(also reviewed)
That's how it went with the 'Gets: you forgot the little things first, then the not-so-little thing, then the big ones. Next, the critical ones. In time, your heart forgot how to beat, your lungs how to breathe. You die knowing nothing at all.
Happy Halloween, I guess.
You know what scares me above all else? Don't laugh too hard: aliens. Fucking space horror movies terrify me to no end. Why is that so? I asked myself that question over and over again and the answer is rather obvious: the unknown. The greatest fear of the human race. I guess I'm not that special. The idea that my notion of reality might be just an insignificant reflection of what the universe really is paralyzes me with fear. This very idea is the subject of Nick Cutter's new novel THE DEEP and it should've struck me down with fear like some kind of telepath boogeyman. It didn't happen. THE DEEP had a couple genuine moments of pure horror, but it's a flawed novel with pacing issues that waltzed with my suspension of disbelief a little too often to live up to its ambitious goals.
The world population is getting decimated by a mysterious pandemic called the 'Gets, which seems to operate like a supercharged, monstrous spin off Alzheimer's disease. Luke Nelson, brother of superstar researcher Clay Nelson, is mandated by the government to join him onboard the Trieste, a multi-billion dollars underwater lab set in the depths of Challenger Deep, the absolute deepest point on Earth under sea level. The rumour wants that they're working on a cure down there, but the lab has ceased to communicate with the surface a couple days ago, until Clay sent a message requesting his brother. Alone, brokenhearted and with nothing better to do, Luke leaves for the depths of Challenger Deep, looking to help save humanity and maybe piece himself back together.
I appreciate what THE DEEP tried to do. It's ambition is commandable. Nick Cutter tried to create the ultimate epic apocalyptic horror novel, and put a lot of work into it. The novel goes literally from a worldwide pandemic (the 'Gets) to the disintegrating relationship between two brothers in front of a powerful unknown threat. I mean, if you're going to write novels, aim high, right? Somewhere along the line though, shit when south with that idea.
It's fun to have a lot of characterization and insight into the characters' life before the 'Gets, but THE DEEP pushes the idea beyond the point of ridiculouslness. There is characterization that it becomes frustrating. The memories are good and haunting, and to a certain point a necessary part of the story, but at some point they are just delaying the storyline. THE DEEP is a long novel (my edition has 400 pages) and close to half of it is built with characters' memories. It's nice to know you've got skeletons in your closet, but at some point you have to move on with the fucking plot.
Focus erodes. Your thoughts mutate. The pressure.
The pressure.
The sol can't cope with that. It shouldn't be expected to.
Humans weren't built for this. There's a reason nothing lives down here.
Or nothing should.
THE DEEP is a slight step down from Nick Cutter's debut novel THE TROOP. There are aspects I liked better, though but overall I thought that THE TROOP was more cohesive and better put together. It doesn't mean that THE DEEP is bad, per se. It's just flawed, but it's interestingly flawed and got me thinking non-stop about the tropes of horror, which Nick Cutter seems to be walking through like a smuggler walks through borders, with a defiant smile on his face. There are a couple paradigm shifts going on in THE DEEP, but if I had to give its a set genre, I would call it existential horror, becase of its thorough examination of the human condition through the supernatural. The apocalyptic plague is just a device that leads the characters to confront themselves.
I know what you're going to say. I call myself an existentialist, and I can't appreciate existentialist fiction whenever it whacks me in the face. Back in the days where I wanted to write for video games, I was brought to read a book called A THEORY OF FUN FOR GAME DESIGN, which explains that the sensation of pleasure for human being when playing games is obtained through mastering patterns. Once you've mastered the pattern, the game starts being bored. It's kind of what happened with THE DEEP here. It was exhilarating at first, then it kept hammering the same note for too long and got me frustrated.
I have issues with the ending too, but I tend not to make a big deal out of underwhelming endings (it can happen to any writer) and I'm not going to discuss it for obvious spoiler reasons. In hindsight, THE DEEP is worth reading. A passionate and ambitious, but flawed novel is always worth reading more than smooth, yet unoriginal ones. There are a couple of genuine scares in THE DEEP that'll crawl under your skin and fuck with your sleep patterns.