I read The Deep for two reasons.

First, the ocean is terrifying, and I'm open to pretty much any book that explores just how terrifying it is.

Second, the kinda smug recommendations. They're exemplified by a conversation I had IRL with a man--I'm sorry, but it's always men recommending Nick Cutter--I had just met who asked me what kinds of books I like to read. I said horror, and he wanted to know which authors I enjoy. When I got to Paul Tremblay, he made a face and said, "Ugh, his books are so boring, have you read Nick Cutter?"

I had not, but I enjoy both being informed and reading fucked-up books, so eventually (now) I got around to reading some Nick Cutter, the anti-Paul Tremblay, I guess.

And guys, I'm sorry, but this just doesn't do much for me. I don't like the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach to horror. I find it tedious and unscary. It's profoundly gross, sure, but gross-outs aren't really why I read horror. Not to be all "I read Playboy for the articles" about it, but I read horror for the ideas, and I usually need the gore to serve the ideas rather than the other way round. If I want to just be grossed out and sad, I'll browse r/noahgettheboat or something.

There are parts of this book that work for me, but they all worked better elsewhere first: The Thing, Event Horizon, IT (and honestly, Stephen King in general), The Cipher. I've watched or read all of those, so I don't feel like I got anything very unique from reading The Deep (except that they were under the sea this time).

And there's just this mean-spirited immaturity to the writing that annoys me. This is on display most vividly in the unrelentingly fatphobic descriptions of the protagonist's mother, in which her size is obviously being used as visual shorthand for her moral turpitude, an extra push to make sure the reader hates her and thinks she's gross when I don't know, the fact that she's a sadistic pedophile makes her pretty damn hateful and gross?

There are some other things I could get myself worked into a good rant about, but I won't. I will pause to acknowledge that I see why a certain kind of reader who is not me likes this. And I will acknowledge that I truly was taken by the concept, and that I wish there were a whole other book about the 'Gets, because hoo boy was that concept wasted here.

While The Deep was my first book by Nick Cutter, it wasn't my first time reading this author: I had already read The Saturday Night Ghost Club, which he published as Craig Davidson, and I really enjoyed that book. So I know that he has good writing in him, and I suspect that the Nick Cutter pseudonym is a bit of a shtick, an outlet for pulpy horror that I imagine makes way more money than that introspective, boring nonsense.

I might read The Troop at some point, because I can already feel someone gearing up to say, "Well, The Deep isn't that great, but have you read The Troop? You gotta read The Troop! It's so fucked up! The tapeworms! The turtle!!" And I'll heave a weary sigh and read about the tapeworms and the turtle. But not today, friends. Not today.