The dreams are relevant here because they are presumably influenced by sinister forces at the bottom of the ocean, but horror-filled dreams seem like a cheap way to fill the pages of a horror novel. That often strikes me as something writers toss into a book to fill pages when they can't think of a creative way to advance the plot. For the most part, however, Cutter steadily builds a sense of dread, conjuring primal fears and encouraging the reader to share them with Luke.Ī few too many scenes tell us about the characters' dreams.

I understand the technique of prolonging tension by cutting away from the present to talk about the past, but Cutter's frequent resort to that device is sometimes frustrating. Luke carries the scars of a difficult childhood and the guilt of allowing his son to go missing under his care, events that make him wish he would become afflicted with `Gets and forget everything that haunts him. One of those clues is delivered in mysterious messages written in a submarine that returns from Clay's base in the Mariana Trench.Ĭutter does a reasonable amount of character building although he sometimes slows the story's pace with flashbacks to Luke's past. Of course, this is a horror novel so the reader knows better, thanks in part to clues that Nick Cutter plants about its true nature. Ambrosia appears to have the curative powers that humanity needs in a time of crisis. The entity, nicknamed 'ambrosia,' has properties unlike any substance known to science. The Deep falls into the 'strange entity discovered at the bottom of the ocean' subgenre of horror novels. Luke's brother Clay, eight miles deep in the ocean near Guam, might have the answer to the phenomenon. People get the Spots, then they get the `Gets, then they wander away with blank minds. If this is the apocalypse, Luke Nelson thinks, at least it is orderly. Published by Gallery Books on January 13, 2015

The deep nick cutter