Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Deep by Nick Cutter

48 reviews

rikathestrange's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

kellyjellyjam's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

moondweller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

sierrabowers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I liked this author’s writing and the first 100 pages were great. I read some other reviews before leaving mine because a lot of them resonated with how I feel. After the first 100 pages, I was wondering where this was going to go. I really hoped that it would all come together but the ending reminded me of the horrible ending to the show ‘The 100’. I thought this was a horror novel… not science fiction… so I was very disappointed. As I other people have said. The last 100 pages were very unnecessary. Could have left it to the reader’s imagination and I would have liked the book. I honestly don’t know if I’ll read another Nick Cutter book because this one really put me off. It had so much potential but it was wasted which made me frustrated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

unlivinh's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book did a phenomenal job of instilling a sense of dread in the reader. I didn’t think it was possible for a book to make me feel claustrophobic, but The Deep did so. It was a great read and has a lot of potential for a reread. My only gripe is that female characters were not fully developed and did not get the same complexity and writing quality as the male characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Body horror

Moderate: Fatphobia and Terminal illness

Minor: Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

the incest/child sexual abuse comes from a scene towards the end of the book when one of the characters remembers their mother’s abuse towards them. It is not explicit nor is it penetrative sex, the character’s mother forces him to hug her while she’s naked, and it is implied that she knows it makes him uncomfortable.

rknitss's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Check your content warnings for this one, it's a rough one.

I want to start by saying the audiobook quality is excellent. The narrator did an excellent job of distinguishing characters from the narration and each other. The production was great and he was pleasant to listen to if nothing else.

Now the rating.
I'm not into audiobooks which made this an even more difficult go. Besides that I just wasn't scared. Grossed out, irritated, confused and upset but never creeped out or afraid. 
This is my second attempt at a Nick Cutter book and like the first, this just doesn't pass the vibe check. Don't mistake me, the writing isn't bad and the man can set a mood and a scene but the overtly sexual way he chooses to describe things (soooo many comparisons to orgasms and early sexual experiences) doesn't suit me to the point that I couldn't justify the .25 of a star to make this a three.

That plus the parental abuse... Yeah. Wasn't for me.

I suspect that if you've liked other Nick Cutter books you would really enjoy this. Like I said, he can really describe things. If you just want a sort of sci-fi horror though, I can't recommend this as a particularly good example of one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest

wonkyfrogg's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

readerfromtheblacklagoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Excrement, Medical content, and Dementia

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

TW: Extreme animal cruelty, suffering and death 
TW: Child abuse 

The Deep really had promise. I enjoyed the general concept along with the claustrophobic atmosphere and unnerving events. I loved the eeriness of the setting and I can’t think of many other books that have had such a unique narrative. I found myself rooting for certain characters and despising others, so I also cannot fault Cutter for his ability to write complex and interesting characters. Unfortunately, there were just a few, not so small, aspects of The Deep that significantly lowered my overall enjoyment of the book. 

Firstly, I found myself extremely disappointed with the ending. The suspense, build up and the first three quarters of the book had such promise, I was enthralled by the story and was desperate to find out how it concluded. However, I personally felt the ending bordered on laughable. Without including spoilers, I cannot fully explain my reasoning, however, the explanations given for certain events really fell flat for me. 

However, the primary reason for my reduced star rating and what mostly quashed my enjoyment of The Deep was the unnecessarily graphic and incessant animal cruelty and suffering. I am painfully aware that The Deep is not alone in this graphic use of animals for nothing more than an easy shock factor, however, Cutter in-particular takes this to a distressing level, and not in a good way. This theme occurred so often that I took it upon myself to create a list of page numbers to avoid for readers who, like myself, are particularly sensitive to this sort of content but are still interested in reading this novel. 

Please see below but beware of minor spoilers: 

Key: 
💚 Mentioned in passing and/or not overly upsetting 
💛 Suffering/death described with more detail, somewhat upsetting 
🧡 Detailed description of suffering/death, overtly upsetting
❤️ Extremely detailed description with very upsetting and disturbing content 

Page 31-34 🧡
Mouse experimentation, suffering & death 
Detailed & upsetting 

Page 44-46 💛 
Mouse experimentation & minor suffering 

Page 127 💚
Insect death 

Page 145 
Bee death 💛
Lizard death 💚 

Page 168-172 🧡
Guinea pig experimentation
Guinea pig suffering & harm 

Page 179-181 🧡
Guinea pig experimentation, suffering & death 

Page 223 💛
Raccoon suffering & death 

Page 243 💛
Squirrel corpse description 

Page 248-249 & 251 💚 
Mention of bee deaths 

Page 254 💛
Bee killed 

Page 260-261 💛
Bee deaths 

Page 262-264 & 266 🧡
Bee suffering & death 

Page 315-316 🧡
Dog injury & cruelty 

Page 322 🧡
Guinea pig cruelty & death 

Page 336 💛
Detailed description of using maggots as fishing bait 

Page 341-350 ❤️ 
Dog cruelty & experimentation 
Dog on dog injury & suffering 
Detailed description of the pain and sadness of euthanising stray dogs 
Long and detailed description of a very upsetting and graphic dog death with suffering and extremely emotional descriptions 
DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE AN ANIMAL LOVER: this destroyed me. 

Page 353 & 356 💛
Bee death 

Page 375 🧡 
Description of dead dog & suffering 

In conclusion, The Deep was by no means a bad read, and there were many things that I really liked about the story and the writing, but it certainly isn’t without its pitfalls. I advise proceeding with caution if animal cruelty/suffering and themes of child abuse are particularly triggering for you, but I also wouldn’t entirely steer others away from giving The Deep a chance, especially if you are an avid horror fan and love creepy and claustrophobic settings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

greylangford's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book absolutely ruined me. I feel like I need to take out my brain and give it a scrub in a bleach bath. I absolutely loved it beginning to end. At no point did I have any idea where the plot was going but Nick Cutter never disappoints. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual assault