Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Deep by Nick Cutter

34 reviews

m0onb3am's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.75

body horror (n when animals are subjected to it) <<<<

this is good for someone who liked the troop, but definitely not for someone who didn't. better premise for me but same execution.

there was a scene that felt like a cheap attempt at stirring emotion in the reader. though successful, it cost probably a star n a half sooo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, and Fatphobia

Minor: Murder and Animal cruelty

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

TW: Extreme animal cruelty, suffering and death 
TW: Child abuse 

The Deep really had promise. I enjoyed the general concept along with the claustrophobic atmosphere and unnerving events. I loved the eeriness of the setting and I can’t think of many other books that have had such a unique narrative. I found myself rooting for certain characters and despising others, so I also cannot fault Cutter for his ability to write complex and interesting characters. Unfortunately, there were just a few, not so small, aspects of The Deep that significantly lowered my overall enjoyment of the book. 

Firstly, I found myself extremely disappointed with the ending. The suspense, build up and the first three quarters of the book had such promise, I was enthralled by the story and was desperate to find out how it concluded. However, I personally felt the ending bordered on laughable. Without including spoilers, I cannot fully explain my reasoning, however, the explanations given for certain events really fell flat for me. 

However, the primary reason for my reduced star rating and what mostly quashed my enjoyment of The Deep was the unnecessarily graphic and incessant animal cruelty and suffering. I am painfully aware that The Deep is not alone in this graphic use of animals for nothing more than an easy shock factor, however, Cutter in-particular takes this to a distressing level, and not in a good way. This theme occurred so often that I took it upon myself to create a list of page numbers to avoid for readers who, like myself, are particularly sensitive to this sort of content but are still interested in reading this novel. 

Please see below but beware of minor spoilers: 

Key: 
💚 Mentioned in passing and/or not overly upsetting 
💛 Suffering/death described with more detail, somewhat upsetting 
🧡 Detailed description of suffering/death, overtly upsetting
❤️ Extremely detailed description with very upsetting and disturbing content 

Page 31-34 🧡
Mouse experimentation, suffering & death 
Detailed & upsetting 

Page 44-46 💛 
Mouse experimentation & minor suffering 

Page 127 💚
Insect death 

Page 145 
Bee death 💛
Lizard death 💚 

Page 168-172 🧡
Guinea pig experimentation
Guinea pig suffering & harm 

Page 179-181 🧡
Guinea pig experimentation, suffering & death 

Page 223 💛
Raccoon suffering & death 

Page 243 💛
Squirrel corpse description 

Page 248-249 & 251 💚 
Mention of bee deaths 

Page 254 💛
Bee killed 

Page 260-261 💛
Bee deaths 

Page 262-264 & 266 🧡
Bee suffering & death 

Page 315-316 🧡
Dog injury & cruelty 

Page 322 🧡
Guinea pig cruelty & death 

Page 336 💛
Detailed description of using maggots as fishing bait 

Page 341-350 ❤️ 
Dog cruelty & experimentation 
Dog on dog injury & suffering 
Detailed description of the pain and sadness of euthanising stray dogs 
Long and detailed description of a very upsetting and graphic dog death with suffering and extremely emotional descriptions 
DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE AN ANIMAL LOVER: this destroyed me. 

Page 353 & 356 💛
Bee death 

Page 375 🧡 
Description of dead dog & suffering 

In conclusion, The Deep was by no means a bad read, and there were many things that I really liked about the story and the writing, but it certainly isn’t without its pitfalls. I advise proceeding with caution if animal cruelty/suffering and themes of child abuse are particularly triggering for you, but I also wouldn’t entirely steer others away from giving The Deep a chance, especially if you are an avid horror fan and love creepy and claustrophobic settings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Incest, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Child death, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

wizardteeth's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Gore

vee3105's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death, Bullying, and Grief

Minor: Murder

haleybre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Murder, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

mand_al_orian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Grief, Incest, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

changelingreader_adrian's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Death, Fatphobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Dementia, Body horror, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Emotional abuse

stardustvein's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Incest, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Panic attacks/disorders

esslesmcgee's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Incest, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Blood, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Cursing, Medical content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming and Bullying

chemicallykat's review against another edition

1.75

I'm an absolute sucker for the deep sea. Anything set on the sea floor is automatically on my tbr regardless of genre or quality. If anyone has any recs... let me know!!

Sections of this bored me and other sections seemed like they were just there for shock value. 

This was creepy, dark, and graphic. The beginning was slow but introduced some neat concepts. The middle lost me a bit. I wanted to know what was going on and I was not getting answers! The way this book is written is confusing. Half the time I couldn't figure out what was real and what wasn't.

The writing wasn't to my preference - some scenes felt unnecessary, and the characters and dialogue drove me nuts.

The author tends to make a lot of comparisons, "it looked like a glob of partially set Jell-O" and sometimes these came back-to-back and felt redundant. If you say something is colorless, you don't also have to make a comparison to something colorless in the next line.

The way the main character kept describing his mom weirded me out. Every time she was mentioned, even in passing, he'd make a comment to remind us his mom was fat. In general, character descriptions and characterization were sorely lacking. Characters seemed like they were only there for the plot. There's no development and I could not tell you a single thing about any of them beyond factual things like "scientist" or "father."

Beyond that, the plot was THIN. Chapters are repetitive and everything was predictable. Throwing in a "magical" element felt like a lazy way to skip explaining anything properly, and quite frankly, I don't get it.

The child SA was so unnecessary and didn't add a single thing - so why was it included? There are a million other things that could have been included instead. It didn't add to the creepy/horror factor the book was developing and felt like shock-value because it's thrown in and never dealt with properly.In general, the sexual stuff seemed like it could have been cut. At multiple points there's a paragraph or two detailing how hard a man's dick is. What was the relevance? Am I missing something?

I was intrigued by the mysteries of "the Gets" and the ambrosia, but I don't feel like any of that was wrapped up or handled properly. Instead, this became an intentionally confusing gorefest that had a... weird ending that very much didn't satisfy me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Medical content, Murder, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence