Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Deep

Heavy on the body horror in the best way ever, and I would highly recommend this novel if that's your bread and butter. Exceptionally written. The descriptions here were masterful and the flashbacks felt like viewing the characters' trauma through a thick marmalade. I personally prefer a bit more of a psychological thriller--that is to say, tons of twists and a more comprehensible horror that makes me afraid to sleep without a night light--but this one is very Lovecraft-esque and blanketed in an otherworldly, primal fear that will haunt me in a much different sense.

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bananavana's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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midnightcomets's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I truly love reading fucked up horror books. This would have been even better if there weren't random "written by a man" comments and casual fatphobia, as well as if the plague aspect was explored a bit more, but it still creeped me out multiple times and I found the way the plot twisted and progressed very cleverly built. I predicted a few things but some others came as a total surprise.

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leashleash's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.25

Reading this book felt like you were on the Trieste, however the ending was beautiful. You may need a therapy session after finishing this book.

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my_ducks_read_books's review against another edition

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DNFed at 42%.
My husband and I were listening to the audiobook on a roadtrip and it kept us awake for about for a good amount of time.

The good: The author is very good at making you feel grossed out or horrified with the main character as situations happen or are revealed in a flashback or dream. Pretty immersive in that regard.

The bad: The book really drags on and on. At one point I dosed off and then asked my husband what I missed and he said “not much, just more weird animal cruelty”. Which was another thing that I didn’t care for, so much animal cruelty.
Then a Labrador retriever is introduced as a character I looked up whether the dog dies and the general consensus on what happens to the dog is described as “overly horrific”. That sealed the deal for me and I did not finish the book. Personally I think when any author kills off the dog it’s just a cheap shot at people’s emotions. Lazy writing imo. But that’s just me, maybe other people will still enjoy the book :)

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