The Cut by C.J. Dotson is a haunting supernatural horror novel with a compelling premise and some genuinely creepy moments, but it didn’t fully land for me.

Sadie Miles is easy to root for—a young mother escaping abuse, just trying to build a new life for herself and her toddler at the eerie, decaying L’Arpin Hotel. From her first unsettling night there, it’s clear something isn’t right. Guests vanish, the staff is suspiciously evasive, and strange things skitter in the shadows (and the walls... and the plumbing). As Sadie investigates, the story builds tension well and leans into psychological horror in a way that had me second-guessing what was real, just like Sadie.

Where the book shines is in its atmosphere—Dotson really knows how to write an eerie setting. The hotel oozes with menace, and the creepy imagery (especially in the bathrooms and hallways) gave me chills. Sadie’s trauma adds a meaningful layer to her paranoia, giving weight to her refusal to be gaslit again.

That said, the pacing felt uneven. Some plot threads were left underdeveloped, especially around the supernatural elements. I wanted more backstory on the hotel and its malevolent forces—what we do get feels a bit surface-level. Secondary characters also felt flat, which weakened the stakes as things unraveled.

If you enjoy psychological horror with a claustrophobic setting and themes of survival and motherhood, this one is worth checking out. Just go in expecting more vibes than full resolution.

Pre-Read notes

Didn't know a thing about this, but it's a horror stories set on Lake Erie, so I'm loving the familiar territory.

The opening scene is scary as heck!

Final Review

Review summary and recommendations

I really had fun with this book, despite any shortcomings it had. I live in a small town on Lake Erie, so I really enjoyed the monster aspect of this one!

Reading Notes

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. I'm listening to this one and it's a fun, easy listen. It's got lots of good creepy suspense.

2. The supernatural element is fresh and also terrifying. Can't wait to solve the mystery of it!

3. Wow the horror elements are so subtle and terrifying, like not being able to as her parents for help with her kid because her mom tried to smuggle the kid to a "chicken pox party".

4. Always jumping at shadows, always trying not to run down any ill-lit hallway. Teaching Izzy that fear, teaching it to the new baby. Never trusting, and leaving that as her legacy. What kind of life would her children have, if she had only that to give them? p67 Intergenerational trauma is such fertile material for the horror genre, and I love how Dotson uses this theme.

5. The choice to include two separate antagonists was an unusual one, and I think this technique could easily have gone awry. But I really like how Dotson treats these two elements, how the antagonists in turn bol a ter each other and then undermine each other.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. The setup is a little slow, but there's enough suspense to keep things moving!

2. Great suspense, but can't decide if it's domestic suspense or creature horror.

3. The introduction to the fmc's romantic interest is a bit much, both overly dramatic and clichéd.

4. I don't think we needed the flashbacks to the domestic violence and the main character's escaping her toxic situation. It doesn't do anything for the story or character development.

Rating: 🪱🪱🪱.5 /5 weird tentacle things
Recommend? yes!
Finished: Mar 25 '25
Format: accessible digital arc, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🦖 monster horror
🏡 domestic thrillers
🏞 water settings

Thank you to the author, C.J. Dotson, publishers St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of THE CUT. All views are mine.
---------------

The good:
Haunted hotel - YES.
Single mother, fleeing from abuse and trying to survive - good for the plot.
The first 70-75 pages - full of promise!
The cover - I hattttteeeee slimy wormy things so this did the trick.
Hotel owner - shady, shady, shady.
Residents - all weirdos.
The bathtub noises - puke. (perfect)

The bad:
The slowwwww pace - I like a slow burn, but this was slug-like.
"Stinker" - omg, please stop.
Romance - not needed, at all.
The second half of the book/story - *fart noise*

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I didn't really have a problem with this horror, but I wasn't obsessed with it either. I think I'm not the biggest fan of horror book draws a parallel with supernatural horror where no one believes and supports the Woman and real life horror of domestic abuse where no one believes and supports the Woman but if you like that, you'd probably love this book!

The horror was very effective and tense once it finally happened, but we were not cooking with gas, we were cooking with two sticks and a dream. It just took too long to ramp up, the setup was unnecessarily long.

I really enjoyed the first half of this one. The tension and suspense kept me hooked! When I discovered this was a monster horror, I got even more excited. I haven't read a lot of good monster stories. The second half got pretty repetitive. Every "stinker" made me cringe. Dialogue was repetitive and didn't answer any of the questions I was hoping the story would eventually answer.

I didn't understand why becoming some sort of algae creature would lead to immortality. Or why it wasn't working and Greta was so desperate to keep testing on people? And why she wanted children especially? It just felt like a lot that needed to come together. I was expecting the monsters to be some kind of mutation from the power plant on the lake, so the fountain of youth idea seemed very strange and out of place.

Overall, it was ok.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Cut is a frightful supernatural horror novel that hooks the reader right away.

At the seedy, abandoned Hotel L'Arpin along the desolate Lake Erie shore, the story follows Sadie Miles—a pregnant woman seeking escape from an abusive history. Dotson masterfully constructs an atmosphere reminiscent of the classic haunted hotel tales, which sweeps readers into a world where walls whisper.

The book is enhanced by the creepy atmosphere and sense of foreboding that pervades the hotel. The "creepy atmosphere" and "haunted hotel vibes" made me curious to read the book. Sadie's determination to protect her child provides emotional depth and makes her a sympathetic figure.

For those interested: the book has a tight pace, but the twists are what kept me going. I read this in nearly 2 days, I was so immersed!

This is a must-read for fans of atmospheric horror, and it gets a solid 4 stars from me.

Imagine a low budget, high-shock value older style horror movie - shot mostly in the dark, at night, in a sketchy hotel with creepy dark corners and weird puddles everywhere. In that vein, this is a pretty entertaining read.

Sadie is on the run - fleeing from an abusive boyfriend with her daughter. Icing on the cake - she's also pregnant. So she stops at the first hotel she finds that is not only offering a job in housekeeping but also offering to give her a room for free. It helps that the little old lady in the lobby is willing to babysit for free too! It's the break Sadie needs to get back on her feet.

But the hotel is odd. It smells, it leaks - and far too many people seem to go missing around it. From here, the story is Sadie investigating trying to figure out what's going on - all the while shuffling her daughter around as she works and saves money.

This isn't a deep read - keeping it light and older style horror movie shocking kept it entertaining and fun.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

1.5 rounded up
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

We follow Sadie—pregnant and expecting her second child—just as she manages to leave her abusive ex. The woman is incredibly grateful for the job as a maid at <i>L'Arpin Hotel</i> along Lake Eerie, as it provides a fresh start via income and a place to live. Yet as time goes on, odd occurences and missing people begin to pile up around the establishment with the staff carrying on as normal.

Sadie must be brave once again, heeding her instincts for survival to protect herself and her young children, refusing to look the other way from wrongness as so many did towards her past relationship. Something is haunting, stalking, dripping around the hotel and its prey best be wary.

I've mentioned in previous reviews how very much I dislike pregnancy stories, however the addition here raises the stakes for a horror novel. The paranoia Sadie feels towards every little thing may irritate some readers, but is perfectly understandable for someone who just barely escaped an abusive partner. Whereas other characters could run or fight with ease, she has many more steps and considerations in play to keep her kids safe.

Additionally, as a born-and-raised Michigander (how I hate that's our title), any novel set in our section of the Midwest piques my interest. The Lake States and the people who live along them have a culture all our own. The water is a part of life—the constant background of existence—which is a fact many people only attribute to ocean dwellers for some reason.

What's ominous in reality, and what's a paranoia induced hallucination? Is something sinister truly afoot or is Sadie just suffering from PTSD? Is she being lied to by the staff, there's no way this many people check out in a hurry... or do they??

This is an interesting premise and quite the speedy read, however this feels more like a Thriller than Horror novel. It definitely has creepy and bloody moments, but the sheer level of repetition throughout did nothing for rising tension and fear, if anything it ruined it for me. People who enjoy modern Thrillers, but want something darker in tone, toeing the line of Horror will definitely have more fun than I did.

This is Cosmic Horror... or it's supposed to be. More than secretive dealings and spacey monsters/entities are needed to belong in this genre for my tastes. This story wants so so so bad to be a prestige mini series instead of a novel, which is a shame as another round of edits to make this a longer novella i stead of a novel would have erased many reader's complaints.

Also.. wtf is that nickname for her kid?? Every time Sadie called Izzie "stinker" I physically cringed.

This book immediately sucks you in! The plot is very much like a few early 2000s horror movies. It was a fun ride, there was no lag in the storyline, and although I guessed the outcome early on, I was never bored. I really enjoyed the pacing and would absolutely recommend this this to a fan of horror!

A bold new voice in horror oozes forth!!

CJ Dotson has a writing style that sets a reader’s mind on edge. It’s full of suspense with an inviting tone, bringing in elements of horror, thriller, and pulse-pounding action! The Cut delivers on the promise of unease. Sadie is a mother attempting to protect herself and her daughter, fleeing from an abusive situation and landing an illustrious and historic hotel. However, the seemingly perfect salvation won’t be perfect for long!

CJ Dotson has generated a harrowing tale in these pages. It never felt like the plot got slow, I found myself devouring the story, needing to know what was going to happen next. The mystery being only one element that kept me hooked. The heart behind this story is another driving force. Readers will be rooting for Sadie and begging for her success, knowing that she is a mother doing her best and deserving all the best in return.

The climax of the story hits with an impact second to few. It’s a glowing, garish, and green finale that readers will be talking about for months after they finish! Perfect for fans of books like Something In The Walls by Daisy Pearce and Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero or movies like Slither or The Cabin in the Woods!

The Cut was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 but I can’t do it anymore. I’m dnfing this one 25% in. The writing style just isn’t for me. Things seem so repetitive for example the mom calls her daughter stinker every single time she talks to her. I tried to push through but I can’t get into the writing style.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

✨The Cut by C.J. Dotson ✨

Let’s talk about The Cut by C.J. Dotson! I was kindly sent an e-arc of this via NetGalley!

The book follows a woman on the run from her abusive ex-fiancé. Sadie fled with with her young daughter. They wind up at a historic hotel where Sadie winds up getting a job and a place to live. But odd things are happening in the hotel. People are vanishing, and Sadie keeps seeing a weird tentacle creature around the place. The more Sadie investigates, the more she reveals about the hotel’s past.

I started this book out absolutely loving it. I really enjoyed the nods to The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby. The hotel immediately intrigued me along with the people within. But I feel as the novel progressed, things became a bit repetitive to me. The kid’s nickname started to get on my nerves. At the 70% mark things picked up! Monsters started coming out of the wood work.

Read this if you’re looking for:

✨Creepy Hotel Vibes
✨Tentacle Creatures
✨Mystery/sleuthing

Catch this one on April 8th!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one around the 20% mark. Wasn’t my vibe, didn’t connect to the story, writing or characters.

This was....fine?

I wouldn't really call this horror, it's definitely more psychological thriller--the entire premise is based on Sadie escaping an abusive relationship and reliving her trauma while also seemingly losing her mind. The premise was interesting enough--she has to escape an abusive partner with her toddler, and she ends up working in a creepy hotel where things get extra creepy.

But the plot is SO SLOW. The first 50% of the story are just rehashing the abuse Sadie went through and calling her daughter "stinker" every two seconds. Even when the story finally gets going, it's definitely not really worth the effort it takes to get there. I think with 100 more pages and a reduction of the middle section by half, this would have been a REALLY good story. But as it is, it's a fast thriller read, but I'd say it's pretty forgettable.

If you're looking for a fast thriller that you can read in a day and you can zone out reading but maintain the plot, this is for you! It was well written and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I definitely wouldn't pick it up again.

Something isn't right at the L'Arpin. Sadie thought it would be a sanctuary after she left her ex- after all, it's a place she can live and work and care for her little daughter Izzy. But there's a creepy thing involving puddles of water. Is she being gas lighted or is there a monster? The set up for this is better than the outcome but I found myself rooting for Sadie despite some bad decisions and the implausibility of the story. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. No spoilers for me. More psychological than real horror.

I thought this book had an interesting premise and I was excited to read it. The main character escapes her abusive relationship and goes to this small town with her young daughter to work at this hotel. The residents of the town are weird, the hotel is creepy, and the atmosphere is eerie. I loved the isolated setting and the ominous vibes.

While I did love the setting and vibe of this book, the pacing was so slow. It seemed to take forever to get to the horror action and I did start to lose interest in the story. The majority of the book was focused on the MC trying to rebuild her life with her young daughter and worrying about her abusive ex finding them. A lot of the action does not happen until around the last twenty percent of the book. I was not a fan of the ending. It seemed very anticlimactic to me.

Overall, I loved the vibe of the story but I wanted more from the plot.

This one just has some god awful reviews, I’m so bummed, ended up DNFing it over the repeated nick name stinker

C.J. Dotson's The Cut is a suspenseful and gripping thriller that blends elements of domestic drama with supernatural horror. Set in an eerie hotel, the novel follows Sadie, a woman fleeing an abusive relationship, and her young daughter Izzy. As Sadie seeks a fresh start, hoping to escape her violent past and provide a safer future for her unborn child, the hotel quickly proves to be anything but a sanctuary.
What stands out in The Cut is Sadie's growth throughout the novel. From a woman who is initially vulnerable and unsure of herself, she gradually taps into a well of inner strength as she fights for her survival and her children's safety. Her courage and resilience are both inspiring and relatable, making her a compelling protagonist to root for.
Overall, The Cut is a thrilling mix of psychological drama and supernatural horror, with a strong and determined lead who proves that sometimes survival requires confronting both your past and the monsters in your way. C.J. Dotson crafts a tense, atmospheric novel that keeps you turning pages until the very end, leaving you questioning what’s real and what’s not, and whether some monsters are truly gone for good.

