Friday, May 8, 2015

Lauren Reviews The Deep by Nick Cutter

Title: The Deep
Author: Nick Cutter
PublishedJanuary 2015 by Gallery Books
Acquired: Purchased ebook from Amazon
Rating: 5+ Stars

From the acclaimed author of The Troop—which Stephen King raved “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down.…old-school horror at its best”—comes this utterly terrifying novel where The Abyss meets The Shining.

A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered—a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and it’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine. 

This book reminded me of the movie Sphere with Dustin Hoffman, except this book actually was terrifying. I couldn't tell if things were real or not, and if/when I did.. it was too late for the character. I was sucked into the mind of the narrator and his worst nightmares (some of which were real turned out to be real) come to life and just scare the hell out of you. The world-building aspect of this novel was on par for me. Not too much detail, not too little. We get a sneak peek of the world slowly being consumed by the 'Gets, which was terrifying in itself, but we also got to go eight miles under the sea to cramped labs and living quarters. 

As for the scare factor... an example, (and I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler), but millipedes. MILLIPEDES. They freaked the narrator out his whole life and then he would imagine them (or were they real?) and the detail of them... the scratching noises their legs make, the squishy noise of their bodies sliding and curving to push forward. The imagery Nick Cutter created seriously made my skin crawl.

Besides the scare factor and world-building, the plot kept me fixated completely. I was rooting for the narrator the entire time and there never was a dull moment. The narrator honestly want to help his brother, who would in turn help the world by curing the 'Gets. But still.. the creep factor is what held this novel together for me. 

I mostly read at night in bed and I literally got up a few times and flipped my sheets up because my legs itched. I really enjoyed this book, but I'll be honest and tell you now it was a complete mind-bender. I'm still waiting for nightmares from reading this. I'm sure it'll happen soon enough and I'll update you all with the juicy details!

1 comment:

  1. LOVED this book. Nick Cutter has become one of my favorite horror novelists because he gets the creep factor. This one definitely gave me nightmares, and the chill associated with reading it hasn't quite gone away even months after finishing it!

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