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

Let’s rip the Band-Aid off: The Cut is like swaggering into a Michelin-star joint, drooling for a juicy cheeseburger, and getting served a soggy saltine with a ketchup skid mark and a whiff of meat that might’ve waved hello from the kitchen. It’s got a badass cover that screams “fuck yeah,” a premise that could slay, and all the trappings of a creature-feature horror banger—except it lands somewhere between a melodramatic soap opera and a limp-dick episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? that even Nickelodeon would’ve flushed.

C.J. Dotson’s a fresh face in the horror pit, and props to her—she’s clearly got a raging boner for the genre. You can practically smell the love for The Shining and The Mist oozing off the pages like the mystery slime dripping from her haunted hotel’s crusty pipes. But this debut? It’s less a story and more a mushy valentine to every horror trope in the book. There’s raw talent here, sure, but it’s drowning under dialogue so clunky it could sink a ship and characters so shallow they’d lose a staring contest with a puddle.

Meet Sadie Miles, our preggo protagonist, hauling ass from her shitbag ex-fiancé with her toddler, Izzy (aka “Stinker”—a nickname hammered so hard you’d think it’s tattooed on the kid’s forehead). They wash up at the L’Arpin Hotel on Lake Erie’s grimy shores—a crumbling dump that’s basically a neon sign blinking “TRAP” in blood-red letters. Naturally, Sadie snags a job and a free room, because horror novel. Cue the weird wall noises, vanishing coworkers, and staff who act like they’ve had their souls sucked out through a straw. Oh, and there’s something slimy in the pipes that’s itching to tentacle its way into your dreams—or maybe your womb. Classic haunted-shithole vibes.

The real horror’s split between the squelching, fishy abominations (think B-movie rejects with a greenish flubber fetish) and Sadie’s own baggage, which the book smartly frames as the root of her paranoia and grit. Too bad it’s bogged down by repetition and character arcs flatter than a steamrolled pancake—otherwise, we might’ve actually given a shit about her. The Cut wants to be a deep-dive buffet of trauma, gaslighting, isolation, and abuse—both the domestic kind and the cosmic, tentacle-waving variety. It flirts with eco-horror (Lake Erie’s basically a cesspool with attitude), maternal dread, and a sprinkle of body-horror grossness. The hotel’s a solid stand-in for abuse cycles: a leaky shelter that screws you over, staffed by assholes who wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire. Sadie’s pregnancy and the water freaks tie into some nasty invasion metaphors. It’s got ideas, alright—they’re just half-baked, underseasoned, and left on the counter to rot.

Dotson’s prose swings from “damn, that’s creepy” to “oh, fuck me, really?” The L’Arpin Hotel’s slime-slick dread sticks to you like wet dog hair, but then someone talks, and it’s like a sledgehammer of awkward dialogue and the 47th “opay” (Izzy’s toddler gibberish for “okay”) smacks you awake. If that kid were real, I’d yeet her into speech class. In a book? Edit that shit down, for the love of God. Sadie’s inner monologues loop like a broken record—apparently, Dotson thinks we’ll forget she’s desperate to GTFO if she doesn’t scream it every five minutes. The character chit-chat feels like it was scraped from a Lifetime movie’s cutting-room floor. Real people don’t spew vague trauma metaphors at strangers like it’s open mic night—someone tell Dotson.

Strengths
Credit where it’s due: the setting’s creepy as balls. The L’Arpin Hotel sweats decay like a hungover frat boy, and the water motif—drippy walls, sketchy puddles, pipe-lurking tentacle fuckers—hits that sweet spot of “what’s under the bed?” unease. The creatures have a Lovecraftian slither that could’ve been pants-shittingly scary with better timing and punch. Too bad they stumble in late and fizzle like a wet firecracker.

Critiques

Pacing? More Like Pacing Yourself to Death
The first half crawls slower than a sloth on Xanax, slogging through Sadie’s brain vomit and Izzy’s babble. The back half? It’s a plot-twist pileup that derails faster than a drunk Uber driver. You don’t build tension by boring us to tears and then yeeting the kitchen sink at us— that’s just narrative whiplash, baby.

Characters Flatter Than a Pancake’s Ass
Sadie’s 100% trauma, 0% personality. Everyone else is either Shady McShadeface or a walking “fuck you” button. Gertie, the old babysitter, is the only one with a heartbeat—and she’s still just Creepy Granny Plot Device. Mr. Drye, the manager? He’s got the charisma of a soggy tax form.

Dialogue That’ll Make You Gouge Your Ears Out
If I hear “Mama loves you” one more time, I’m billing Dotson for my therapy. The repetition’s so bad it’s like the characters are stuck in a glitchy NPC loop.

Logic Takes a Vacation
Water monsters? Fine. Creepy staff? Sure. But Sadie poking around security footage instead of hauling ass with her kid and bun-in-the-oven? That’s when the story’s brain checks out and leaves us holding the bag.

The Cut could’ve been The Shining meets The Mist with a feminist kick in the nuts. Instead, it’s Scooby-Doo on sedatives, swinging a rubber mallet of subtlety and sporting the emotional depth of a used Kleenex. It’s got something to say about trauma and survival but gags on its own metaphors. The monsters are wet and nasty; the pacing’s dry as a desert fart. The characters? About as likable as stepping in cold puke. The ending’s a trainwreck I won’t spoil—let’s just say it’s a damp squib. Some diehard creature-feature freaks might dig the gooey, slow-burn weirdness, but for most horror junkies, The Cut is less a razor-sharp stab and more a limp poke with a soggy breadstick.

I wanted to like this. It sounded good. It was so slow at the beginning I had to try like 5 times just to get started on it and then it just didn’t realize into what I thought it was going to be. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for read and review

The premise for this sounded so promising, but I think this was a case of “not the right execution”.

The beginning of this book had me interested, though maybe it was a little slow. The dialogue, particularly the dialogue between Sadie and her daughter, felt repetitive and got a little boring after a while, and the “stinker” nickname was overused. I appreciated that the creepy vibes were high with all the mysterious things going on around the hotel, and how the suspense slowly built up. By the time we reached the end, things had gone in a different direction than I was expecting, and it felt too rushed and like I had to suspend too much belief.

I think the idea for this book was better than the reality.