I’ve been thinking about this book a lot since I finished it a few days ago. The story is deep, a bit dark, a bit strange in places, and overall a unique look at mental illness overall.

When I first started the book, I listened for about thirty minutes, thought I missed something and restarted it. I listened more carefully as Caden described his life, and his adventure on the pirate ship. When I first was listening, I thought that the pirate ship as a dream that he was describing, as it became more obvious for me the listener, as it did to Caden’s friends and family, something wasn’t quite right with Caden.

Caden is a beautifully written character, with a depth that most characters never brush on. Like the Mariana’s Trench of the story, the further down he goes down his personal “rabbit hole” so many elements of the story merge together, as they have in his mind that it is difficult to differentiate as listening (or reading) what is real and what is not.

While the story isn’t easy to get through, especially once you realize what is happening, it’s well worth the journey to come out at the other end. Overall Challenger Deep is a beautifully written journey to the dark side with a lighthouse at the end of the tunnel.