The Deep

by Nick Cutter

Afraid of the dark? You should be ... Part horror, part psychological nightmare, The Deep by Nick Cutter is a novel fans of Stephen King and Clive Barker won't want to miss.

A plague is destroying the world's population. The 'Gets makes people forget. First it's the small things, like where you left your keys ... then the not-so-small things, like how to drive. And finally your body forgets how to live.

But now an unknown substance with extraordinary power to heal has been discovered in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Nicknamed ambrosia, it might just be the miracle cure the world has been praying for.

A research lab has been established eight miles below the sea's surface, but all contact with the team has been lost. Dr Luke Nelson's brother is down there and as desperation for a cure outweighs common sense, he agrees to descend through the lightless fathoms ... perhaps to face an evil blacker than anything he could have imagined.

• ISBN10: 1472206258
• ISBN13: 9781472206251
• Publish Date: 13 January 2015 (first published 22 December 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 1 March 2017
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[HekArtemis]

I don't know how to rate this one. It had my anxiety levels at their highest, but that's because I have big issues with stories that focus so deeply on people's ability to trust their own minds. Even more than religious fanaticism.

I think maybe if this book was less focussed on psych horror I would have enjoyed the supernatural horror more, not to mention the claustrophobia and general under the ocean horror of the story. I think it was pretty Lovecraftian/cosmic and I am into that kind of horror. But the psych aspect overpowered the story and to be honest I hated every moment of reading it.

So I think it must be a good book and story, but I hated it and hated the act of reading it. How can I rate it?
Given it a night and I am just going to rate it a 1.5 stars, purely based on enjoyment. Of which there was none.

Reminded me of an underwater version of the movies: sunshine, pandorum, event horizon, and solaris. I think it's those movies anyway.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Five reasons to leave the lights on a listen to The Deep

• Nick Cutter has one heck of a twisted imagination and his ability to express the complexities of his character's emotions, and fears makes his horror story part psychological thriller. Combined with Corey Brill narration The Deep will make you squirm even as you continue to listen because you are driven by this need to know.


• The premise is intriguing; with a science- fiction twist but do not be fooled this is pure horror. A disease known as the ‘Gets is destroying humanity one victim at a time. Scientists are racing for a cure and far below the ocean’s depth; they think they may have discovered a cure in an organism known as ambrosia. They have developed a lab eight miles below the surface and first reports from the lab showed promise, but now they have lost contact. Cutter takes us along with his protagonist into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.


• Cutter gives us a tale that touches on some of our worst fears claustrophobia, isolation, and paranoia, and he does this brilliantly. Luke Ronnick is our protagonist, and Cutter does an excellent job of fleshing him out as we descend into the depths with him. He is very much an unreliable narrator, which notched up the fear factor in this mind f@ck of a tale.


• If you love old school horror wrapped in twisted mind games with gory squishy things that crawl in the dark and into the corners of your mind, you are in for a thrill! Have you ever read or watched a show about experiments conducts where the participants have no idea of time and are locked in and cut of from the rest of society? It had that sort of vibe, except we are eight miles below the surface in a bubble surrounded by darkness…oh yeah. If Jaws didn't keep you out of the water...The Deep will!


• You have books like Misery, The Shining, The Abyss and The Thing sitting on your bookshelf or love the movie adaptions. The Troop made you squirm but you could not stop reading. The Deep is darker and more twisted and like the Troop, you will read on even as you want to stop.

Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Lianne]

I received an ARC from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2014/11/18/review-the-deep/

The Deep really grabs the reader from the beginning. The ‘Gets is a really creepy condition...and that’s just the beginning for this novel…The further you go in the story, the stranger the novel gets. I thought it was very interesting and compelling how the author uses the character’s memories and weaves it into the more tense moments in the story, adding to the psychological elements of the horror. The setting also provides a claustrophobic feeling to the story, which again adds to the creeping horror and suspense.

Luke Nelson is an interesting character, and is simply the perfect character to follow as we step into this strange story. He’s immediately likeable, relatable, and it’s clear from the first few chapters that he is a character with a lot of emotional baggage and history on him. The situation around him, down in Trieste, aggravates his guilt and his regrets, pushing them to the max, that it’s just maddening. Other characters were also interesting and added to story and the situation unravelling.

I admit, the final third of the novel was a bit of a jump; the revelation of what was really going on/what those things that Clay and his team were examining seemed a little too out there, but in the context of the story and everything that had been laid out earlier in the novel, it made sense. So maybe it might’ve just been whatever mood I was in when I finished reading the novel.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Deep, it was quite a difficult book to put down after a while!