The Queen

By: Nick Cutter

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

“One of the hottest horror authors on the planet” (Paste) and writer of the #HorrorBookTok sensation The Troop returns with 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 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…

©2024 Nick Cutter (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Yikes. Boring and forgettable.

I’ve read half a dozen of Cutter’s books and I mostly enjoyed them (The Deep being very good imo) so I pre ordered this one.
Wished I hadn’t.
It’s mostly the whining of a chubby high school girl mixed with oddly specific analogies.
None of the characters were well developed so I didn’t care about any of them. The bad guy was lame and the premise was silly and boring.
I made it all the way through but just barely. It got to the point that I kinda stopped listening and would just periodically check to see if it was almost done.
The female voice actor I find annoying. Her girl voices are always shaky and victim-like or just whining.
Her male voices are caricatures that sound nothing like how men sound.
Skip this one… it’s not scary, not fun, not believable and not worth a credit.

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.

Creepy

Nick does it again with things that go bump in the night.
then they burrow under the skin and live there.
Great narrator brilliant author.
Highly recommend

awesome

another astounding read from nick cutter! this is my 4th book of his that I've read. he does body horror so frigging well. couldn't put it down.

He once again horrifies and grosses me out on another level. Amazing.

Cutter has such a way with throwing me into the book. The book is grotesque and terrifying almost as much as the troop. I dare to say worse. It is a beautifully executed story and has me starting again to see what I had missed through the words.

Top notch voice acting! Plot felt like it lacked catharsis.

First off let me say that the plot was very well structured leaving me on edge like most Cutter stories. The body horror was top notch here as well. All the pieces were there but I left the story feeling like there was a small piece missing. When I gave it 4 stars I really mean something like 4.7 or so. At the end of the day it’s a story about home town childhood friendship and how it drifts apart with personal growth. Also Rudy’s loss and how his love twisted his soul.

I would put this behind the breach and the deep but it has a place among them. I know people love the troop but I feel like I don’t go back and read that one over and over like the first two I mentioned. The queen is a riveting story full of love, loss, and horror. The voice actors were fantastic as well. I felt for the characters and the delivery was fantastic.

For those who love the fly and wanted to see that mixed with a coming of age story focused on friendship, this book is for you!

Nick Cutter Brings it Again

More insectile ooze in this killer story of genetic engineering and grotesque transformations. When Nick Cutter releases a new novel it’s like a national holiday for me. Another horror fiction winner!

Loved it

Nick Cutter never disappoints!

This is the perfect Halloween book;the narrator is perfect for this book as well. Within the first 40 pages I was thoroughly disturbed and actually a little scared! I was thrilled by that, it hasn’t happened in a while and doesn’t happen often

Gorgeous body horror with a beating heart

Just finished The Queen by Nick Cutter and really loved it. It’s my second from him, and while I loved The Troop, this one just hit me differently. It’s compelling body horror, written with gunmetal precision and elegant prose that never brushes up against pretension. Beneath the conspiracies and grotesque mutations, there’s also a bittersweet narrative around growing up and distance between friends.

One thing I’ve heard criticized is the hour long wind down at the end, saying it sort of fizzles out, and I’m staunchly against that idea. While it may be the longest “outro” I can remember reading in a novel, it fits incredibly well, and has some of the sharpest, most haunting writing in the whole story.

I loved this book.
5/5

Couldn’t get through it

Story was kind of interesting, but the voice acting absolutely killed the experience. Over half of the story left and the constant “pikachu!” distracted me so far out of it I ended up returning the audiobook.
Probably one of those books that are just better in book format. Stinks since I’ve enjoyed a lot of other books by the author.