Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Deep

I read The Troop by Nick Cutter (Craig Davidson) about a year ago and absolutely adored it. I wanted to read more by him and I recently heard The Deep was good so I decided to pick up that one next.
My first remark about the book is that it's nothing like The Troop. Cutter does an amazing job of subverting expectations with this book. I could really not guess what would come next or how it would end. And one thing that remained constant between the two novels I've read of his, he loves finding humanity in the worst places. He truly understands relationships and the strain on them especially under the harshest circumstances. Cutter understands that as people experience inhumane events the more they seek out companionship.
That's why the most touching part of The Deep, the scene that will stick with me the most is the LB scene. A warning, do NOT read this book if you uncomfortable with violence against animals.

I must write some of the lines that will haunt me in such a beautiful way:
"Luke hugged her so, so tight. He wanted LB to remember his touch. The warmth and love that radiated from his whole body, coupled with the sadness that she was being ripped away from him. He wanted her to take that one physical memory with her wherever she was going. The imprint of his hands on her. He wished it to be a reminder that she was a good creature, and loved, and that there were places on the continuum where love and kindness still existed, even if she did not share that world presently. She did not deserve this. But things happened. They happened."
This paragraph is one of my favorite sad paragraphs ever written. And this is an excellent example of how Cutter finds humanity in the abhorrent and rips it away from you. He built up so much of the story with LB and used her as an emotional refuge, one that Luke always sought solace in. And then she goes through the hole. I think what makes this even sadder is the fact that you're not expecting such emotion in a horror novel, and because it is so shocking that amplifies the sadness even more.

.
There is a lot of exposition revealed through flashbacks, which I am not usually a fan of, especially when there are gratuitous amounts of it. Although this book did rely on flashbacks for a reason, I still thought there was still a little too much.

Content Warnings

mollyolloxenfree25's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Content Warnings

apolloniablooms's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Like a lot of horror/thrillers this book suffers from hitting the peak amount of tenseness a person can feel really early on and then maintaining it instead of giving the reader relief then building tension again. By the end I was skimming. Bad guy is bad because of mental illness. Wish it had been a short story. Would be a good premise for a video game.

Content Warnings

ryankaybee's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.25

Content Warnings

dromedaryreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, even though I have some issues with the plot. Many things that are brought up such as

the fig men

and the 'gets aren't really carried much throughout the story and I feel like I would forget about those parts until they were thrown back in.

That being said, I still very much liked this book. The amount of background given on the main character alone made it worth the read, and I do love how so much of the things casually mentioned about his childhood are circled back to and become bigger, more important things.

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