The Deep

By: Nick Cutter

Narrated by: Corey Brill

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Part horror, part psychological nightmare, The Deep is a novel that fans of Stephen King and Clive Barker won't want to miss - especially if you're afraid of the dark.

©2015 Craig Davidson. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Too much personal baggage but interesting plot

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Too much personal baggage belonging to the main character was over-the-top and a time waster. For example, why spend 20 minutes talking about the history behind the toy chest.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I would have liked to have seen a resolution to the main problem at hand.

What about Corey Brill’s performance did you like?

Corey Brill's performance was quite good

Was The Deep worth the listening time?

No.

Any additional comments?

The story would have been enjoyable with about 70% of the unnecessary commentary removed.

A bit too long and doesn’t respect the readers time.

You know that part in a horror movie or story where a character is very clearly dreaming, they just haven’t caught up to the audience yet ? This audiobook is 10 hours of that. The main character slips so effortlessly in and out of dreams and flashbacks that by the end the stakes meant nothing.
All the while this could be exactly what the story was going for and it just worked too well on me, leaving me as exhausted as the main character. This would have been kind of a fun twist but a condescending speech at the end really feels like the author telling the audience how to feel, taking away the fun of going through the journey of the story. Also just a nitpick but there is a character extremely well suited to endure the psychological torment of an undersea horror, but the strongest willed character is the slightly religious veterinarian main character. Felt a little lazy but again, a nitpick.
All that said the performance is outstanding and for as little stakes as dreams and visions have, they are well written and imaginative. So much so that I wished multiple times the author would write a story as the main character of The Deep, because the most interesting parts of The Deep, occur in that characters mind.

Gore got more and more outlandish

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The ending.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Get back to Stephen King, Dean Koontz or somebody else who knows how to write horror that is not just gore.

What does Corey Brill bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The most positive part about the book was the performance.

Did The Deep inspire you to do anything?

Avoid this author.

Any additional comments?

Seems like the author just wanted to make each scene more repulsive than the last. Only finished it hoping for something of interest which never happened.

Plague takes a back seat

If you could sum up The Deep in three words, what would they be?

Not about plague.

If you’ve listened to books by Nick Cutter before, how does this one compare?

I thought his other book "The Troop" was better than this one. I liked the book until about 3/4 of the way through. The last part seemed to be lacking.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the characters were down in the Challenger Deep, cut off from the world and having to figure things out by themselves.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did. Then towards the end, I started not liking where it was going.

Any additional comments?

This was a great book until the last few chapters. I wasn't really keen on how it ended or where it ended up going. I had hoped for more of the plague angle to be explored.

overall good body horror

its a mix of the shining, the sphere, and cronenberg horror. The tension is high and claustrophobic. You know whats coming, but its enjoyable if you're not squeamish.

A bit disturbing

Overall I liked the book. I would not say I loved it. Just a little heads up - if you are upset by animal cruelty or mutilation you might want to skip this book. I was reading the review on The Troop since it was recommended by Stephen King and apparently it is a trend in his books because another review had left a similar heads up like I have. One spot I felt really pushed the envelop with it and I almost put the book away but I was close to an hour from finishing it so I hit the 30 second skips till the section passed.
I really feel like this was similar to the movie Event Horizon except under water. Most of the book I really enjoyed the storyline but was disappointed but the lovecraft crossover ending. I kind of felt disappointed.

Nick needs a fact checker.

Good book overall, The Thing meets The Abyss. Multiple glaring factual errors in the text, however.

Finally.

This is my first novel from Nick Cutter. I'm happy to find a horror author that really keeps my attention. The characters are compelling. Cutter hits every subgenre of horror that I personally love. Body horror, the grotesque, insects, even thalassophobia. I can't wait to pick up another of his works.

Mix of leviathan, the thing, and sphere

I wanted a book with a messed up monster with the paranoia infused environment bringing havoc and this did it very well. minus one star for the end, but it's skin crawling description was excellent

Damn

What did you love best about The Deep?

Plainly put, this audiobook will mess you up. Cutter is horribly awesome, and Brill conveys every bit of the bleakness, horror and dread with terrible accuracy. Don't listen to this before bed if you don't enjoy nightmares. Consider this book strongly endorsed, and yourself sternly warned.