I struggled with this one. The opening was fantastic -- I loved the point of view from the hypocritical, religious mother character, and the growing dread as she realizes something is wrong with her daughter. It was creepy and engrossing. From there, the book lost me a bit.

Once we got into the teen characters, I had a hard time telling them apart or getting into their stories -- the points of view were all a bit too similar for me. Felker-Martin is a fantastic writer at painting a gruesome picture but I think Cuckoo also got a bit too dark for me. So much of the book felt hopeless and the constant comparisons of things to gross bodily functions just wasn't for me. Although I'm a big horror reader, her writing might be just too dark for me.

I would suggest this one to others, however -- it's just not a book I wanted to continue reading myself.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I have described this book as a "right wing conversion camp" meets invasion of the body snatchers! Not for everyone... but a real emotional read when comes to the horror that is dished out on the youth sent away for straying from what their parents view as the right path. Many of those who survived the camp are still damaged when forced back together in an effort to put a permanent stop to those that are still perpetrating evil on youth of the next generation! Great for fans of "It" and anyone looking for horror with a LGBTQ+ perspective.

Description

From Gretchen Felker-Martin, the acclaimed author of Manhunt, comes a vicious new novel about a group of teens who must stay true to themselves while in a conversion camp from hell.


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.

Thanks so very much to Netgalley and the publisher for kindly providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I do reviews on my main social media platforms and will be providing my full review there as I get through my TBR blacklist. Adding star rating as placeholder. Thanks again!

A gripping and gruesome story of queer survival in a monster filled conversion camp.

We start off finding out kids are coming back from conversion camp not themselves… and not in the way their screwed up parents were hoping for.

Years later, we follow a group of queer teens as they’re taken from their homes to the same camp in the middle of the desert. On top of having to be on a strict schedule of hard labor and weird counseling sessions, they begin seeing weird demon like behavior from the camp leaders. Soon they discover the camp is more sinister than they ever imagined and will do anything to escape.

This was very intense from start to finish, with deeply raw characters who I loved the whole way through. Who doesn’t love a heart pounding, found family horror?!

4 stars, highly recommend!

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and Netgalley for the ARC :)

Devastatingly brilliant book by Gretchen Felker-Martin and huge thanks to Tor Nightfire for sharing a copy of this with me 🫶

We learn that there is a “conversion camp” where families will hire them to abduct their child, who in their mind is displaying undesirable desires/behaviours with the guarantee that they will be returned to them like the child they “deserve” and essentially straight.

A group of queer teens arrive at this camp and we learn about each of their back stories. We learn what is really behind the “conversion camp” and what they are forced to endure. Initially, it’s constant abuse before realising there is something more sinister happening to them.

Firstly, knowing that there are/have been camps out there that parents willingly have their children sent to, blows my mind and having watched a few documentaries on this, to then read this story felt very powerful.

There are a few references to “the body snatchers” in this but it really hit me with some of Stephen Kings IT with the age of the kids in this story, their bond and their fight to survive.

The description of the humanoid thing was brilliant next level grotesque horror and really got my imagination going, loved this!

I don’t think I’ve ever felt such strong emotion for a character. Nadine, so strong minded and tough, a leader and a voice giving hope to the others constantly. The bravest young girl with a devastating story.

Huge emotional rollercoaster of disgust, intrigue, sadness, anger, uncomfortable reading at times but bloody brilliant!

I’m writing this with tears drying on my cheeks.

Brilliant and devastating. I haven’t read Manhunt so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. The prologue could stand as its own short story, but is a hell of a bit of foreshadowing. We know exactly what the kids in the novel are going to face but the slow, dread-building pacing as they creep closer to that revelation is addictive.

Wow! How to even describe this book! It's so well-written ... I was already creeped out, worried and stressed by about page 10. Felker-Martin has a way of writing suspense without even trying.

There are two terrifying beasts in this book ... what young queer folks faced when they were found out... and then... "other"

I'm not giving anything away because this story went beyond what I could have imagined was coming. Some of the abuse is very difficult to read... the author certainly doesn't pull any punches.

If you're a fan of horror... or just a fan of a book that won't give you a hint of where you're going... this is the book for you. Truly unique.

Thanks to Tor and Gretchen Felker-Martin for the chance to read ‘Cuckoo’! The cover is almost as good as 'Manhunt' (which, despite my lackluster feelings, will remain in the top of my favorite covers). The description immediately grabbed my attention. I definitely liked the characters more than in Felker-Martin's previous work but this just wasn't for me. I don't tend to enjoy a lot of monster/sci-fi elements and yet I keep trying.

Loved getting to know our main group of characters and was really rooting for them by the end. The pacing was a little unexpected, not reaching the "adult" portion of the timeline until around 70%. We face the horrors of both what these young people are going through at the hands of adults who abuse them for being queer, and the sinister backbone behind what's really driving this conversion therapy camp's operations. In addition to the various references made in this book to similar horror stories, this one reminded me of IT in particular because of the juxtaposition between what the kids who went to this camp see vs. what the rest of the world sees. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, especially in the first 2/3. Some of the sex scenes felt excessive in that they seemed to hyper-sexualize the characters in a way that I did not enjoy. Despite this, I still enjoyed my reading experience overall.

