Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Deep

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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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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smolhandsdan's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

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kellyjellyjam's review against another edition

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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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sierrabowers's review against another edition

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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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belacqua's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.25

Promising start. Disappointing finish. I agree with many who said this should've been 50-75 pages shorter. I was expecting the deep ocean setting to rear its ugly maw and make its presence felt more but you could've switched out the setting with a cave most of the time and got the same results. More claustrophobic than thalassophobic you know? The initial premise of a weird disease culling the human (and bee) population is just discarded entirely by the end and Alice as a character feels totally perfunctory aside from her sub piloting skills. And don't expect any levity because this book is BLEAK but that's Nick Cutter for you.

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unlivinh's review against another edition

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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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thebigemmt505's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

“It’s as strong as it needs to be. It exists- it, and everything in it- at the benevolence of something far greater and more terrible than itself.”

The Deep is a a book that encapsulates the horror and mystery of the deep blue sea. We follow Luke, a veterinarian with a troubled past, as he’s called to see his brother in a base built at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

I really, really loved the atmosphere in this book. It’s consistently eerie and unforgivingly grimy and gory, which, is not for everyone. I’m personally a fan of the body horror in this book as it served a purpose to the main plot, (it showed how disgusting and powerful the ambrosia is). It was not meant to be just for shock value. The world building was really unique. I loved the description of a semi-post apocalyptic world, with a population whose collective head is barely above water against an incurable illness. Everything in The Deep kills slowly; everything is driven to madness then stamped to a pulp. The descriptions are written well and the tension is sustained well throughout the book. We feel the pressure build with those eight miles of water above. There were parts that meandered, and certain flashbacks that felt unnecessary, but overall the pacing was fine. I liked Luke as a character; he was be no means extremely profound or deeply relatable, but likeable and easy to root for. He was perfect for this plot. The plot, speaking of, is really want drew me back to this book over and over. I absolutely love horror that tackles themes of trauma and this struck a great balance for me… well… until… the end.

I was planning to give this four stars until the last part. Admittedly, the full last 50-75 pages or so I found to be a bit messy, but not so bad it impacted my enjoyment. It felt as though it couldn’t wrap up all of its themes, drive them home, so they were left scattered in a pile of gore at the bottom of the Trieste

like everyone else in this book.

The last part of this book, The Fig Men, was so, so bad. It read like a shitty villain speech, dumping unnecessary and cliché exposition to wrap up all of the parts of this story that were best left to the imagination.

I mean come on man, two alien creatures calling the character my child, ancient beings that control parts of the human experience, oOoOoOohhhhh we want to be fReE, fReE so Luke accept our GIIFFTT, everything just…

… listen I finished this book moments ago so my thoughts aren’t fully collected, but GOD that really pulled down the rating for me. I legitimately thought that whole section would be revealed as a dream, or at least a mix of dream and Luke’s mind succumbing to grief and madness. When it wasn’t, I let out such a disappointed sigh, my first breath at the surface of this ocean and I was so annoyed I couldn’t even inhale. After reading other reviews, it seems I’m not alone in that thought, at the very least.

Anyways, ending aside, I want to offer my opinion on a part of the book that is quite divisive. There’s lots of talk about the gore in this novel too, notably,

the death of LB. Usually, I would have a huge issue with this, not even because of the concept, but because dogs are so often killed off unnecessarily in horror stories purely to shock the viewer. In the case though, I can actually make a pass. LB’s death scene was written with so much care and emotion, much more so than the human deaths. It was gross, it was awful, I did shed tears, but Luke’s love for that creature was evident. I hated her death but I ended up really liking the scene. In addition, everyone else died too, so her death felt less like a sacrifice to the plot and more like a part of it.

That’s just my take, though. It was still upsetting to read.

I want to recommend this book, especially if you love aquatic horror but god the ending… you choose on this one. Maybe you’ll love it. The read was still worth it for me, but boy am I let down. Oh well! I would still recommend it more than Our Wives Under The Sea.

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