Review: The Cut by C.J. Dotson (Contains Spoilers)

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

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There will be spoilers in this review, but the part where they will be is clearly marked by text in a red box saying there will be spoilers below, with another red box where they end.

The book: The Cut by C.J. Dotson

Content warnings

• Domestic violence
• Pregnancy?

The synopsis (from memory)

Sadie, newly pregnant, is on the LAM (did I use that right?) with her three year old as they escape her abusive ex. They find themselves at L’Arpin Hotel on Lake Eerie with a job, a place to stay, and a lovely old lady neighbor, Gertie, while she gets back on her feet.

One night, she sees a woman drown in the pool at the hotel and begins an investigation. She starts to hear squelching noises and see strange creatures around the hotel (where she lives and works). She continues to search for answers.

Buy The Cut here

The good

The cover: I think the cover is the main reason I wanted to read this. I honestly don’t even know if I read the description at all, even before I started reading it. It’s a fantastically weird cover.

The premise: The concept of this is wonderful. I love the idea of it, but that’s it.

Vibes in the beginning: The vibes in the beginning of this are great. You’re a little on edge and things are weird, but you’re not totally sure why. Then once things start to happen, that just goes away.

The grievances

The kid: I think this was my realization that I don’t enjoy kids in horror and thrillers unless they’re like, a major active character. To me, Izzy was not that. She was just there and kind of annoying.

I don’t hate the idea of her being involved/included in this, but I think it would have been better if she was like, six at least and could do more than say “opay” and cry and argue.

The change of concept: The cover very much gives “weird creature monster” vibes, which we do get. The beginning of this makes it seem like it will be a domestic violence horror though.

Then, we start to get the creatures and it becomes creature horror. It’s just a weird mix of the two that I don’t particularly think worked.

The development: Nothing seems to happen for like, 70% of this, then everything happens but still really isn’t exciting? I wish we got more throughout the whole beginning section than we did.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THE SECTION BELOW!

Confusing: While the beginning wasn’t particularly confusing, once things started happening and we started finding out what was going on, things became confusing to me.

One thing in particular was confusing to me. In some other reviews, they said Sadie kept her phone which meant Sam (the ex) could use location services to find her. I don’t remember reading that in the book at all? I thought Gertie said she lured him there for.. reasons I don’t remember.

Then, I thought Mel monster killed him but he appeared again later (I do remember Sadie telling Mel to stop hurting him, but why!?) and.. did die?

I was also confused about where this excavation equipment came from and how this escape happened and where this stolen car came from. I was reading this before bed so that could have been part of it, but I did see things like this mentioned in other reviews, too.

And now that I’m thinking about it, why is Gertie fine when she drinks the water but other people/critters become weird radioactive(?) monster things?

The lack of answers: We did not get answers in this and I have a whole list of them.

• Why was everything green?
• Where did the monsters come from?
• Did the power plant really have nothing to do with this?
• How did the hotel and Gertie end up like this?
• Why does no one care that Gertie is doing this?
• Was she just sacrificing random people? For why?
• If the spring is in the hotel, how are these animals turning into monster things? Why do animals turn into monsters but people don’t? Or only some people do?
• Where are all the other people affected by this?
• How come the rest of Lake Eerie isn’t affected by this?

The absurdity: The whole book isn’t absurd, maybe absurdity isn’t even the right word to describe it, but some things just really pulled me out of the story because they either didn’t make sense or we’re just weird.

• Three bedroom house: Why on Earth is Sadie, a single mom with a three year old and baby on the way, literally living at a hotel barely scraping by, looking to rent a THREE BEDROOM HOUSE?
• Mel as a monster: I just thought this was ridiculous.
• The woman drowning: Literally where did this woman go? Did she just disappear?

SPOILERS ARE FINISHED NOW

Should I read The Cut?

Mmm, I don’t want to just say no because I know there are people out there that will like this, and it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever read, but I would prioritize other books first.

Have you read The Cut? What did you think of it? Do you want to read it?