Thank you Net Galley for my arc of Cuckoo! I actually thought this was tied to the upcoming film of the same name and when I found that out I was pretty bummed but read it anyway and it turned out to be pretty damn good all on it's own! Perfect for fans of Chuck Tingle!

This is a hard read because it is horror steeped in reality and the reality is places like this camp where children are gaslighted, belittled, bullied, dehumanized and otherwise treated with utter disrespect and disdain exist. Not only do they exist, parents make the choice to send their children there rather than accept the. For who they are and who they love. This is a powerful and painful horror novel with likable, rebellious young characters that represent a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds and sexual identities who come together when their families send them away to be converted by a bunch of cruel religious camp owners and counselors who regularly inflict violence and ridicule onto the children to break their spirits. If this weren’t bad enough sinister supernatural forces are at work to rip into and destroy the main characters. A desperate escape plan is made but in the end not alll will escape this nightmare. A wide eyed stunning read.

DNF at 53%. Desperately wanted to finish this but I have no idea who anyone is and at a certain point stopped caring. Too many characters and I kept going because I thought it’d eventually come to me, but it just sunk me deeper into confusion. I also had a very very hard time grasping what was happening in action scenes. It was simple shit, like describing where we were physically, or how these monsters were speaking/using the bodies of these kids. The camp aspect was fascinating, but even that I found a bit unrealistic? They’ve been kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location and they’re…doing dishes? Doing oral sex on each other in the middle of the night? Most of the teenagers who come back from those places talk about how they couldn’t even speak to other kids or they’d be punished, so I found this hard to believe. I think it works for the plot that they are rebelling and getting away with it, but in real life, I think they’d face intense consequences more often.

I loved this concept and I really was interested in how these kids end up though. Just not for me. Thanks Netgalley and Publisher for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Thing meets Holes meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets It. I love all of those references and I almost loved this as well. It’s so incredibly descriptive—so much so that it became a little unclear what was happening sometimes—but when it’s good it’s so good. Disgusting and brutal and tender and lovely and just so heartbreaking, even if the ending felt rushed. As with It, I wanted more time with the characters as adults because the ways they evolved and grew apart before coming back together was so compelling. Found family stories never fail to get me and it was so bittersweet watching these characters show courage and love for one another when they often couldn’t muster it for themselves. Okay, maybe I did love it?

This book started out strong and really grabbed me, unfortunately the more I read the less I liked it. The amount of characters and switching of POV made it very confusing.

This book was absolutely freaking wild. I love a good revenge story especially when it deals with someone not being accepting of another person. I can’t wait to keep reading this author

A multi-POV horror novel about queer teens sent to a conversion camp, with a sinister and gruesome twist. Reminiscent of body snatcher horror and Stephen King novels (IT if it was more queer in particular — found family in traumatizing situations!!) Featuring a diverse cast with different sexualities, races, body types and gender identities.

I was instantly drawn to Gretchen Felker-Martin’s descriptive language. The body horror and gore especially was written extremely well. From the beginning, the mysterious identity of the “big bad” fascinated me and kept me on my toes. I enjoyed its cosmic horror origins and the gradual reveal/ discovery of its plan (the lessons very much did creep me out).

The book was very anxiety-inducing, with many intense and uncomfortable scenes. I was terrified and sad and happy throughout so it was definitely an emotional rollercoaster even though I didn’t grow as attached to the characters as I wish I had (though I did shed a tear). I felt like the characters were all utilized well, and despite there being a large main cast, they were all given enough backstory and development to keep me rooting for them. The characters had good chemistry and the dialogue felt authentic and not forced. There were a few side characters (in particular some of the camp staff or the mean girls who I just kept forgetting about) but other than those ones the side characters were interesting and memorable. The villains were well-written to be nefarious and terrible people and definitely left an impression on me.

Having not read much adult horror I was a little put off by all the sexual scenes (especially the sexual violence scenes) and I felt like there were definitely some that could have been excluded. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will also be checking out Manhunt in the future! Would definitely recommend this book to any queer fans of Stephen King and body horror!

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I think the things this book set out to achieve were very successful, it just wasn’t the book for me. A very diverse queer cast of characters journey to survive a conversation camp. It was horrific and gory. With very vibrant characters. I had a hard time keeping up with the cast even though the audiobook was fully casted. In a different format I may have found this higher rated but my confusion took away from my experience. I did catch my self at times truly admiring the writing of this story . If you enjoy really gory horror and wide cast of characters I would still recommend. Didn’t hate it just didn’t love it either

This was as brutal and difficult to read as I'd hoped, and I mean that in the best way. Felker-Martin's ability to create extremely complex characters that are impossible to simply Like or Dislike is, in my opinion, one of her greatest strengths, and she definitely excelled in that area in Cuckoo. The portrayal of being a queer kid in the 90's was painfully accurate, and the very last scene will forever be stuck in my brain. The folks criticizing the sexual content were apparently never repressed, hormonal teens themselves.

This was SO fun and SO gross. I think it had a real forward trajectory and cohesive story (moreso than Manhunt) and it's a quick read despite the horrors.

A collection of horrific stories that center more on LGBT issues and prejudices. Recommended to read before Pride.