As with Manhunt, Felker-Martin does a brilliant job crafting queer horror where the true monstrosity is the various ways that bigotry and hatred suffuses people's bones and becomes a physical force. Genuinely challenging to get through at times. I'm desperately eager to read more of her work!!

I definitely liked the Invasion of the Body Snatchers vibe here. I was also surprised and delighted that this becomes pretty full-on horror. It doesn’t stint on giving you some seriously messed up situations!

Readers sensitive to blood, gore and sex, may wish to tread carefully.

Where I struggled was with some of our characters. Many of them blended in so thoroughly that I wasn’t sure who I was reading at times. In fact, there’s one character who pops up later in the book that, while ostensibly in the book the whole time, I seem to have wiped from my memory! I mean they’re suddenly in the book, all the characters know them and reference them as being part of the first part of the book, and I’m completely blank. Even after finishing the book, I would swear that this character did not exist in the first part of the book! (Note: it is entirely possible that this is a me problem. Maybe my reading comprehension was off?)

It wasn’t just this character, though. Transitions between character points of view were a bit shaky here and there and caused confusion.

Overall, I did like the book. I just needed a bit stronger characterization to really engage.

• ARC via Publisher

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, to preface this, let me make it clear that I enjoyed Cuckoo FAR more than Manhunt. The beginning was incredible, the horror was much better this time around, and there was no Fran. (Thank fucking g-d, there was no Fran. My entire book club detested her LOL.) And also the cover? Stellar.

That said, many of the same issues I had with Manhunt are ones I had with Cuckoo.

I’m beginning to think Felker-Martin and I just don’t mesh well, stylistically; I dislike how short each POV is, making the book feel like a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive story. Just like in Manhunt, she absolutely fails at establishing the passage of time. It mentions around 65% in that the kids have been at the camp for literal weeks…but there is nothing suggesting that. If anything, it felt as though they’d been there for a few days. A week would be generous. I did a mental double take when I read the line specifying how much time had passed. Nothing felt in any way grounded in the progression of events.

There was quite a bit of whiplash at the start of the book, with characters being introduced left and right with little to no breathing room. And just when you think you’re settling in and have figured out who is who, there’s someone new. Each POV begins with action and at times it was hard to differentiate between the experiences of the characters. Don’t get me wrong, the action was great—Felker-Martin’s strength lies in heavy action scenes. The finale of Manhunt was incredible and she’s managed to improve her skills even more in Cuckoo.

Another strength of hers is in her characters. There are a ton of people to root for. Even some of the kids you don’t initially expect to like, you’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat with worry over by the end. There were some moments at the end that actually made me tear up.

Which brings me to my next point: the kids.

*Commercial voice:* Hello there! Are you one of those lucky readers who read Steven King’s “It”? Have you spent the last thirty-eight years desperately craving more of the child orgy scene you happened upon in the crisp autumn of October 1986? Why, then look no further than Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin, where you can read bizarro drug-induced child orgy scenes in droves!

Okay in all seriousness, I don’t mind reading about teens having sex. Kids are having sex whether we like it or not; that’s just a fact. What I do mind is (and this will sound very petty)…Gretchen Felker-Martin’s sex scenes lmfao. There is something about them that makes me deeply uncomfortable. A prime example is from Manhunt (tw for rape here), when Robbie rims Fran’s unwashed ass while Beth lies in post-rape agony, bleeding and crying, like five feet away. Like…girl?? You haven’t had access to toilet paper in literal weeks, and you’re letting this stranger tongue you while your purported best friend suffers mere feet away from you? GIRL?? Absolute insanity.

Cuckoo has the same weird, gratuitous sex. It has it in droves. I’m not above begging for it to stop.

Another thing it has, is racial slurs. I’m 99.9% certain Felker-Martin is white, and I would consider myself racially white in the US, so maybe this is just my whiteness speaking, but the fact that there are so many racial slurs written plainly makes me…a little uneasy. You are supposed to dislike the characters using them and it’s explicitly a bad thing, which makes me FAR less likely to point fingers and scream, “racist!” when a malicious character saying heinous things is in no way indicative of the author’s own views. (In other words, I really don’t think she’s a racist.) But I think it should be stated so readers know what they’re getting into. There are racial slurs used in this book. Specifically anti-Japanese, anti-Vietnamese, and anti-Mexican ones.

