Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

The Deep by Nick Cutter

30 reviews

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

joann3'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? N/A

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Pedophilia

marthadude's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Torture, Confinement, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Violence

Minor: Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Cannibalism

Heavy triggers for animal cruelty and fatphobia.

The dog dies/ meets a gate worse than death and it’s really sad and disgusting.

Also if you’re squeamish about bees/insects there’s a lot of that in here.

aparker89's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

A titillating journey into the Mariana Trench and the mind. Be prepared for the monsters in your closet to come put to visit as you dive deep into the realm of horror! A well written story that leaves much to the tortures of your imagination! 
Find yourself stuck in a loop of endless and increasingly terrifying nightmares with Luke who just wants to help save mankind... don't look to hard at the shadows, they might be looking back!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Incest

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pandemic/Epidemic

duckleberryferry's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

What WAS that? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Fatphobia, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Self harm

trippyotter's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

I'll admit my rating is based heavily upon what happened to LB, I'm so angry about what transpired and that an animal would be allowed to suffer in such a horrific way. 

Also, while reading the book, I felt it could have easily been 50-100 pages shorter, but come to find out all the excessive trips down memory road and the journey entries was actually critical to the ending. 

After several memory flashbacks, I was about ready to close the book when Luke was reading the journal. It just went on forever. Then what happened to LB angered me so much that I was basically emotionally numb (maybe that was the intent?) that I just finished the book. 

I'm not sure if I'd truly recommend this to anyone, but if you decide to take the plug, beware of the various triggers.

Triggers: missing child, child abuse, child sexual assault, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, death, gore, grief, animal abuse, animal testing, animal death 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

unviincible's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

 A high note of dread sang through Luke’s veins—a mocking aria that sent a shiver through his bones.
 What are you so afraid of? said that same voice inside Luke’s head.
Everything, another voice answered.

 
well that was a mind fuck and a half. I was unable to put this down—the tension was unparalleled and the prose was excellent without being overwrought, enough to describe stuff concisely and viscerally in a way that suits body horror. but I feel like I gotta dock points for the weird fatphobia, it was hard to tell if it was the MC or author who was repulsed or what purpose that served

not a book I'd easily recommend? it's probably the first time I've read something with a trigger warning list the length of my arm. you're like "that was amazing! but did I like it? I have no idea!" I don't mind open endings, either, and I'm still processing how I felt, but I do wish we'd gotten a bit more out of that as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, and Gore

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide

szyca's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Self harm, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Gaslighting, Incest, Mental illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rooothy69's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Confinement, Gore, and Violence

dezaraemd's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was the most gripping, intense, horrifying book I have ever read. Well done, Nick Cutter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal cruelty, Death, Body horror, Gore, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Animal death, and Cursing

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Blood, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual content, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Incest, and Kidnapping