A unsettling Sea Horror.
Best Blaine Daigle book to date. A slow burn that delivers a more than satisfying ending.


Thank you NetGalley and for this review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for providing a review copy.

Blaine Daigle can WRITE, y'all. I read A Dark Roux, and really loved it. I already knew that that he has the ability to really set a scene, and the setting is almost like another character in the novel. In this case, it's the Bering Sea, which mirrors the cold and bleakness of the narrative. Because the main character has amnesia, as the story unfolds we're learning right along with him, and I feel like it might be best to go in not knowing much at all. I wasn't sure how everything was going to wrap up, but the unique ending was very satisfying. 4.75 stars

Well, I don’t know how Blaine Daigle keeps doing it! Three books, three incredibly different types of horror. This time, we are following a lost soul who takes a job on a mysterious ship. It’s one part Moby Dick, one part The Fisherman with a slow descent into madness.

Oftentimes visceral and unsettling, Daigle’s writing really sets the scene and paints vivid pictures of the horrors we are witness to. The only thing I found myself missing was his usual evocative character work. Although maybe this was kind of the point of the fever dream, a lot of the characters seemed interchangeable to me. Other than that, he truly captures the expansive claustrophobia of being on a ship, being surrounded by the world but being stuck.

Another great addition to the horror genre!

Thanks to @wicked_house_publishing for making the ARC of 'A Dark and Endless Sea' by Blaine Daigle available on @netgalley

Whitt wakes up in a motel room with no memories, driven to the ocean by his fear of a recurring nightmare and a voice that has a mission for him. When he signs up as part of the crabbing crew on the boat named Sonia, he soon discovers that he and his crew mates have more in common than they initially realise, and that this connection - and the unknown motivations of their captain - will not only drive them into uncharted waters, but beyond the limits of their sanity.

Your enjoyment of this book is likely to depend on whether or not you like a slow burn of a book. You really have to put in the work to be fed tiny morsels of information for maybe 50% of the story, at which point things begin to incrementally ramp up. If that idea tickles your fancy, then you might just be in for a treat with this book.

While I would have liked a bit more clarification of the book's characters, this is very much a book that's more driven by its two main protagonists: Whitt and the ocean. You will feel the water soaking through to your bones, the cold numbing your nerves and the sheer exhaustion of living and working in an environment that could destroy you without a thought, even if its emerald eyes weren't fixated on you.

I do have to admit that I was concerned that everything was going to fall apart at the end, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by how it all got wrapped up. I don't think it completely stuck the landing, but it did a pretty damn good job.

Rating: 4.5/5

'A Dark and Endless Sea' will be released on June 7th 2024.

CW: graphic violence, gore, murder, psychological trauma, childhood abandonment, mild drug use, critters

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Blaine Daigle's 'A Dark and Endless Sea' is a superb sea horror novel, hitting all the right spots easily and confidently! Not one book of his has disappointed me, and this one showcases the best of the author's sense of atmosphere, pacing, and characterization. The cast is small, the setting practically always the same, but both are employed masterfully to great effect, in order to paint a wonderful story of personality clashes, individual ambitions, and -most of all- convoluted, nightmarish situations with totally unpredictable outcomes. The visuals are exemplary, from ghost ships to sea creatures; and though it's a slow burn, the novel develops several different plotlines, with great care and in riveting detail: the tiresome life on a fishing vessel, the uncanny feeling of travel on a boat over open ocean, the worrying suspicion of the captain's insanity, as well as the suffocating, personal torment of the main character -all deeply invested with very strong cosmic horror vibes, suspense, and mystery. As with his previous works, this novel too has an exceptional ending, fully fleshed out, comprehensively articulated, and quite satisfying. An absolute delight of a book!

This book is definitely not for me. I'm very glad that due to the reviews here it seems like it will definitely end up having some kind of audience but that audience is definitely not me.

I've heard great things about this novel. Unfortunately the writing style is not for me. It felt a bit too flowery for my preferences.

Blaine Daigle does it again. This is my third read by this author. All three of his books are very different yet what they have in common is the authors ability to create such vivid and rich environments that prey on some of our worst fears. This one is set on the open ocean aboard a fishing vessel where horror and the unknown await. The suspense builds throughout the story drawing to a chilling ending that will leave you thinking about it long after you turn that final page. Don't rest on this author.

Amazon review to be posted after release day.

I love a creepy / horror story set on the ocean!
The creepiness started right away in the first chapter and had me hooked! The vibes were perfect, and reading this at night had me questioning what was lurking in the dark, and what I might dream about after finishing this.
We are following Whit, who is headed to Alaska for reasons he can remember or maybe never knew. He finds his way to a crabbing boat to a crew of other misfits who don't seem to fit anywhere else. Whit has very few memories and is hopeful that boarding this boat will help him answer the questions about his past, and what happened to him.

