Posts Tagged: The Deep

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Review: The Deep by Nick Cutter

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I received this book for free from Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: The Deep by Nick CutterThe Deep by Nick Cutter
Published by Gallery Books on January 13, 2015
Genres: Adult, Horror
Source: Gallery Books
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four-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.

And here I thought I knew what real horror was about… man, this book sure put me in my place, because it took “scary” to the extremes and put “mindfuck” right alongside it for good measure. A bit of warning, folks: this book is not for the faint of heart. Believe what the rest of the people are saying: when they say this book is horror, they fucking mean it.

To be honest, I don’t really know how to review this book other than to say it scared the shit out of me – psychologically, mentally, and emotionally. This is not the kind of horror in which a boogeyman with the physical attributes of a slenderman will suddenly pop out of the shadowy trees, or the kind in which you anticipate a bloody phantom to appear in the mirror at midnight. It’s actually that kind of horror that crawls into your brain ever so slowly and messes up with it big time. It’s the kind in which you know nothing is there, but you’re afraid all the same because nothing is there but it’s there at the same time; the kind in which it forces you to go back to the horrors of your past and relive it while at the same time facing the unknown. Do you dig what I’m saying? Are you pissing your pants yet?!

I’ve always believed in the supernatural, that there are planes different from our own that are full of their own mysteries. Because of this, I’ve had friends and families tell me often to “not fear the unknown, and fear the living instead”. This book is out there to prove them wrong (as well as my state as soon as I finished this book) because while this book did not lack when it comes to making you afraid of physical things (bees, anyone? Tentacles? Enclosed spaces surrounded by eight miles of mother-Pacific-fucking ocean pressure?), it were the things that the the main character, Luke, didn’t see, and saw at the same time, that drove my sanity out the window.

And dude, I love the concept of aliens. Aliens are our family in the cosmos. But this book sure made me want to stay the fuck away from them, as much as possible (perhaps 1000 light years away would suffice).

All in all? HORROR FANS, THIS IS THE KIND OF BOOK YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO MISS, EVER. Prepare for a mindfuckery like never before. As for the rest, this ain’t for the best of heart. If you don’t like Stephen King-esque kind of writing, it may not work for you. But I truly recommend to try it out still. Who knows, you may find yourselves actually liking the horrors within… Consider it a challenge, from me. OVERCOME YOUR FEARS, MY BRETHREN!!!

four-stars

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