The Deep
Nick Cutter
Gallery Books
January 2015
Reviewed by Josh Black
The Deep is the sophomore novel from Nick Cutter, pseudonym of literary fiction writer Craig Davidson. While his first horror outing, The Troop, was a thick slab of gross-out horror with an interesting spin on Lord-of-the-Flies style savagery, this is a different beast entirely. It’s a much more psychologically driven, internal book, with some well-placed moments of the pure body horror that Cutter excels at.
It begins with the ‘Gets, a disease of catastrophic proportions. Passingly similar to Alzheimer’s in its initial stages, the ‘Gets affects memory, causing people to forget at first minor things, then major ones, and finally subconscious things as their internal organs forget how to function and simply shut down. It’s a scary thing to think about, and Cutter’s gift for description drives that fear home. As far as fear goes, though, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. The ‘Gets is merely the catalyst that drives the story into the heart of The Deep and what it’s really about.
Amidst the quiet, degenerative chaos wrought by the ‘Gets, veterinarian Luke Nelson is called by his scientist brother to the Trieste, a deep sea research lab where a small group of people are studying a possible cure. They’ve discovered a mysterious amorphous substance they call Ambrosia, which they hope will act as a panacea for physical illnesses, including the ‘Gets. The trouble is, it seems to have its own opinion on the way it should act.
The Deep is a slow-burn at first, unraveling its mysteries slowly as the tension escalates. It focuses on a small cast of characters in a confined and very isolated space, cut off from the world above by malfunctioning equipment and sporadic water conditions that could eviscerate them if they attempted a return.
The main focus here is on Luke. Having lost his wife and son, he’d had nothing to lose and everything to gain in joining his brother in the search for a cure. His loss comes back to haunt him, though, as his mind begins to deteriorate under the pressure of the deep, the darkness, and the unknown things that lurk within the shadows of the lab. The title has more than one meaning – the deep is both a physical thing and a mental one, as the uncanny occurrences in the lab and the darkest corners of Luke’s mind and memory converge. Flashback segments flesh out Luke’s character, and some dark aspects of his past gradually resurface in the worst conceivable ways.
Like all good haunted house novels (and yes, this can be considered a haunted house novel, albeit one with a unique skin), the setting is a character in itself. It’s likened to a living thing, with its succession of tubes and tunnels that mirror the veins and organs of a gigantic creature that’s swallowed everyone and doesn’t intend to let them out. Given the stillness and silence, every noise and moving shadow has the characters – and readers, by extension – on edge.
Some of the imagery in later sections could have been off-putting and ludicrous in the hands of a less skilled writer, but Cutter has a way of molding the mundane into something outright horrifying. For the most part, though, this is the kind of horror that creeps its way inside you, that has you watching over your shoulder and looking inside yourself. The Deep has all the hallmarks of a horror classic, and comes highly recommended.
