ARC Book Review Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Introduction

I was given a copy to review by Titan Books and Netgalley. My reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own and freely given.     #Cuckoo #GretchenFelkerMartin #TitanBooks #NetGalley #Horror #ARCReview #BookReview  #FreeReview #AdPR #Gifted

Blurb

Something evil is buried deep in the desert.

It wants your body.

It wears your skin.

In the summer of 1995, seven queer kids abandoned by their parents at a remote conversion camp came face to face with it. They survived—but at Camp Resolution, everybody leaves a different person.

Sixteen years later, only the scarred and broken survivors of that terrible summer can put an end to the horror before it’s too late.

The fate of the world depends on it.

Review

When it comes to media I don’t tend to have a lot of triggers beyond a few but I do have to say that Cuckoo did push me a bit. There is a lot of illusions and references to sexual assault (SA) and particularly to younger characters. I understand that this is part of the trauma, that it shows what some suffer and  also shows the plight of LGBTQAI+ but at times it did get a little much. Being from the UK our age of consent is sixteen but I know this is set in America and as such again I felt that perhaps some would find the relationships the teens have a little too much.

That said despite the SA I think everything does work. The author manages to combine everything to effectively show the trauma that teenagers, particularly of the LGBTQAI+ community face. Here that trauma is almost given a monstrous face and entity. An entity that partly reminded me of the more parasitic side of games like Resident Evil.

I really enjoyed the wide range of characters and the why they were allowed to be messy and almost unapologetically themselves despite initially being punished for it. If readers enjoy books like IT (that the author sites as inspiration) they are sure to enjoy this one.

As always thank you to Titan Books for the copy to review. My review is honest and truthful.

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