The Queen

By: Nick Cutter

Narrated by: Ariel Blake, Zac Aleman, Corey Brill, Pete Simonelli

From “one of the hottest horror authors on the planet” (Paste) and writer of the #HorrorBookTok sensation The Troop—a heart-pounding novel of terror about a young woman searching for her missing friend and uncovering a shocking truth.

On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it and is greeted by 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 each 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….

Lots of bugs .

I like Cutter a lot and I love his work with bugs and body horror. I myself am a little bored of teenaged girl horror tropes. There’s moments of mean girls , Carrie , Jennifer’s body in here that just feels a little done but the villain is evil creepy crawly fun.

This book is a bit too rapey for teenagers to be the focal point. But Cutter is overall still an author I seek out of the grossest horror that leaves me thinking about scenes from each one of his works. This is the grossest yet I think, and that’s a compliment.

Enthralling

Really compelling story and characters. Horrifying imagery. Part Carrie, part Aliens, part The Fly, part Rivers Edge.

Well written, well read.

Nick Cutter has become one of my favorite horror authors. His style is unique, managing to be visceral and heartfelt in a way I that find missing from the works of his contemporaries. I truly look forward to a long, storied (pardon the pun) career full of outstanding stories.

Please Stop With the Phone Alerts!

Did anyone else feel like they were going to lose their mind if they had to hear one more high pitched “pikachu!”. I suppose it could be me being nit picky but those phone alerts added nothing to the story and left me with a feeling of dread/annoyance for the next one.

As far as the story goes, I found it quite disjointed, as Cutter can be. Somehow it has worked, particularly in The Deep, but not with this one. I don’t feel like the listener should have to work this hard to have the slightest clue what is going on. Cool body horror elements though!

Friendship that transcends time

I had a hard time getting started based upon the beginning of this book. I set it down and came back to it. I’m glad I did. It became a book that I could not stop listening to. The horror, depth, sadness, guilt, grief, love and lust were described so vividly. I won’t forget this book