Now onto the body horror. Can I say, yes please? Give me more, queen? The body horror (and the horror in general) in Cuckoo was exquisite. It was decent in Manhunt, but she’s really upped the ante this time and boy did it pay off. There were scenes and descriptions that made me actively sick to my stomach. (This is a good thing.)

So, did I enjoy Cuckoo? Yes and no. Will I read more of Gretchen Felker-Martin’s books? Absolutely, if only for more excellent horror. And I will be cringing at the weird sex scenes all the way through.

First off, thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for letting me read this ARC!

Cuckoo started off running and never really stopped until the end. This book had a ton of surprises and what the hell moments that kept it moving and interesting.

Was I ready for what the evil was? Not at all. It had a lot of elements from Stephen King’s masterpiece “IT” which I thought was a good attempt at writing something fantastic however, it fell short.

For me, what didn’t work was the amount of teen sex involved and the in-depth descriptions of it. I have never been one for copious amounts of sex thrown in a book for whatever reason and with Cuckoo, it didn’t really serve a purpose other than taking away from the story. I also don’t normally mind violence however, this novel had a lot of it and most of it wasn’t necessary in my opinion.

Character wise, I felt there were too many that we were supposed to care about and after awhile, it got bothersome having to keep up with who was who, who went through what and who was with who. I also didn’t really feel attached to any of them.

Lastly, the ending just fell a bit flat on me and didn’t really leaving me hoping for more. The novel came in at just over 300 pages which, isn’t bad however, for some reason, this novel read like it was a lot longer. Many times I thought it was going to end but it kept going.

All in all, the premise was great and the intro started off really good. The biggest reason I can only give it a 3 is because the amount of violence and sex weighed it down as did the many different characters which, made for a longer feeling read.

This was not my favorite but it had a great plot. But man, it seemed like a lot of characters which took me out of the whole experience. I didn't find a single character likable. I slogged through this...it took me over at week to read this 300-something page book, which is not like me. There was a sense of redemption at the end, but it wasn't really satisfying to me.

This one just wasn't for ME, but I know there are others that will really love it.

“You will never be alone again.”

Fans of Hide by Kiersten White will enjoy this tale of ancient horror.

Camp Resolution takes the meaning of conversion camp a little too literally.

In 1995, a group of queer teens are ripped away from their families and find themselves trapped in the middle of the Utah desert. Left to work through some odd behaviors (it’s not a phase mom) they are treated like draftees in bootcamp. The boys have their heads shaved and are forced to do manual labor while the girls are taught to stay in the kitchen. Fearful of the ever-present Pastor Eddie and his zealot counselors, the group quickly realizes that sticking together is the only chance they’ll have of surviving.

Bound together by trauma, the teens must work together to escape; but with no communication to the outside world, hope is dwindling. Their only way out is an unknown path leading down into darkness.

My 5 star rating is not based on perfection, but on the personal connection I made to the content. Cuckoo’s presentation breathes a cloud of dread that hangs over head until the very end. The realistic and relatable character arcs of Shelby, Felix and Joanna will stay with me long after finishing.

Just when I thought Gretchen Felker-Martin couldn’t top Manhunt, her sophomore entry Cuckoo artfully exceeds expectations.

Gretchen’s poignant and timely story arrives when the world of queer representation desperately needs it. Fear of religious extremism and the haunting experiences that the LGBTQIA+ community have been subjected to at conversion camps provides a cathartic outlet for those who feel helpless. While reading Cuckoo, overwhelming feelings of fear and self-doubt take hold. In contrast, it’s raw, humorous, and the shades of Eldritch horror kept things engaging. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity I was given to read this book as an advance reader copy (ARC) and I’m already looking forward to getting my hands on a hard copy when it’s released on June 11, 2024!

Reading Gretchen Felker-Martin's "Cuckoo" felt like embarking on a journey through a nightmarish landscape that was both deeply disturbing and incredibly compelling. With a solid 4.5-star rating from me, this novel captured my attention from the very first page and refused to let go. The story's tension is palpable, the scenes disgustingly vivid, and the raw emotion that permeates through the narrative is hauntingly beautiful in its execution.

As a queer individual, I found an unexpected resonance with the characters and their struggles. The depiction of a horrific conversion camp hit close to home, evoking a mixture of fear, anger, and empathy within me. It was during these moments, as the characters fought back against their oppressors, that I found myself silently cheering them on, feeling a surge of pride and solidarity that took me by surprise. Their fight became more than just a plot development; it felt like a personal battle, one that mirrored the struggles faced by the queer community every day.

