting after past partners Orthello camp members the story really is a great one. I really felt bad for John, Gabe, Shelby and I think her name was Nadine? The book started strong with Little Susie who is in a sweet as her name leads one to believe quite the opposite actually. There is a lot of SmackDown hora in this book and something that always confuses me children haveing detailed sex… I Main how is books with adult detailed sex erotica and yet there is no warnings of pedophilia. Either way this book wanted to be a five star read so bad but unfortunately there is no redemption in the book in most characters are not likable at all I did find the head some LOL moments in time really good horror but don’t feel like it was a cohesive story all together. Having said that I would still recommend this book and I’m giving it three stars because most of the narrators were really good as well as most of the story. I want to thank the publisher for my free audio arc copy via NetGalley. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I am usually a horror girlie, I love me some Stephen King and can handle gore and hard topics and truly, trigger warnings aren’t something I need because I am usually very unaffected. However, something about this really did not work for me. The narrator didn’t help, I immediately wasn’t a fan of the audio when I started and I tried different speeds to see if that would help and ultimately said ok, I’ll deal with the narrator if the story is good but after the first 30 minutes I said no. This isn’t for me. There was too much too fast and I just couldn’t stick with it. Maybe I’ll give a second chance to this one come Halloween/spooky season but for now this was a DNF for me.

If you’ve read Gretchen Felker-Martin other books you will enjoy this one. Has the same dark, visceral, edgy voice as Manhunt. My one complaint was that theres a lot of POVs and that was a bit confusing to keep straight who is who but the multiple narrators has helped with that. I give it up to the narrators they all did a great job getting into their roles, some you could feel their terror.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Gretchen Felker-Martin for this ARC.

I want this author to have everything she wants and desires in life. She is clearly talented. I love the way she describes people and places. I mean she really nails it!
This book made me super uncomfortable, which is probably the point. but I could not move past the sex stuff. I don't mean the gay/queer stuff, I mean sex stuff in that much detail in general. I am far too sensitive.
Other people are going to adore this!

Abhorrent, appalling, atrocious, awful, bizarre, balls to the wall, creepy, detestable, demented, disgusting, distasteful, disturbing, dramatic, dreadful, evil, foul, fantastic, fun, gay, gratifying, grim, gross, gruesome, horrible, hideous, lurid, monstrous, nasty, nauseating, nightmarish, obscene, offensive, obnoxious, off-putting, pleasing, queer, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, shocking, sickening, strange, trans, unhinged, unholy, unpleasant, ugly, unwholesome, weird, vile. Cuckoo is all this and more. Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin is the perfect audiobook for GLBTQIA+ horror fans especially for Pride month. It’s Us vs Them. The audiobook has a multicast narration which is pure perfection because there are a lot of characters and action. At one point it really felt like an acid trip and that feeling continues for several hours. This is a long audiobook that clocks in at a little over 14 hours so prepare yourself. I wish everyone could just read the blurb on the package and go in blind. ALC was provided by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. I received an advance listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was absolutely as other people have said- part Stephen King's IT and part Invasion of the Body Snatchers! I absolutely loved it! Check your trigger warnings as this book touched on homophobia, transphobia and child abuse. I feel in today's society these groups remain faceless, but this book gave them life, personalities, and strength. Teens in the late 90s were abducted and brought to a conversion camp thanks to their parents' insistence. While at the camp, the teens were bullied, and ultimately met a creature and its' supporters. It was a raw and horrifying novel that not only brought real horrors to life, but a fictional one as well. Like the novel IT, some of the teens who survived have to get together to eradicate this monster once and for all.

i haven’t read anything mystery/thriller books in a while but i really did enjoy this book and how the characters are as well! i hope to read more by this author in the future!!

When I read the description of this I was so excited because this is not a genre I read and the premise sounded great. Queer horror conversion camp sign me up!

The horror was sooo well done. The descriptions in this book were insane. You get hit with all five senses. There were times I found myself cringing and even getting a bit nauseous. Talk about gore! Just based on this alone I'm not open to reading more horror genre. The parasitic monster while you don't fully get a lot of description for the bits and pieces really take your imagination out there. The writing really makes you feel the emotions of these teens; from their anger, fear, excitement,etc.

