Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Deep by Nick Cutter

49 reviews

marthadude's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, 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.

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 

---

Content Warnings

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

berninator94's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

**TW: animal cruelty**

This was an anxiety attack in a book, and I couldn't be happier. I loved the crazy tense atmosphere, the seriously visceral gore, and the absolute fear for the characters' lives.
 It was intense, and I was never bored. I guess for some, the first half of the book might be a little slow, but it is a wild ride, and if you love John Carpenter's The Thing or Stephen King in general, you will adore this novel.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

szyca's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

g_xandra's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

Vivid descriptions, Cutter’s style is easy to follow but not for the faint of heart. If you enjoy horror with body horror and crippling claustrophobia, you might enjoy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

lollypopzoo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault

dezaraemd's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

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

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

papercrowns's review

challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed The Troop—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. 😬

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual assault and Death of parent

grave_liminal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

lithoerary_atria's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

the troop by nick cutter was one of absolute favourites this year and truly the mastery over body horror this guy has makes me wanna study his brain. and that thing persists here too!! that being said i didn't like this one as much i hoped to do.

lemme break it down for ya:

parts 1, 2 & 3? utterly boring and mind-numbing and the whole writing down the sounds made didn't help. also i DIDN'T appreciate the numerous flashbacks that went on for pages. they could've been done away with. 

parts 4 & 5? HELL YEAH, that's my stuff!! horrors beyond human comprehension & feeling helpless? fuck yes!! the writing was still meh tho especially with those internal voices inside luke's mind. it was silly & brought you out of the story lol.

part 6? i- we don't speak about it lol.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent