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the_coycaterpillar_reads's review
5.0
Deep Down There. Nothing good ever comes from big black holes, whether it’s from the horrific type in space or massive sinkholes that wreak their havoc on earth, nothing. good. ever. happens.
Order this book right now. I started reading at approximately 1 pm and by 4 pm I had finished, like a marathon runner trying to outdo their personal best, I needed to find out the why, the where, and the how. DO IT!
Oli Jacobs can’t write a bad story, like seriously, everything I have read I have loved. He can shut me up with his sharp, witty, and alluring stories of the human condition and terrifying situations, however, I am mad at you, so crazy mad with you for leaving me with the worst kind of book hangover. I was like an overzealous customer in a bakery, I wanted it all but now I feel sick from the overindulgence. I closed the final page and felt like time had stood still – my eyes were frozen, my brain had seized up, and didn’t think I would be able to write any justifiable words that could do this book justice.
“The hole in Anton Court wasn’t just a hole. It was darkness, a void that was cruel and apathetic to the ways of the residents. It just wanted to consume, to devour, until there was nothing else left to eat.”
There are many horror writers that I admire but none seem to have the right combination of wit and bone-chilling horror such as Mr. Jacobs. I’d love to examine your brain but of course, I’d be terrified of what I might find.
So Deep Down There, just how do I summarise it effectively? A gated community. A mysterious dark hole. The purveyor of dark dreams and even darker voices. Single widowed mother, Hannah has recently suffered the worst kind of bereavement, that of her partner, Greg. She lives in her house on Ashton Court, a very luxurious and privileged gated community that Greg acquired on their behalf. She is now left to raise their two boys. Life is hard but she is determined to make the most of a bad situation.
One day everything changes. A huge black hole appears on the grounds of Ashton Court. It’s no sinkhole, this thing is sheer and perfectly shaped that it could never have been created by nature or by a man for that matter. It puts everyone that lives in the community on edge, the owner’s HP Properties are acting cagier than a tiger locked up with no food. They want no police and no council involvement. The reasoning behind this was never going to be pretty. You can feel the effects of Jacobs’s writing from the very first line. It’s sharper than a tack and immediately has you hooked.
So, what exactly is the hole? Why is it there? What impact will it have upon the residents of Ashton Court? Well, if you want those questions answered then you are going to have to read Deep Down There…
Deep Down There is viscerally intimate. Jacobs proves he has his finger on the pulse of cosmic horror. He is a fierce talent that knows no boundaries or limits.
Order this book right now. I started reading at approximately 1 pm and by 4 pm I had finished, like a marathon runner trying to outdo their personal best, I needed to find out the why, the where, and the how. DO IT!
Oli Jacobs can’t write a bad story, like seriously, everything I have read I have loved. He can shut me up with his sharp, witty, and alluring stories of the human condition and terrifying situations, however, I am mad at you, so crazy mad with you for leaving me with the worst kind of book hangover. I was like an overzealous customer in a bakery, I wanted it all but now I feel sick from the overindulgence. I closed the final page and felt like time had stood still – my eyes were frozen, my brain had seized up, and didn’t think I would be able to write any justifiable words that could do this book justice.
“The hole in Anton Court wasn’t just a hole. It was darkness, a void that was cruel and apathetic to the ways of the residents. It just wanted to consume, to devour, until there was nothing else left to eat.”
There are many horror writers that I admire but none seem to have the right combination of wit and bone-chilling horror such as Mr. Jacobs. I’d love to examine your brain but of course, I’d be terrified of what I might find.
So Deep Down There, just how do I summarise it effectively? A gated community. A mysterious dark hole. The purveyor of dark dreams and even darker voices. Single widowed mother, Hannah has recently suffered the worst kind of bereavement, that of her partner, Greg. She lives in her house on Ashton Court, a very luxurious and privileged gated community that Greg acquired on their behalf. She is now left to raise their two boys. Life is hard but she is determined to make the most of a bad situation.
One day everything changes. A huge black hole appears on the grounds of Ashton Court. It’s no sinkhole, this thing is sheer and perfectly shaped that it could never have been created by nature or by a man for that matter. It puts everyone that lives in the community on edge, the owner’s HP Properties are acting cagier than a tiger locked up with no food. They want no police and no council involvement. The reasoning behind this was never going to be pretty. You can feel the effects of Jacobs’s writing from the very first line. It’s sharper than a tack and immediately has you hooked.