Felker-Martin's ability to weave this deeply emotional thread through a narrative filled with horror and despair is nothing short of masterful. However, the journey was not without its hitches. There were moments when the story seemed to lose its pace, meandering a bit too long in places where I craved progression. Additionally, the large cast of characters, while rich and complex, occasionally became difficult to keep track of. Yet, these minor critiques hardly detract from the overall impact of "Cuckoo." If anything, they're a testament to Felker-Martin's ambitious storytelling, which perhaps asks for a level of engagement and attention that I sometimes struggled to maintain.

In essence, "Cuckoo" is more than just a horror novel. It's a reflection on the resilience of the human spirit, the power of rebellion, and the importance of finding light in the darkest of places. Reading it was an experience that left me both haunted and inspired, a reminder of the power of fiction to reflect the deepest truths of our lives.

I had enjoyed Manhunt a lot and was glad I got to read this new book. It had that horror element that I was looking for and enjoyed how much the horror element worked. Gretchen Felker-Martin does a great job in writing this and made the characters realistic and glad I was able to get to know them.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an ARC of Cuckoo.

I rated this 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Cuckoo follows a group of kids who are sent to a religious conversion camp by their families who want to "fix" them. After a few days being worked to complete exhaustion, the kids start hearing a voice in their dreams and notice that the ones who are sent to the mountains at the end of their stint come back as completely different people...and they realize they need to escape or they will cease to exist as the people they truly are.

This story started out with a bang in the prologue; lots of body horror and gore, which definitely was terrifying and set the tone for the rest of the novel. After that we meet various characters, and learn their tragic back stories about how they were ripped from their homes and sent to this camp to "convert" them into the kids their parents wished they had. It was extremely triggering and depressing to see how these kids went through this, and felt so alone and unloved. Once at the camp, the horror picks up again. It definitely felt like a combination of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It. I do think this was more of an LGBTQIA+ verison of It, with the kids fighting this monster that no one believes exists, only to come back and finish what they started years after the fact when they were adults. Overall it was very emotional, the horror scenes were very terrifying and graphic, and the plot was very well-fleshed out.

I did get a bit confused at times, as a couple of the characters were trans, so they were referred to multiple times either by their names given at birth or their chosen names. There also were a lot of characters in general to keep track of, so that was just another level of complexity added to the story. Also, I do feel parts of this book dragged on past the 50% mark, and there wasn't a lot of growth from the characters as they got older, which I would have liked to see since I felt an emotional connection to some of them from the beginning. The ending also seemed a bit rushed, and if some of the fluff was removed and more attention added to the ending instead, this would have been a 5-star read for me.

Overall this was an emotional roller-coaster and I enjoyed it a lot.

I loved reading this book. It was different than what I expected but also was also one of those books that exceeded my expectations as to how good I hoped it would be. Great read!

This book definitely grips you… or completely repels you.

There is a message here, but it’s buried under tons of gratuitous sex and gore, seemingly for the sake of being gratuitous. My stomach hurt reading some of the lines in this book.

This is an unapologetically intense horror book that deals with both fairly hardcore body horror as well as the even more disturbing real-life horrors of conversion camps and the way homophobia and transphobia manifest in our Christo-fascist and TERFy society. The characters were incredibly well-developed, which made the no-punches-pulled aspect of the book all the more heartbreaking (don't go into a Gretchen Felker-Martin book expecting happily ever afters for every character, to say the least).

I wanted to like this and the premise is a good one, but it slogged. So much description over and over and over lost the tension for me. It wasn't scary, it was just gross and repetitive. I only give 3 stars because there was potential there and for those that need 15 ways to describe a slit and the smell of blood/vomit/cum, it will be a delight

gretchen felker-martin is bringing a whole new vibe to not just queer horror stories, but the horror genre itself. this was my first read by felker-martin and it was well worth it! the writing is so well done, it puts you right into the story alongside the characters and makes you feel goosebumps and the instant need to wash your hands from how digusting some of these scenes are. I loved the set up of this story, the first half being during the 90s following each character at the camp and then the second half years later with those who survived coming together again to end everything (it gave a bit of IT vibes in terms of the "we lived, we're adults now, so we're gonna end this") I really enojyed this and I can't wait to see the influx of more queer horror on my reading list because of this read, gretchen felker-martin really knows how to write an outstanding horror novel!

