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hazeyjane_2's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
It was an atmospheric, terrifying book. The horrors just kept coming and the stakes were high: creature after creature. My only criticisms are that the characters weren't terribly developed - but then you don't expect that from this sort of book - and that the middle could've used some trimming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit
billymac1962's review against another edition
5.0
I've read a ton of horror novels and I've seen it all: I've seen ideas hashed and rehashed by masters and hacks.
Dead Sea did something that only a few have succeeded in doing.
It scared the crap out of me.
I love the sea. Every year we vacation to someplace warm where I can be close to it, where I can simply gaze at it, swim in it, or take a diving excursion. This year may be different, because each time I venture into its warm embrace, I don't think a second will pass that I don't think of the terror I experienced reading Dead Sea.
This is a novel of the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil's Triangle, if you will.
Curran comes up with a spectacular tour-de-force here. Not only can he horrify the reader, but the story and his ideas make this a very satisfying novel. Much has been said of this book needing an editor, and I can certainly get that. But even though there is a definite over-descriptiveness happening here, I can't get many of his descriptions out of my head.
They say that the Inuit have forty words for snow. I think Curran could easily top that. He digs into his extensive vocabulary to describe the fog, derelict ships, horrors, in so many creative ways, that on one hand, it gets to the point of, “Okay, I get it already.” But on the other hand, many of these descriptions approach brilliance, and having finished the novel, I can't imagine cutting any of them.
I do have a bone to pick, though.When I looked this book up on Goodreads, it said the page count was around 330 pages. I feel duped, because I was expecting a short read (which I wanted), and what I got was a 570 page (I just switched editions for this review so I'm not ripped off of my yearly pages read total...like that matters, but hey.) marathon though the dead sea. And these are dense pages! It got to the point where I was fixated on my Kindle's progress bar as I'd be clicking page after page (I counted: 27 times Yes, this means poor Bill is fixated) to move one percent.
Eventually I got wise and placed a thin strip of duct tape across the bottom so I wouldn't know. Huge difference!
This allowed me to fully absorb myself in this, and boy, did I.
The duct tape is there to stay, by the way.
Okay, rambling aside, I highly recommend this novel to everyone who fancies themselves horror or even sci-fi aficionados. This is easily a five star read, and holy crap, would this make a kick-ass movie. Scariest read in years. Well done, Mr Curran.
Dead Sea did something that only a few have succeeded in doing.
It scared the crap out of me.
I love the sea. Every year we vacation to someplace warm where I can be close to it, where I can simply gaze at it, swim in it, or take a diving excursion. This year may be different, because each time I venture into its warm embrace, I don't think a second will pass that I don't think of the terror I experienced reading Dead Sea.
This is a novel of the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil's Triangle, if you will.
Curran comes up with a spectacular tour-de-force here. Not only can he horrify the reader, but the story and his ideas make this a very satisfying novel. Much has been said of this book needing an editor, and I can certainly get that. But even though there is a definite over-descriptiveness happening here, I can't get many of his descriptions out of my head.
They say that the Inuit have forty words for snow. I think Curran could easily top that. He digs into his extensive vocabulary to describe the fog, derelict ships, horrors, in so many creative ways, that on one hand, it gets to the point of, “Okay, I get it already.” But on the other hand, many of these descriptions approach brilliance, and having finished the novel, I can't imagine cutting any of them.
I do have a bone to pick, though.When I looked this book up on Goodreads, it said the page count was around 330 pages. I feel duped, because I was expecting a short read (which I wanted), and what I got was a 570 page (I just switched editions for this review so I'm not ripped off of my yearly pages read total...like that matters, but hey.) marathon though the dead sea. And these are dense pages! It got to the point where I was fixated on my Kindle's progress bar as I'd be clicking page after page (I counted: 27 times Yes, this means poor Bill is fixated) to move one percent.
Eventually I got wise and placed a thin strip of duct tape across the bottom so I wouldn't know. Huge difference!
This allowed me to fully absorb myself in this, and boy, did I.
The duct tape is there to stay, by the way.
Okay, rambling aside, I highly recommend this novel to everyone who fancies themselves horror or even sci-fi aficionados. This is easily a five star read, and holy crap, would this make a kick-ass movie. Scariest read in years. Well done, Mr Curran.
the_enobee's review
4.0
Dead Sea was an incredible blend of science fiction and horror with a sprinkling of mystery, action and humor to even things out. This book did have its faults, but the overwhelming fun factor easily vaulted me over those issues. Curran tackles quite a few types of horror, which I don't want to get into to avoid spoilers. Suffice it to say that if you're in the mood for a sci-fi-infused Lovecraftian creature fest, step right this way.
abbeleas's review against another edition
1.0
I'm sorry but this was just atrocious
Kudos for the red tentacled thingy, that was good stuff, tho
Kudos for the red tentacled thingy, that was good stuff, tho
dantastic's review
4.0
A freighter bound for South America gets enshrouded in a fog bank and emerges in another dimension, a graveyard of ships choked with carnivorous weeds, tentacled nasties of all shape and size, and a mysterious entity that wants them all dead. But will the survivors of the initial shipwreck manage to avoid killing one another long enough to escape horrors beyond human understanding?
Geek Alert: When I was a kid, I was way into cryptids, UFOs, and, of course, the mysteries of the sea. Since this book references both Bermuda Triangle and the Sargasso Sea, I was all over it.
