Kara

Started high/ fell hard

Reviewed: 04-17-24

The blogger character made me DNF this one…

Spoilers ahead;

I went into this expecting a supernatural story and was honestly loving it for the first half. Once I got to the first big reveal about the narrator (child) and the HORRID blogger being the same person I was like “okay I wanna quit” but I kept going, hoping the past bits would keep being awesome. I know this won’t make everyone mad, but I really hated going into a book hoping for a possession story and getting this preachy slog about religion & mental illness. There’s a REALLY good idea buried in there, and I’m all for the horrors of the reality dealing with mental illness as a child and how the people around can fail you so hard. But it all just fell flat for me and didn’t feel nuanced at all.

One last note on the blogger portions: this might not be fair of me, but the way she has this whole “new horror bad, only old horror good” attitude is so pretentious & I got the vibe the author was speaking through her there. (I could be projecting!) I’ll be honest & say that I just don’t want to be cursed to hear the opinions of someone that insufferable.

DNF and after procrastinating for like a year to give it a second chance, I went to read a few spoiler reviews and was just completely turned off to ever finishing.

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Disturbing & entertaining!

Reviewed: 04-17-24

This felt like such a quick read; perhaps because I blasted through it in only a couple days time while working through slow shifts. I will ALWAYS recommend the Nick Cutter/ Corey Brill combo! I feel like his narration style and voice perfectly compliment Cutter’s characters and descriptions.

The horror i was anticipating in this book blasted through my expectations. It has a very relatable premise, characters that feel real, several TRULY sickening scenes that had me pausing and covering my mouth in disgust. It’s what ive come to appreciate about Cutter’s works: long, drawn out, viscerally horrifying descriptions of bad things happening to beings that could never deserve it. I’m not a splatterpunk fan, but it’s nice to get a taste of some gut-wrenching gore woven into a greater, emotional story.

A perfect middle ground for people who want more than just chills and ghosts in their horror, but don’t want a constant barrage of blood and guts. I’d recommend this to any horror fan.

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A solid deep sea horror

Reviewed: 04-15-24

My favorite genre of horror is always related to the depths of the ocean. This book delivers! I enjoyed the narrator as well, though at times I thought it was hard to understand certain things spoken, no matter how loud I turned up my volume.
The characters in this book are likable and I was hoping for a happy end for them, even through all the nightmares they experienced. I was surprised at how creepy the descriptions of certain moments and stories physical descriptions could get. I wouldn’t call this the scariest story I’ve ever read, but if you’re not looking to be absolutely torn asunder by misery and fear, but still get some good chills in, I’d definitely recommend giving this a read!

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Emotionally stunning!

Reviewed: 12-15-22

This book was an incredible insight into the complex life and relationships of a girl/woman who many of us thought we knew from tv. I started listening to this book while sitting next to my own mother on a flight. I think most girls have a complicated relationship with their mothers, and while at certain times I could relate to and understand some of these complex feelings that Jeannette was describing, I was so incredibly thankful that most of the time I could not compare.

Certain parts of this book read like a horror novel, and I mean that in the most complementary way. We are so lucky for her to have shared this story with us, AND for it to be so well-written and narrated! McCurdy has a true talent for making one feel what needs to be felt, as well as describing truly horrifying situations in such a hilariously deadpan manner. The nightmare that fame, manipulation, and abundant narcissism builds is palpable.

I can’t recommend this book enough, especially to any women with any type of relationship with their mothers (good or bad). It’s a difficult but touching read, and a personal story I think deserves to be absorbed and discussed.

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Mostly good!

Reviewed: 12-14-21

This was a REALLY LONG book and I’m sad to say it certainly felt like it at times. There were points in the book towards the last 6 hours where it was just AGONY to get through. I’m no stranger to torturous fiction but at some times I just found myself weary and wanting to skip through certain chapters.

Now for the good! I really enjoyed all the characters! They build up the relationships very well and each character, from the protagonists to the worst little kids and evil villains, are made sympathetic and treated with dignity. That’s very important to me! There’s some really crazy twists and turns and the mystery of what’s really going on kept me going even though the parts of the story where I felt like I wanted to just skip through. It’s worth it, I think, to actually put the time in and finish this book. There were moments where I actually cheered aloud as I listened along in my car.

Anyways, the reader/performer was incredible! She did tons of voices and tones and screeches and every character felt distinct because of her voice. Cheers to that!

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Decent collection of horror!

Reviewed: 10-18-21

I was happy to discover that these were pretty interconnected, and I’m guessing they connect more than I gathered on my first listen. I’d say it’s definitely worth a second read through, just to get all the nuances of this hell-infested world that’s on display. I loved some stories and narrators more than others (I picked this book simply because I adore Corey Brill’s voice) but honestly, it’s a solid read. Every story has a different vibe to it so it doesn’t get boring or tiresome if you’re not really feeling one writing style or the characters. Power through and the next will surprise you I’m sure!

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Incredible and terrifying

Reviewed: 08-31-21

This book made me weep, and I mean that as a good thing!

The narrator was excellent and I’m actively going to seek out more books read by him, because he had such a great voice and way of expressing the horrors within this story. He also did some really distinct voices!

As far as the story goes, I won’t reveal much because I really think you should give it a try yourself! I pretty much only read horror, and this book was one of the few to make my hands tremble as I listened. If you are sensitive to animal harm, be wary! I was moved to tears by some of the descriptions of what lab animals endure and the love that every creature on this planet deserves. The evil in this book is unspeakable and by the end, I was left feeling hopeless and small. Again, I mean these things as compliments! Anything that can make me feel so, so strongly is worth checking out. This book is relentless in its terror, and is more of an experience than most horror books. Deep sea horror is a treasured genre to me and The Deep has elements of SOMA and the manga: “6000 the deep sea of madness”, both of which I also recommend highly.

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A fantastic and spine-tingling read!

Reviewed: 08-18-21

This book was breathtaking in its visuals! Highly detailed, with memorable and entirely lovable characters. I can’t say enough good things about this story! Spoilers below!


The way the strange creatures and environments beyond the “regular world” are described is so intriguing, it makes me want to see it made into art or maybe a movie/animation. It’s so eerie and haunting, the way only things we do not understand can be. This took the fae-like creatures to another, terrifying level and the lurking horror was palpable.

The main character was entirely relatable, especially since I also happen to be a 30-something year old woman woman who gets easily caught up in physical memories whilst trying to clean. The characters in this are all very easy to like, including the minor and dead ones. I found myself angry every time I was interrupted while trying to finish this book, because it was so enthralling!

Please give this a try. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it really is worth checking out.

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Fetishists? More like vanilla missionary horror

Reviewed: 07-12-21

If you’re looking for something really disgusting and screwed up, don’t even bother with this book. It’s not BAD but it’s honestly vanilla compared to what you can find for free on the internet if you know where to look. There’s tons of gory, twisted, sadistic, mutilation porn fiction out there that’s better written than this.

I enjoyed the mystery at the beginning and was hoping it would have been drawn out a bit longer. The other mysteries are never answered, and I was left feeling like I’d wasted my time a bit. The main character wasn’t awful enough to want to see put through more cathartic pain, but he wasn’t like able enough to really care if/ he escapes the horrors he has in store. There are two points in the story where he just keeps defecating and urinating all over himself and I really couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. It felt like a bad dream diary of sorts, put into novel form.

The story wasn’t strong enough to keep my interest and the disgust factor was too mild to make up for the rather bland story. I’d skip this one and google around for the same type of fetish horror this book promised but ultimately, didn’t deliver on.

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2 people found this helpful