Oh Sadie, how you really worked my last nerve, you stinker.

In The Cut, a pregnant woman escapes an abusive relationship with her three year old daughter in tow, and ends up taking a housekeeping job in an old hotel. The hotel manager Mr. Dryer takes pity on her and allows her to stay in one of the rooms for free, and she quickly befriends a kindly, long term guest named Gertie, who offers to help babysit her daughter while she works.

Within Sadie's first day at the hotel, there are strange wet noises in the hallway, random damp spots on the walls and hallway rugs, and she's witness to an incident from her window, where a guest appears to be drowning in the pool, though when she rushes out there to help, no one is around, the pool is calm and serene, the only evidence of anything untoward is the quickly drying wet drag mark on the concrete.

Mr. Dryer seems wholly unconcerned when Sadie reports it. She tries to put the weird experience behind her until the next day when she learns a guest has failed to check out and take their stuff, and notices dried blood in a tub during one of her routine cleaning jobs. And let's not mention the slimy little tentacled things that appear on the floor of her own tub while she's taking a shower... although, when she grabs Mr. Dryer again, all of the evidence is gone when he takes a look.

Is she losing her shit or is something horrible hiding just beneath the surface of the L'Arpin Hotel? And is Mr. Dyer and the rest of the staff behind it? And what of old lady Gertie, who always happens to show up right after the weird stuff takes place?

Dotson immediately sucks us in with all the strange shenanigans. I had so many questions, you guys. But then it just got meh and kept on meh-ing. There was so much to look forward to, yet so many annoyances kept popping up. The repetitive rehashing of the abuse she took, the constant fits and tantrums and coddling of her daughter, the whole not feeling safe but then running off to check things out and leaving her little girl alone, asleep in the hotel room, and even then when she was out there spying around, talking herself out of everything she saw, it got old quick. So when the real shit starting hitting the fan, I was more perturbed and less hanging on every word, because I had kind of figured out what was going on before we got there and just wanted to get it over with.

A solid three star. Less if I focus on the all the ways Sadie annoyed me and the overall execution of the book, but for the creepy, cosmic weird plot it certainly deserves more.

#ad many thanks for my advance copy @stmartinspress #partner
& @netgalley + @macmillan.audio for the ALC

🆃🅷🅴 🅲🆄🆃
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ᴀᴘʀɪʟ 𝟪, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟧

The Cut by C.J Dotson is a slow-burn horror that delivers all the creepy vibes. If you enjoy monster horror then this book was made for you.

Sadie has just found out she’s pregnant again. Engaged to Sam, her abusive finance, Sadie knows she needs to escape him and this pregnancy only exasperates this feeling. Gathering a few clothes and toys for her 3-year-old Izzy, Sadie flees while Sam is out.

Izzy and Sadie land at the L’Arpin hotel where Sadie gets a job as a maid and a free room to live for a bit. But there’s weird things happening here. Water smells and stains, blood in the tubs. Sadie saw a woman fully clothed thrashing around in the pool before the woman disappeared. Something is wrong here Sadie can sense it.

Struggling through PTSD, Sadie has flashbacks and Sam is blowing up her phone begging for her to come back. Is she far enough away from him; is she safe here?

I enjoyed this book mostly but I think it would have been better with a faster pace. While the narrative into Sadie’s mind was compelling, it sometimes overshadowed the plot of the book. But once the action kicked off I couldn’t put this book down.

The audio was perfect. Most narrators irk me with their kid voices, but Jenn Lee does a phenomenal job narrating this book.

The Cut would make an excellent limited series! As I read this I could see how episodes would come together in my mind. It’s one of those books that I think would be better as a TV show than a book. 3 stars - only bc much of the book nothing was happening. Action wise, just suspicions and weird things. Not a page-turner (sorries 😭).

It wasn’t until chapter 18 that I was finally really enjoying this book. The last 3/4th of the story was exciting and fun. It then became a page turner.

Will def read future books by this author.

What really saved this book for me was the author’s message about strength not coming from people surviving an abusive situation, but that that strength was already in them all along. DV is a matter that is close to my heart for personal reasons. And I 💯 support and appreciate this message.

Triggers: DV
People might not like: calling her kid “Stinker” lol - supplying alcohol to kids under 21. Gaslighting