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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
dark
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This has been described as The Abyss meets The Shining, but I think it's more like The Abyss meets Event Horizon - remember that 90's sci-fi horror film?
I'm going to try real hard to keep this spoiler-free, speaking in generalities. Specific stuff that I think is spoilerish will be hidden.
In a nutshell, the premise is this: There's a seemingly incurable disease that is wreaking havoc worldwide - a pending breakdown of civilization kind of thing. Meanwhile, a scientific discovery has led world powers to pour an obscene amount of money into a research program that they hope will lead to finding a cure for the disease (amongst other ailments). Further research on the breakthrough discovery must be performed at the bottom of the ocean, 8 miles beneath the surface
- because that's where the source of the miracle substance/organism is believed to be.
So, back to the Event Horizon comparison - similarly to the Laurence Fishburne & Sam Neill film, you've got support personnel entering a claustrophobic research station to check on what's been happening with the research scientists, as all contact has been lost with them. Once the POV character and the submersible pilot who is transporting him get to the underwater station, it's apparent that all kinds of weird stuff has been happening - which I'm not going to get any more specific on for spoiler reasons.
This was well on its way to being a 3-star reading experience until the last 100 pages, whereinLucas (and thus the reader) frequently has no clue what is real anymore. I was repeatedly wondering if the scene I'm reading is really happening or is this another twisted vision. For me, the descent into madness was quite maddening. I think it's hard to write large chunks of a story from a POV of someone who is losing their grip on reality - or at least it's hard for me to read it. Extensive dream/hallucination sequences in fiction tend to lose me quickly. Between that and amping up the body horror to levels beyond my threshold of comfort, I was quickly losing interest, but I pressed on because I'm stubborn and wasn't going to throw in the towel when so close to the end.
I was quite surprised by the ending - and that's ok. I'm all right with how he landed the plane. In a genre where it's hard to stick a good landing, I've read books and watched films with much worse, less satisfying endings than this.
This is my 1st Nick Cutter book. I understand the book that caused him to blow up was The Troop - and I've seen a lot of people who loved The Troop say that they didn't care for The Deep, and I too would still like to read The Troop.
To be clear, because star ratings seem to mean different things to different people, my two-star rating doesn't mean I think it's a bad book - I'd say it's just "okay". I was entertained to an extent, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend it. Call it a "meh" rating if you will. YMMV.
I'm going to try real hard to keep this spoiler-free, speaking in generalities. Specific stuff that I think is spoilerish will be hidden.
In a nutshell, the premise is this: There's a seemingly incurable disease that is wreaking havoc worldwide - a pending breakdown of civilization kind of thing. Meanwhile, a scientific discovery has led world powers to pour an obscene amount of money into a research program that they hope will lead to finding a cure for the disease (amongst other ailments). Further research on the breakthrough discovery must be performed at the bottom of the ocean, 8 miles beneath the surface
- because that's where the source of the miracle substance/organism is believed to be.
So, back to the Event Horizon comparison - similarly to the Laurence Fishburne & Sam Neill film, you've got support personnel entering a claustrophobic research station to check on what's been happening with the research scientists, as all contact has been lost with them. Once the POV character and the submersible pilot who is transporting him get to the underwater station, it's apparent that all kinds of weird stuff has been happening - which I'm not going to get any more specific on for spoiler reasons.
This was well on its way to being a 3-star reading experience until the last 100 pages, wherein
I was quite surprised by the ending - and that's ok. I'm all right with how he landed the plane. In a genre where it's hard to stick a good landing, I've read books and watched films with much worse, less satisfying endings than this.
This is my 1st Nick Cutter book. I understand the book that caused him to blow up was The Troop - and I've seen a lot of people who loved The Troop say that they didn't care for The Deep, and I too would still like to read The Troop.
