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  • The Breach

  • Written by: Nick Cutter
  • Narrated by: Marc Vietor
  • Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (29 ratings)

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The Breach

Written by: Nick Cutter
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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Publisher's Summary

John Hawkins is counting down his last days as chief of police on the Lone Crow Reservation in the lonely, frigid woods of the Yukon. But when a faceless body with mysterious wounds washes up on the shores of the Porcupine River, he’s pulled deeper in than ever before.

Hawkins and coroner Jacob Littlecorn suspect the disfigured body is that of theoretical physicist Graham Raphelson, also known as the “molecular madman of Trinity College”, who recently disappeared. The two investigators enlist Meg Gilday, a charter boat captain, and Linda Raphelson to examine the place where her husband was last seen alive. There, they find a house infested with more than secrets: bugs wriggle behind the walls, and in the attic sits a bizarre machine cobbled together from toy parts and electrical wire, a device that might be able to tear a hole through the fabric of reality itself. When Meg and Jacob get bitten and someone goes missing, Hawkins realizes that firing up the machine might be the only way to solve the case.

Buzzing with suspense, this dark, gripping mystery from acclaimed horror writer Nick Cutter will leave listeners’ skin crawling. 

©2020 Nick Cutter (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

What listeners say about The Breach

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

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.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • S
  • 2020-11-04

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.

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  • Rhonda
  • 2020-11-03

Don’t waste your time

What the hell was this book even about?
The narrator pushed me over the deep end. Seriously, don’t waste your time!

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Michael
  • 2020-10-26

Insectile Ooze

A Nick Cutter novel couldn't have come at a better time. He is definitely one of my all-time favorite horror writers. Once again Nick delivers up a twisted and imaginative concept oozing with deformities and larval insects.

5 Stars*****

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11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2020-12-09

Yes.

Great literature? No. Great horror? Most definitely. I had to, at various times, turn on the lights, stop eating, or just straight up stop the book. This is modern cosmic horror at its finest. Lovecraft would have approved.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Jake
  • 2020-11-08

Nick Cutter’s Least Interesting

Comparing this to three of his other books i have read (Troop, Little Heaven, Deep), this is my least favorite. It does have the same style and benefits of the others: shocking grotesque scenes without going overboard, ominous setting, and very real character actions (no classic horror-movie dumb decisions).

However, the lack of story lead-in and character development made it very hard for me to keep focused. His other three did a great job of laying the scene and giving the characters plenty of back story to relate to them. In The Breach, you are just thrown into the horror and intensity without much context of the characters.

I would 100% recommend the other three I mentioned above to a fan of horror lit, but I can’t say I would even mention this one. Give it a go, if you’re a big Cutter fan, but be prepared for the meat of the story right away.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Colin
  • 2020-11-16

Nick Cutter Knows How to Scare Adults

This is just another shining example of Cutter's profound understanding of what horror fiction is supposed to be. He knows that, when it comes to making the adult mind feel fear, it's ideas and concepts that ware afraid of, not simply ghosts and monsters. Cutter makes you feel not just fear for what's happening now, but also dread for what comes next.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • TonyBaloney27
  • 2021-11-22

Good premise, but meh.

I really wanted to like this book. It started well, and teased great things but ultimately did not deliver. Fewer detailed descriptions of insects and a main character’s…change would have yielded a far better story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Sybil Escalante
  • 2023-11-21

Best horror thing I’ve ever listened to

Honestly the story was wonderful and awful. In that way that something is horrific and makes you keep coming back. I was obsessed with the story and the narrator. His voice was perfect for this and I’m a little sad he doesn’t narrate the rest of Nick Cutter’s work.
I’ll now have nightmares about houses that are wrong and tunnels but it was totally worth it

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Michael Hicks
  • 2023-05-24

Creepy bug horror!

Dashes of cosmic horror, body horror, evil in the woods horror — good stuff! Marc Vietor’s narration is great too, and suitably creepy when needed (I don’t ever want to hear a speak-and-say again in my whole freaking life!). Overall, this was a pretty good listen.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Regan Flannery
  • 2023-04-18

We get it Nick- you have a thing for bugs.

I don’t know what I keep hoping for- but it’s not repeated stories about bugs in peoples bodies. Bugs using people for birthing their babies. Bugs taking over your brain. We get it man- you got a weird bug thing.
The Troop- loved it. Amazing.
The Deep- had so much potential…and still turned into bugs.
This book I was hoping for something different. The author can write well, I just wish he could use his talent for horror to land on something besides bugs being the culprit. I couldn’t even finish this one, with an hour left- I’m just bored.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Leslie Clark
  • 2023-04-16

Bunch of nothing

“Make its sexual AT ALL COSTS!!!” -the author

This was a lot of words for a nothing story.

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