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Book Review: The Deep by Nick Cutter

The Deep by Nick Cutter

Pocket Books, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4767-1774-6

Available: Paperback, mass market paperback,  library binding, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

With his second novel, The Deep, author Nick Cutter has his modus operandi firmly established: keep the number of main characters to five or less, put them in an isolated setting, add in a biological menace to terrorize the characters, and a dash of blood, and voila, you have a thriller/horror novel.  It’s the formula he uses, and he does it very well.  This book moves at a fast clip: no lengthy expositions or wasted time.  It’s a good thriller from one of the better writers of the genre.

 

The plot: it’s present day, and the human population is being ravaged to extinction by a new disease called the ‘Gets.  The only possible hope for a cure lies in a research station at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, in the form of a new sort of biological organism.  As the book opens, contact with the three scientists at the research station has been lost.  Luke Nelson is the brother of Clayton Nelson, one of the scientists trapped on the bottom.  For reasons unknown to Luke, he’s brought in to make the trip to the bottom and re-establish contact with Clayton and the others.   Once he gets to the station, mayhem results.  The biological organism is not what it seems, and it bends reality for all the humans, causing deadly results.

 

Most of the book takes place in the claustrophobic environs of the research station. The characters quickly realize they are trapped in a station where reality and fantasy, through their dreams and nightmares, quickly meld together: distinguishing between them becomes almost impossible.  Cutter’s skill really shines here.  You start to feel claustrophobic on reading some of the sequences, such as the ones with characters trapped in corridors or ducts.  Add in the terror the characters feel from the creatures (or figments of their nightmares) pursuing them, and you have a first rate thriller.  The descriptions are perfect: Cutter really lets you feel the emotions of the characters as they struggle to survive.  The backstory on Luke Nelson and Clay Nelson is filled in with chapters interspersed throughout the book that reference a point in their lives growing up.  As it turns out, those chapters are not just asides for understanding the characters, but play a part in the overall story thread. These chapters do help flesh the brothers out, but they won’t change your thinking about them.  They are pretty much good or evil: there’s very little in-between.

The only drawback to the book is the ending, which felt rushed and seemed confusing, asking more questions than it answered.  After over 480 pages of excellent writing, the last 10 just felt tacked on.  Outside of that, this is an excellent thriller/horror novel, recommended for adults and teens alike.

 

Contains: violence, mild gore

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on October 26, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Little Heaven by Nick Cutter

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter
Gallery Books, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-1501104213
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, Audible

Nick Cutter is one of the hottest names in horror fiction, and for good reason. I have read all four of his books now, and I the praise for each was certainly warranted. I enjoyed The Deep and The Acolyte but his debut novel, The Troop, is outstanding. At a time when major publishers were shy about hardcover horror, this wicked intense, character-rich, body horror novel was a major hit. It worked in part because, despite a modern setting, it felt retro in all the right ways, like a a golden age of horror paperback classic. People rightly compared to it to classic Stephen King. I thought it was an effective and disturbing horror novel that made the best of a lean prose style.

Little Heaven, Cutter’s fourth book, is a masterpiece of horror fiction, and a tribute to the 1980s, even more so than The Troop did. As good as his last two books were, they missed the retro feel that made The Troop special.  Although some readers have compared Little Heaven to classic King, it’s more influenced by the work of Clive Barker and Robert McCammon. The setting and characters suggest that Cutter was also influenced by Cormac McCarthy, and the structure and dialogue are reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino. Take all this narrative chemistry, and it adds up to a novel that feels like others, but is actually like nothing I have read before (it’s also nice to see that he has escaped the Bentley Little title disease– finally, a novel that is not The ___ Whatever “.)

Little Heaven is the story of four trained killers given the mission to rescue a young boy whose father has taken him to a compound called Little Heaven, in the New Mexico desert. Cutter clearly has fashioned the cult after real-life cults. We soon learn that the killers are not normal humans. The supernatural elements have a surreal quality that brings to mind early Clive Barker. Monsters, such as the Long Walker, were disturbing in how unnatural they were, yet described so well you can see them in your mind. It’s nothing short of creepy.  Cutter creates vivid landscapes, and the horrors pop off the page, causing several cringeworthy moments of supernatural horror.

The narrative switches back and forth from the mid-60s to the 80s, and the structure unrolls the story in an unconventional but very effective manner. We know the four mercenaries survived something which changed them, and they are haunted by what they have seen. As in Robert McCammon’s Gone South, the characters are both scary and hilarious at times. The prose itself is excellent. This novel delivers exactly the feeling of the classics, and causes me to turn the pages, and that’s all I’m asking for. I think this is the best Cutter book to date, and the best horror novel in years. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by David Agranoff

Here’s an audio review David did of Little Heaven with fellow author Anthony Trevino.

 


Posted on May 5, 2017 by , Reply

10 Horror Books You’ve Never Read?

Photo credit: Publisher’s Weekly/Kevin Kelly

 

Nick Cutter, author of The Troop (reviewed here) and, most recently, The Deep, compiled a list for Booklist titled  “10 Horror Books You’ve Never Read”. It’s kind of a fun list because he left off some of the books that typically appear on “Best Of” lists, but it’s kinda hard for me to believe that the average horror reader isn’t familiar with the majority of them.  Cutter notes that his taste in horror is on the “visceral” side, and certainly a number of the authors on his list don’t stint on the gore and violence. Still, it’s an interesting list, and it’s easy to see that Cutter definitely is an enthusiastic fan of horror fiction.  Here’s a  link to the list.

So, what do you think? Is there anything you’d add?

Posted on January 23, 2015 by , Reply
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