4.5/5

I went into this ARC rather blind, only really requesting a copy since I enjoyed Felker-Martin's Manhunt. Let me tell you, going in blind was a great decision. I had no idea what was going to happen, so each chapter felt like a surprise gift on insane, queer craziness. Between watching a documentary on a program similar to that of the book while reading this ARC, loving Holes (even as an adult), and knowing queer media is my favorite type of media, all of the conditions were perfect for me to read Cuckoo. I simply could not set it down. At first, I was a little confused about why the book started the way it did, but the deeper I got into the story, the more I realized why. I think the thing I loved the most, aside from the weird, disgustingly amazing descriptions of the Cuckoo, was each of the queer characters and the relationship between them all. I hate the notion that protagonists have to be "likeable" and only slightly flawed to be good protagonists. Felker-Martin, both in Manhunt and in Cuckoo, does a great job and writing *human* protagonists. Characters that are all flawed, some more than others, but I still loved them despite those flaws. I can't wait to reread Cuckoo.

Cosmic horror is always iffy for me, and I guess I wasn’t expecting it? The writing was great and the story was good, and I guess my only complaint is holy **** is this a sexual book. Is gay conversion camp horror becoming a thing? I’m really enjoying it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this ARC. This book will be out in June!

This is like a cross between Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Stephen King's IT, except it's queer and takes place at a gay conversion camp instead of in the sewers.

When a group of teens are forced into a camp because of their sexuality, they'll be faced with harsh conditions in the middle of the desert, staff who physically and mentally abuse them, and threats of pain if they don't comply with instructions.

But that's just the beginning of their nightmare. Once they discover the true significance of this camp and what its true purpose is, a small group of kids realise they will have to escape or never be the same again.

Years later, their inner and outer scars from their time there still linger. And when one of them informs the others that whatever lurked in their time at camp is back, they will have to get back together to try and kill it once and for all.

This novel not only paints a horrifying picture of these so called "Christian" conversion camps but also ramps up that terror with a monstrosity that wants to replace their true selves with something supernatural, evil, and blood thirsty.

From the very first chapter, you know you're in for a creepy frightening ride as it begins with an oozy bang and never eases up on the tension throughout.

And, if you've read Manhunt by this author, you know that nobody writes about queer angst, anger, and horror like Gretchen Felker-Martin.

I highly, highly recommend this epic novel.

The LGBTQIA+ representation that Felker-Martin brings to the horror genre is so refreshing, and Cuckoo is no exception. There are a lot of characters from many different backgrounds, gender identities, and sexualities, and all of that mixed with their collective and individual traumas makes for a very intriguing and gripping story. That being said, at times the timeline felt a little disjointed. The book opens up with a scene that reveals a huge part of the main monster/villain in the story, and then we are led into Part 2 with a whole new cast of characters. The main part of the story, that makes up about 65% of it, I believe could've stood on it's own; and having the mystery of what the villain/monster actually was throughout instead of revealing a part of it in the opening could've made for a stronger sense of unease. The third part, which takes us forward in time to when the main cast of teens grow up, was also something I didn't see much of a point to, initially. Then, upon further reflection, I think it's very important to have stories and media that show queer children and teens growing up, and that's what adding this third part in did. It also tied in the first part of the novel, but if you weren't paying close attention, the tie in was fairly easy to look over.
That being said, Felker-Martin has a very unique way of writing gore and body horror. This novel is chalk full of character introspection and self-discovery and incorporates many of the struggles and tribulations queer teens face in day to day life; with monsters real of fictional.
Felker-Martin is a very important newer voice in the horror genre and I will always look forward to reading anything this author produces.

The followup to "Manhunt" does not disappoint! "Cuckoo" is a visceral, layered, thrilling read, with strong, sympathetic characters. It feels like the update to "It" that this decade (century?) needed. It rightfully skewers conversion camps, TERFs, abusive parents, and self-hating bullies. The kids are genuinely voiced, their interactions believable. The horrors here take many forms, real and imaginary. We all need to take stock of our participation in a society that allows these abuses to keep happening.

Wow. This book kicked major ass. Imagine if the thing and IT were in a conversion camp. It was written so well. So many characters and stories. Reminded me of clive barker. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.