Now for the reason why I knocked off two stars. There were too many character povs. It got confusing trying to keep up with everyone. Thankfully with the audio there was some distinction but still too many. Also, I feel like a character in part 2 came out of no where but was there the whole time? Finally, the prologue sets up the book amazingly! I was hooked and part one was just as good. However, part 2 was lacking. You get so much from part one about 70% of the book and only 30% for part 2. I wish there was more. More character development, more plot, more something. It just felt rushed.

Thank you to Macmillan audio for the advanced listeners copy in exchange for an honest review.

i think the issues that i had with this book are possibly mostly me issues.

i do jump at the chance to read anything set in a conversion camp. Camp Damascus by chuck tingle was an exemplary example of everything that i could want in conversion camp horror - actual horrific moments that explored the hatred, fear, and psychotic behavior of those who subject their children to it/support it, really authentic characters, and a bit of fun.

i'm not familiar with felker-martin's work, though i wanted to pick this up because she's trans and with conversion camps regaining popularity in the states, particularly targeting trans people, i was hoping for a great, own-voices perspective of some of the atrocities that are committed by them.

here's where i think this book may not be for me - this book is 90's set and to felker-martin apparently that means fatphobia so fucking rampant that it completely overshadowed the plot of the book for me. the fatphobia is written like someone taking a frying pan to your head. i got to 28% and i can't even begin to count the number of comments about someone's "fat and disgusting" body that were made. and i get it, fatphobia is very real and deserved to be explored, particularly in the 90's era of no-fat, no-cal snackwell's cakes and deifying the heroin chic look of calvin klein models, but i felt like this wasn't representative of the times it was straight up gratuitous and unnecessary.

i also had a weird issue with the sexual nature of this book. the graphic grotesque of body parts for no reason, weird bodily fluid stuff, etc. like. none of these people felt real and the magnification of that just happened through needless description of various body parts. the whole thing just felt edgy. and maybe that's someone's bag, but it's not personally mine.

i am able to say that there was some misgendering (expected, at a conversion camp) and i thought for what i read there was instances of a character being misgendered and within the narrative referring to themselves as the correct pronouns. so i don't think this is a BAD book - i simply didn't get far enough in to formulate an opinion about the plot - but i do think it'll work better for someone that likes much edgier horror than i do.

3 stars

Ideal readers for this book will have a decent tolerance for body horror, understand that the homophobia and transphobia are still going to steamroll that body horror in the race to find out who and what can be MOST horrific, and will have an appreciation for this author, whose first book - while entirely distinct - prepared me a bit for what to expect here...and I'm still SHOOK.

There are a lot of characters experiencing all of this terror, and while the audiobook narration is fantastic (the voice actors do an excellent job of really distinguishing themselves), I still struggled to keep track, at times, of all but one standout character. I suspect this might be even more challenging in a print version based on what helped me stay on track the most (i.e., the audio cues).

I can tolerate some degree of body horror, but this was enough that I felt like I was in a constant state of bleh! while listening, and it's a critical factor in why I'll be especially mindful about who gets recs for this one. The most important factor, though, is that readers really need a high tolerance for that social and emotional abuse since that happens not only to every character of import but is also the reason for the setting.

While it won't be for every reader, Felker-Martin has undeniably created yet another absolutely horrifying read that I am certain will haunt me for the foreseeable future (which, transparently, is kind of what I came for).

I am recommending this one for horror readers during pride this year and next
It's a very honest, in-your-face, and provocative YA explicit novel. 

These LGBTQIA teens getting kidnapped with their parent's consent to be taken to a camp to be "fixed" sounds very realistic then it's balanced by their lack of confidence, inner torment, and whatever supernatural bizarre thing happening in that camp. 

The lack of acceptance from their family, the disrespect from peers and the social pressure ad a level of tension, humanity, and instinct of survival to each one of these teens. Still, they can find ways to get relief, express emotions, and take care of each other. 

This is my first contact with this author's work.

I recommend it to YA plus readers, a great horror novel that reminds me of the classic novel Holes but for adults. It takes a moment to know well who is who, but we get insight into each one's struggles and personality as we go.

For readers who like explicit novels and eerie almost gore. 

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the audio.

I think this book showed me I am more a fan of subtle horrors. The concept: amazing. But how it played out? Eh. I did not enjoy how repetitive the gruesome descriptions were. I like the horror that thrills me and am definitely okay to be grossed out, but this was just gross to the point I was bored and over it. Which I know there is an audience out there for, that audience is just not me!