To be clear, because star ratings seem to mean different things to different people, my two-star rating doesn't mean I think it's a bad book - I'd say it's just "okay". I was entertained to an extent, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend it. Call it a "meh" rating if you will. YMMV.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Grief
Minor: Emotional abuse, Incest, Pandemic/Epidemic
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
so this is a weird one… i can’t say i outright disliked it but i don’t think it reached its potential at all. the concepts were there, the execution was lacking. which is strange because there was… so much going on. i think it was disjointed, is the main problem. there are a lot of novels similar to this that i adore, but they have more cohesive writing and themes that tie into the plot better.
scary, yes. it took me a minute to get through the descent. this was described as the thing in an underwater research base and it was kind of that, but it didn’t really capitalize on the social horror aspects enough for me personally. also, i didn’t mind the narration style in the troop, but some parts of the deep were just not fun to read because of how they were written. this book has so much onomatopoeia. the brothers used the terms ‘brother of mine’ and ‘brother dear’ so much, an editor should have stepped in. i’m sorry for roasting mr. cutter, but i was pretty surprised after going from the troop to the deep.
scary, yes. it took me a minute to get through the descent. this was described as the thing in an underwater research base and it was kind of that, but it didn’t really capitalize on the social horror aspects enough for me personally. also, i didn’t mind the narration style in the troop, but some parts of the deep were just not fun to read because of how they were written. this book has so much onomatopoeia. the brothers used the terms ‘brother of mine’ and ‘brother dear’ so much, an editor should have stepped in. i’m sorry for roasting mr. cutter, but i was pretty surprised after going from the troop to the deep.
i love horror based in the deep sea, and after reading the troop i was really excited to get to this. i did find it fairly mid. there was some imagery i enjoyed a lot, like the first icky thing we see of the guy retrieved from the station (gave “big soft jelly thing”) and maybe some of the bee stuff, but 1. the characters were annoying, i just did not like the main guys inner monologue, 2. it honestly wasn’t deep sea enough, and 3. i know cutter loves to torture animals in his books but did he have to build up the dog as such a sweet lovely character in this first. like fuck u man LMAO
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
I have wanted to read this book for years but my overwhelming thalassophobia prevented me from doing so. I finally tackled this fear and thoroughly enjoyed this creepy book, which is perfect for Halloween. Here are my thoughts:
Review of The Deep
What I liked:
- atmosphere - made me feel trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Had multiple instances where I had to set the book down and walk away because I could feel the start of a panic attack.
- Suspense: every chapter is so short and action packed. You jump to the next one with little to no fluff and you can feel the tension build inside your chest. The author is great at formatting a horror book.
- There is a pandemic going on that causes people to forget themselves. The MC is slowly seeing creepy and unexplainable things. Is our main character getting sick? Is he actually going mad? Is he actually seeing what he is seeing?
- Made me fall in love with a dog
What I didn’t like
- made me fall in love with a dog - though this chapter was probably the best written in the book IMO.
- For a horror novel about the bottom of the ocean, very little was about the bottom of the ocean. It was more about a descent into madness with an unreliable narrator (which is very cool and has its place but not when you’ve marketed a book about being about the bottom of the ocean).
- More about the ocean - the body horror with the bees?? Of all the creatures that you could have picked. Unsure if this is suppose to be something from revelations or not (which could tie into the idea the author presented that the monsters were beings that god had sent to the bottom of the ocean).
- The main characters kept splitting up and it was like ??? That is so unbelievable in this scenario and it’s so frustrating. It’s a common horror trope but it’s exhausted and I wish authors didn’t use it as much as they did.
- The goal of the mission was to grab ambrosia, a substance at the bottom of the ocean. This substances will cure the pandemic. However, the author planted a seed of doubt about it from the very beginning . If that’s the case, why are they going down? The author should have committed to it being the miracle cure and that it would change the world to make the stakes of going to the bottom of the ocean more justifiable. Felt like this wasn’t utilized enough.
- There was no character arcs. No one wins in any way or even attempts to get to their arc.
- You want me to believe that our main character went 8 miles under the ocean for a brother who he has said multiple times he didn’t love, was a monster, never met his wife and child, never reached out when his son died, etc. Huge sticking point for me that made everything unbelievable. When he finally acknowledges his brother is awful, it was almost comical. Like THAT’S what finally made you see him for a monster.