Dead Sea is a paranoid survival horror story, very much a forerunner of Tim Curran's upcoming novella, Blackout. Two groups of survivors fight for their lives against horrible crustacean-fish things, squid- and jellyfish-like horrors, spidery things, and all sorts of other things that man was never meant to lay eyes upon.
Curran mines centuries of sea lore and spins something approaching gold with it. I'm not in a hurry to return to the ocean after reading this or even put my toe in any body of water that I can't see the bottom of. The characters gradually slide closer to the edge of sanity as they encounter centuries old ships and the squamous horrors of a world with two moons and time that flows differently than ours.
The characters do a lot to keep the story going forward. When the horror doesn't come from the environment, it comes from the disintegrating sanity of the shipmates and from Saks, the biggest asshole this side of Galactus's. Seriously, I could not wait for the rest of the survivors punch his ticket.
The ending was pretty satisfying. In a tale like this, you don't expect happily ever after, just a handful of characters better off than the rest. That's pretty much what we got.
In many ways, this book feels like a trial run for Blackout. For me, Blackout is Dead Sea 2.0, a condensed and refined version of the original. If Dead Sea is beer, Blackout is fine bourbon. Since I can't really fault Curran's earlier work being as spectacular as his most recent stuff, I'm still giving this a four, even though it had to work for it.
Geek Alert: When I was a kid, I was way into cryptids, UFOs, and, of course, the mysteries of the sea. Since this book references both Bermuda Triangle and the Sargasso Sea, I was all over it.
Dead Sea is a paranoid survival horror story, very much a forerunner of Tim Curran's upcoming novella, Blackout. Two groups of survivors fight for their lives against horrible crustacean-fish things, squid- and jellyfish-like horrors, spidery things, and all sorts of other things that man was never meant to lay eyes upon.
Curran mines centuries of sea lore and spins something approaching gold with it. I'm not in a hurry to return to the ocean after reading this or even put my toe in any body of water that I can't see the bottom of. The characters gradually slide closer to the edge of sanity as they encounter centuries old ships and the squamous horrors of a world with two moons and time that flows differently than ours.
The characters do a lot to keep the story going forward. When the horror doesn't come from the environment, it comes from the disintegrating sanity of the shipmates and from Saks, the biggest asshole this side of Galactus's. Seriously, I could not wait for the rest of the survivors punch his ticket.
The ending was pretty satisfying. In a tale like this, you don't expect happily ever after, just a handful of characters better off than the rest. That's pretty much what we got.
In many ways, this book feels like a trial run for Blackout. For me, Blackout is Dead Sea 2.0, a condensed and refined version of the original. If Dead Sea is beer, Blackout is fine bourbon. Since I can't really fault Curran's earlier work being as spectacular as his most recent stuff, I'm still giving this a four, even though it had to work for it.
siriuschico's review
5.0
Dead sea is hard to digest five-star horror book. I was tempted to put the book away after the first few pages as the dialogues and behaviour of the characters are astonishingly bad. Even the development of the main characters was a bit off, but I still need to give this book five stars. Why? Well, this was the most atmospheric horror book I have read since some of the best Lovecraft stories. It is an amazing and unique world which we are presented here, and I would love to visit it once more.
shan198025's review against another edition
3.0
This was soooooo looooooong. The beginning started off great and the end was good (even a little too fast) but the middle dragged on and on and on. Also glad some people lived while others didn't.
catbooking's review against another edition
3.0
It would have been 4 stars if not for the last section. The first 2/3 of the book were great, creepy atmosphere, dumb characters getting picked off one by one by creepy creatures, things getting progressively worse. I was eating popcorn and enjoying watching everyone die in inventive ways, and then the 'rescue' happened.
Can someone explain to me the purpose of Elizabeth as a character? Was she the solution when Curran wrote himself into a corner? Was she there to provide food and be mansplained at? Was she a love interest?
Besides the spoiler above it felt like the narrative jumped the shark, as much as the book about a haunted sea can jump the shark, in the last section of the book. Unexplained things are creepy because they are unexplained, there is no need for half baked explanations trying to make sense of everything.
Not sure if I will be reading another Curran book. On the one hand I really enjoyed it, and the writing itself is pretty good, but on the other hand there were a lot of things that felt like a pebble in the shoe that just ruined the whole thing.
Spoiler
Can someone explain to me the purpose of Elizabeth as a character? Was she the solution when Curran wrote himself into a corner? Was she there to provide food and be mansplained at? Was she a love interest?
Besides the spoiler above it felt like the narrative jumped the shark, as much as the book about a haunted sea can jump the shark, in the last section of the book. Unexplained things are creepy because they are unexplained, there is no need for half baked explanations trying to make sense of everything.
Not sure if I will be reading another Curran book. On the one hand I really enjoyed it, and the writing itself is pretty good, but on the other hand there were a lot of things that felt like a pebble in the shoe that just ruined the whole thing.
linbee83's review
5.0
Several times while reading this book, I had to stop and remind myself that I was on dry land, and that the monsters couldn't get me. Curran's writing is intense, well-spoken, and scary as all hell. I felt at times that the descriptions were long-winded and superfluous, but honestly, considering the world he was trying to paint it can be forgiven!
No, I loved this wild ride of a book. I look forward to more of his works!
No, I loved this wild ride of a book. I look forward to more of his works!
readerxxx's review
2.0
Just couldn't finish. Very repetitive, could have been really good if condensed.