The Deep

Made me feel slumpy. Would have loved to get to the horror parts but did not enjoy it enough to keep going. Much more sci-fi than I had expected 

A really well written and enjoyable sci-fi like horror. I loved the stories on the disease in the world, the monster in the deep and the well done gore. But most of all I loved that I was never like LUKE WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! he always did things that I thought were either smart, or were human and understandable. This is currently my favorite horror book, and would probably be my favorite horror movie if you can handle animal cruelty , body horror and an evil mum you should read this ! 

Last year I read The Troop and it was gross. This was gross AND a bummer. Thanks, Nick Cutter!

A good scary read though the ending leaves a lot to be desired. Some parts had me feeling very claustrophobic. Good for those who enjoy these movies: The Thing, Alien, Titane. 

read for the tarot readathon 2023: king of swords

okay this book did not take use of the setting and this genuinely could have been in space or any another isolated setting which defeats the point. the ending was stupid. i enjoyed the exploration of trauma but it was trying to do that, be paranormal, have a plague, and be under the ocean. something was going to be underdeveloped and it was almost every aspect.

Overall I would say this was a good book, though the details are sometimes graphic they are written very well. It starts out super interesting pulling you in, unsure what is real and what is possibly the characters mind cracking. However once it gets to the end a lot of that great build up feels a bit anticlimactic, and over all disappointing. Really like his writing but this one just wasn't what I was expecting.

This book was not written for me, but that is not to say that it is a bad book. In fact, I really enjoyed Cutter's writing style. The descriptions in this book were beautiful and creepy at the same time, and really helped with my immersion in the story. However, I will say that I found some of the descriptions to be overly gory; but that could just be because I don't read a lot of horror and this might not have been the best intro to the genre. I also just really did not enjoy the overall plot of this book as much as I thought I would. I found it very confusing and I feel like the ending of the story left me with more questions than answers, but I also kind of feel like that's the point. Overall, I just don't think this book was for me but I don't think it's a bad book either. I'm sure it would be very enjoyable for people who have read more horror than me and really enjoy that genre.

I really enjoyied [b:The Troop 17571466 The Troop Nick Cutter https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397768496l/17571466.SY75.jpg 24510359]—I gave it five stars—and I remember picking that one up because of the praise it received and how many of my fave booktubers said it was super disturbing. Well, I don't remember too many specifics about The Troop (my memory's fault, not the book's), but I do recall thinking it was awesome and gross, but not super disturbing per se. Well, The Deep was certainly disturbing. But, I understand why The Troop is the Nick Cutter book people talk about most, because while The Deep does what it says on the tin in terms of the horror, it's got its problems. • An overuse of onomatopoeia to the point of distraction.• The story touches on a lot of serious, uncomfortable topics, and they certainly gave me the ick but for the most part, these serve the story and felt intentional. However, there was some fatphobia that didn't quite feel necessary or serve the story that I could have done without. It was very like "Ooh, she got fat, gross! We know she's gonna be a baddie!"• The general dialogue was fine, but when it came to banter, it felt a bit forced and unintentionally cringe, particularly between the main character and his brother. • The ‘Gets, the worldwide pandemic that instigates the whole narrative, was super interesting but is largely forgotten once we get to the underwater lab in the Challenger Deep. It was such an interesting concept that it would have been great to see it have more impact to the story rather than being a throwaway plot device. These things brought it down to a 4-star read for me, but none of them derailed the story. It's a real wild ride and intensely unsettling; exactly what I want from a horror book. Nick Cutter excels in describing horrifying, uncomfortable, and balls-to-the-wall cuckoo-bananas situations. His descriptions of the characters' psychological trauma as they grapple with desperate situations are so intense and unnerving; I often found myself wanting to put the book down to give myself a break but also being absolutely unable to tear my eyes from the page. There was one claustrophobic sequence in particular where Cutter describes the main characters crawling through an access tunnel that gets narrower and narrower with no guarantee that they'll be able to get out at the other end. Ooof, my skin was crawling, my heart was racing, and I almost threw the book across the room in vicarious panic. And frankly, that's some chef's-kiss horror writing if you ask me. I can't wait to read more Nick Cutter, cuz I know it'll be a grand creep-fest that does exactly what it says on the tin. However, I will say that I'd love to see a bit more character diversity, particularly more women.Worth checking the trigger warnings before reading if you have triggers. Definitely do not read if bad things happening to animals in your reading is a dealbreaker.

2.5 - It was great until the whole book collapsed in on itself in my very hands. Great sections of body horror/ creature feature.

Although this book keeps dragging on for quite some time toward the end, and the deus ex machina ending will most likely feel contrived; I would recommended reading it just because of the excellent portrayal of claustrophobic horror by this book. If you can look past the somewhat lackluster climax, it's honestly quite a well written atmospheric horror novel. It has a very similar vibe to Michael Crichton's Sphere. 3.5 ⭐ rounded off.

This book was so perfect up until the final 50-70 pages where it truly lost everything. The ending was such a copout, especially in comparison to the incredible ending of his incredible book The Troop. I still gave it a four because it truly traumatized me the rest of the book, but I wish the ending could have tied all of the elements together in a meaningful and equally horrifying way rather than petering out.

I didn't quite enjoy this one. It was fairly fast paced, I liked the setting being stuck in an underwater station/lab. I didn't connect with the characters and the type of scares weren't my cup of tea.

I enjoyed The Troop by Nick Cutter so I'd read more of his work, however this one just didn't quite hit the spot for me.

A poorly paced and contrived deep sea horror novel which never really gets its footing. The body horror hits you over the head and is never really all that scary.

This is what people should mean when they say “Lovecraftian Horror'. It's not about being part of the mythos, it's about feeling afraid of the unknown and unexplained in a universe that doesn't care.

Fell very short of what I had hoped from this book. Wish it would have touched on the Disease (the Gets) more than it did, and wished that a lot of filler was taken out.

Yes, yes, it's like an underwater ‘Event Horizon,' a movie that many find dubious in quality anyway (but I sort of like it, anyway). That doesn't mean this novel doesn't have it's merits. It does, it certainly does. It is disturbing, disgusting, and creepy. And the dog, man. That'll get me every time. There is animal body horror, human body horror, supernatural horror. Plus the fun and joy of mad science and the deeeeeeeep see setting adding an air of suffocation and disturbance. So, sure, it isn't what one could call great literature. But it is fun, and it was even scary. It was decent horror. And I love bleak endings, so I declare myself well pleased. I just wish the origin of the villain wasn't so vague. But that's just me.

My main complaint? The horrid, creepy mom was fat-shaming. People already have enough issues with people of size, that having another evil creature like Bethany sits ill with me. I realize it adds to her character, but it shouldn't be assumed that the fat character IS creepy or vile. That character is treading a VERY fine line.

But the rest of it is good fun.