- Made the mom morbidly and disgusting obese - this had nothing to do with the story, simple body horror that is already played out enough in horror books
- Made mother molest children explicitly - this had nothing to further the plot other than shock factor. Already insinuated it was happening. There was no need to write a chapter about jt.
- The tickle box - really? What was this?
- Dr Toy’s death was unbelievable and pulled me out of the book.
- Al’s death was rush and it was not a satisfying conclusion. She deserved a more descriptive chapter of how she went. Her death was used to torment Lucas and felt almost not even about her.
- Either give me a well written, creepy and descriptive monster or shut the fuck up. Be lovecraftian about it. Give me a horror beyond human comprehension. Or don’t and let my imagination take the reins. The “monster” he gave was lame and such a let down.
Review of The Deep
What I liked:
- atmosphere - made me feel trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Had multiple instances where I had to set the book down and walk away because I could feel the start of a panic attack.
- Suspense: every chapter is so short and action packed. You jump to the next one with little to no fluff and you can feel the tension build inside your chest. The author is great at formatting a horror book.
- There is a pandemic going on that causes people to forget themselves. The MC is slowly seeing creepy and unexplainable things. Is our main character getting sick? Is he actually going mad? Is he actually seeing what he is seeing?
- Made me fall in love with a dog
What I didn’t like
- made me fall in love with a dog - though this chapter was probably the best written in the book IMO.
- For a horror novel about the bottom of the ocean, very little was about the bottom of the ocean. It was more about a descent into madness with an unreliable narrator (which is very cool and has its place but not when you’ve marketed a book about being about the bottom of the ocean).
- More about the ocean - the body horror with the bees?? Of all the creatures that you could have picked. Unsure if this is suppose to be something from revelations or not (which could tie into the idea the author presented that the monsters were beings that god had sent to the bottom of the ocean).
- The main characters kept splitting up and it was like ??? That is so unbelievable in this scenario and it’s so frustrating. It’s a common horror trope but it’s exhausted and I wish authors didn’t use it as much as they did.
- The goal of the mission was to grab ambrosia, a substance at the bottom of the ocean. This substances will cure the pandemic. However, the author planted a seed of doubt about it from the very beginning . If that’s the case, why are they going down? The author should have committed to it being the miracle cure and that it would change the world to make the stakes of going to the bottom of the ocean more justifiable. Felt like this wasn’t utilized enough.
- There was no character arcs. No one wins in any way or even attempts to get to their arc.
- You want me to believe that our main character went 8 miles under the ocean for a brother who he has said multiple times he didn’t love, was a monster, never met his wife and child, never reached out when his son died, etc. Huge sticking point for me that made everything unbelievable. When he finally acknowledges his brother is awful, it was almost comical. Like THAT’S what finally made you see him for a monster.
- Made the mom morbidly and disgusting obese - this had nothing to do with the story, simple body horror that is already played out enough in horror books
- Made mother molest children explicitly - this had nothing to further the plot other than shock factor. Already insinuated it was happening. There was no need to write a chapter about jt.
- The tickle box - really? What was this?
- Dr Toy’s death was unbelievable and pulled me out of the book.
- Al’s death was rush and it was not a satisfying conclusion. She deserved a more descriptive chapter of how she went. Her death was used to torment Lucas and felt almost not even about her.
- Either give me a well written, creepy and descriptive monster or shut the fuck up. Be lovecraftian about it. Give me a horror beyond human comprehension. Or don’t and let my imagination take the reins. The “monster” he gave was lame and such a let down.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved the horror and suspense elements of it, really enjoyed the body horror and how atmospheric everything was. Genuinely a terrifying read. Wish the ending was slightly less vague but was overall satisfying. But the deepest point in the ocean is less than 7 miles, having the station at 8 miles below the surface was an oversight lol
medium-paced
dark
slow-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
dark
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes