Oh, Nick... what happened?

The Troop and Little Heaven made me a Nick Cutter fan; even The Deep and Acolyte - although not as good - kept me wanting more of the author's ability to spin an intriguing yarn with plenty of strong characters who are plunged into plots that drag them into the other-worldly. So, I am amazed that Mr. Cutter wrote The Breach - a novel that has so little character build that I really didn't care much about any of them. As well, the reason behind the sci-fi mystery is disjointed and never adequately explained, making the story line flimsy at best. Even the creepy creatures could not save this unfortunate novel that concludes with a very predictable ending. On a happier note, Marc Vietor's narration is quite good.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Nick Cutter is relentless

Each story as good as the last! I missed Corey brill a little on this, but still fantastic. On to the next twisted nick cutter tale!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

If you like Nick Cutter you’ll love this

Liked The Deep or The Troop? Then this one’s for you.

Four more words required.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Pretty good scary story

I thought this was ok, not one of Cutter's best but I like the story and his writing style. 3.5 stars rounded down to 3, just because I didn't really care for the narrator.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

solid B movie style listen

Not Cutters best, but still good, and voice performances are well done. Fans of his other work will enjoy this, even if it doesn't compare to his better offerings.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Disappointed

You could skip this confusing poorly written story for any of the Peter Clines novels.
Please do not judge Canadian writers by this piece of work.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Recommended, Albeit a Bit Frustrating

I want to make it clear that I am an avid fan of Nick Cutter, (the horror-fiction pen name of Craig Davidson). The Troop is universally lauded as a masterpiece for good reason, and I'd stake that The Deep is just as good. In terms of weaving science fiction and horror, and in terms of extrapolating a concept to its most horrific possible extremes, Cutter is unmatched. I would go so far as saying that he is, quite possibly, a front-runner for the title of the very best living writer in his genre.

And this fanatical love of his other books may be the reason I was so disappointed with The Breach. In his prior books, Cutter strikes a perfect pace, building tension and foreshadowing without tipping his hand too early. In this story, the characters, buildup, and even the core concept of the story, are all sort of set up and passed over in a mad dash to bring out the body horror scenes. It all just rushes by too quickly. The narration is short and clipped, not doing enough to paint a picture of the setting. Where the island in The Troop, the research station in The Deep, and the cult compound in Little Heaven are all grand Gothic locations, the house and wilderness in The Breach is lacking in character. Finally, while the key rule of modern horror (whether you prefer to call it Weird Fiction, Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian or Post-modern) is 'never explain anything'; The Breach suffers from having not quite enough explanation. There's the Philadelphia experiment, and some horrible parasitizing extraspatial presence that used it to break through to our world, then there's wasps, and maybe the wasps come from another world, or maybe they're normal wasps that have been corrupted. Who knows? The pig says "Cleanse" and bad stuff happens. There's all these separate pieces and we never get a clear view of how they're connected.

The second half of the book seems to recover. There's a particular scene that stands out, where two of our heroes meet a pair of squatters living in the woods, and it feels incredibly tense. There seems to be a longer, better book hidden in here, but it hadn't quite gestated properly before clawing its way out of its quivering, gelatinous pupa.

The performance was also spotty at times. The reader's voice was fine, but he did very little by the way of inflection to give each character a distinct sound. This can be OK, but the clipped, sparse narration makes it unclear which character is speaking at times, and you're left to suss it out from context. There are also multiple breaks in the audio track where one take is stitched to another, but the volume isn't corrected, so there is a noticeable leap up or down. I think a few more takes and a little more polish in editing could have cleaned it up just fine. In a word, I would call it 'rushed.'

If you're still reading this, you're probably confused by how I can still recommend this book despite complaining about it so much. The fact of the matter that the very worst Nick Cutter story is still leaps and bounds better than anything else in the same vein. The core of the story is interesting, the imagery in the later scenes is truly horrible (which is a feature, remember this is a horror novel), and I still enjoyed the last leg of the journey. I've had quite a few credits go to waste on books so lousy I didn't bother finishing them, so this is still worth picking up. But if this is your first book from this author, do yourself a favor, and don't let it be the last. Go grab The Troop, as well.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Underwhelming

This story was just interesting enough to keep me reading, but it didn't make a ton of sense and the characters weren't overly compelling. Kinda just reads like an old episode of The Outer Limits or something. Not terrible, not great. Meh.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Nick Cutter Does It Again

What an absolute master of the genre. This story is such a crazy ride that could only come from the mind of Canada’s gift to horror. Cutter deserves serious recognition for his creation of recognizable, flawed, likeable, doomed characters, and of course for making the readers skin bubble and crawl along with his creations.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!