So, what exactly is the hole? Why is it there? What impact will it have upon the residents of Ashton Court? Well, if you want those questions answered then you are going to have to read Deep Down There…
Deep Down There is viscerally intimate. Jacobs proves he has his finger on the pulse of cosmic horror. He is a fierce talent that knows no boundaries or limits.
sillychicken's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
stephbookshine's review
4.0
*I received a free copy of this book, with thanks to the author. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Deep Down There starts a little slowly, then builds into a gripping horror story.
In terms of both style and content, it falls somewhere between psychological horror and Lovecraftian horror, with the reader only given glimpses and hints of the ‘Big Bad’, leaving the fear to percolate in your imagination until the eventual climactic reveal.
The focus of the story is on the mysterious hole that has appeared and what might be down it, so while we follow mum-and-widow Hannah as a main character, and grow somewhat attached to her and her neighbours, the characters feel less important than the unfolding events that happen to and around them. I think the author could have taken pretty much any characters and slotted them into this plot, and still got the same horror-effect from the reader. That said, it was a nice touch that these particular neighbours had secrets of their own to hide! It added an extra dimension to the tension, to know that Hannah had human perfidy to deal with alongside the eldritch monsters.
But mainly, I wanted to know what was down the hole, what made the hole, what the purpose of the hole was… I couldn’t stop reading until I knew, so I definitely identified with the obsession the characters had with the hole (the word ‘hole’ crops up quite a lot in the course of the story, for obvious reasons!). Oh, and I particularly liked the possibilities introduced with a certain uncertain character midway through – I could definitely read more stories centred on that particular brand of mind-bending potential!
Fans of The Magnus Archives and similar horror stories – cleverly constructed so as not to answer the questions but to pose them to the reader and allow them to help to scare themselves – will enjoy this foray into the darkness beneath. And as an added bonus, the author has included some related short stories set in and around the ‘hole’ event time and place, as a neat bit of extra worldbuilding.
If you decide to read this after dark, just remember to stay well back from the edge…
'Where once were a host of lovely communal flowers, and a little patch of grass for the children to play upon, now sat this alien abyss. There were no chips to suggest it was dug, nor any tools to suggest who may have dug it.
It was just there, a perfect circle leading down into the ground.'
– Oli Jacobs, Deep Down There
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2022/02/24/deep-down-there-oli-jacobs/
Deep Down There starts a little slowly, then builds into a gripping horror story.
In terms of both style and content, it falls somewhere between psychological horror and Lovecraftian horror, with the reader only given glimpses and hints of the ‘Big Bad’, leaving the fear to percolate in your imagination until the eventual climactic reveal.
The focus of the story is on the mysterious hole that has appeared and what might be down it, so while we follow mum-and-widow Hannah as a main character, and grow somewhat attached to her and her neighbours, the characters feel less important than the unfolding events that happen to and around them. I think the author could have taken pretty much any characters and slotted them into this plot, and still got the same horror-effect from the reader. That said, it was a nice touch that these particular neighbours had secrets of their own to hide! It added an extra dimension to the tension, to know that Hannah had human perfidy to deal with alongside the eldritch monsters.
But mainly, I wanted to know what was down the hole, what made the hole, what the purpose of the hole was… I couldn’t stop reading until I knew, so I definitely identified with the obsession the characters had with the hole (the word ‘hole’ crops up quite a lot in the course of the story, for obvious reasons!). Oh, and I particularly liked the possibilities introduced with a certain uncertain character midway through – I could definitely read more stories centred on that particular brand of mind-bending potential!
Fans of The Magnus Archives and similar horror stories – cleverly constructed so as not to answer the questions but to pose them to the reader and allow them to help to scare themselves – will enjoy this foray into the darkness beneath. And as an added bonus, the author has included some related short stories set in and around the ‘hole’ event time and place, as a neat bit of extra worldbuilding.
If you decide to read this after dark, just remember to stay well back from the edge…
'Where once were a host of lovely communal flowers, and a little patch of grass for the children to play upon, now sat this alien abyss. There were no chips to suggest it was dug, nor any tools to suggest who may have dug it.
It was just there, a perfect circle leading down into the ground.'
– Oli Jacobs, Deep Down There
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2022/02/24/deep-down-there-oli-jacobs/
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