This book is so immersive it had me feeling like I was along with Whit on the boat experiencing all the weirdness/horror firsthand. I was invested in him along with the other crew members and hoped they would all make it to the end!
This is the first book I've read by this author and since I had such a good time reading this I will be checking out Blaine Diangle's backlist!

Thank you to Wicked House Publishing and NetGalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

Daigle excels at writing spooky, atmospheric horror books. We follow Whitt as he heads go Alaska to work on a crab boat. The events here get exceedingly stranger, he has odd dreams, and is constantly hearing a song in the sea. Bonus points for mentioning North Dakota, twice! I definitely got the ick during this one, so not for the squeamish.

There is not a book by this author that disappoints. From the opening pages until the end; this author knows how to grab your attention and hold you hostage until the end. There were so many layers to this book. I felt as though each person had something to come to terms with and this journey was either to help them or harm them. The message of moving on from loss and grief that follows was very evident in what transpired for Whitt on this journey. The ‘Beast’ tempted him in many ways but Whitt was able to stay true to how he was as a person and finish out this journey. He did not know if the finish would be good or bad for him but he was going to stick it out.

All the creatures in this book were terrifying. These were not your happy fairytale creatures! These things reminded me of what happens to living things that survive a nuclear disaster. The crabs were something to be really afraid of. I was really worried these things were either going to eat the crew or burrow into their bodies and have the crew turn on each other. The sirens were straight from hades. Luring sailors to their death was their goal and obviously these sirens had that job down to perfection.

I cannot imagine being on a ship for a long journey now. My dream was to take a cruise but after reading this book and many others similar; I have changed my mind. I will stay on land. Thanks Blaine Daigle for writing another nightmare inducing read!

Just finished reading an ARC copy of "A Dark and Endless Sea" and had a fucking good time. If you love sea monsters, mermaids, sailors slowly descending into madness, and cosmic horror, then this might be in your wheelhouse.

This book truly feels like the A24 film "The Lighthouse"... but on a boat.

That's more or less the gist.

Everyone goes insane, and it is a lot of fun. The ending is surprisingly hopeful and positive (??) for a book full of such escalating abject horror, but here we are.

Highly recommend this book, and all books by Blaine Daigle, for fans of folk horror, cosmic horror, and supernatural horror.

"A Dark and Endless Sea" is out on June 7th.

If you’re looking for some good water horror, this is it!! 🌊 All kinds of creepiness going on with this one, and I even got a little squeamish at one point! Well, multiple points… 🫣😂 I did see the ending coming, but the predictability of it didn’t detract from it!

Definitely recommend!! 🙌 This was my first book by this author, though I do have A Dark Roux on my TBR! Guess I’ll be bumping that up! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley, Wicked House Publishing, and Blaine Daigle for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

Dreams that stretch the very fabric of the real and the unreal as he is pulled by a voice across the country to a small crab fishing ship set to depart into the Bering Sea. At sea, the memories piece themselves together in cracked fragments. But there is something out there. Something speaking to Whitt in his dreams. A voice from a long-forgotten memory that promises peace at the cost of madness. A voice that leads to a place unimaginable and inescapable.

Very good and creepy and atmospheric. Loved it!

With no memory of his past, no memory of yesterday, Whitt has no idea who he is, where he's come from, or where he's going. All he knows is that he must write his name on the back of his hand, lest he forget that too, come morning, should he survive the nightmares. And that the voice is drawing him somewhere, somewhere he has to go. Hopefully somewhere that will make it all stop, that will give his memories back. When he finds himself the new crew member aboard a crab fishing vessel that is bound for the Bering Sea, he's dubious about whether his malnourished and tired body will be able to handle the work, but still, he goes. Once at sea, Whitt soon realises that the nightmares, and the voice behind them, are a part of something much bigger than himself. Much bigger than anything he thought possible. For the voice is leading them somewhere. Somewhere unimaginable, inconceivable. Though terrified, Whitt will continue, for the memories start to piece themselves together in cracked fragments of nightmares, but if what waits at the other end is peace, it will be worth it...or will it?

I've read one of Daigle's other works - The Broken Places - so I've been pretty much a see and hit the button person for anything of his that I come across. I actually have another of his on my kindle waiting to be read, but I picked this one up first for some unknown reason. Not that it matters, his books are all standalone. This one was a difficult one for me to rate for a couple of reasons. The short of it being, it was creepy, atmospheric and oppressive - all the things I look for in a good horror - but it was also a slow mover, which I had expected because The Broken Places was much the same. So how do you rate something that had a great story, but almost a .1 on the pacing???!!

One thing I've noticed about Daigle is that he is brilliant at writing a tale that has a small cast of characters. The Broken Places and this one both had a handful, if that, of main characters that we deal with, and I feel like that really adds to the isolated feeling I get when reading his stories. This story had such a suffocatingly strong feeling of alone. Isolation and just loneliness permeated these pages as though it had been first born of the metaphorical tree used to create the pages. It's such a deeply ingrained and palpable feeling that the atmosphere of the story is thick with it from the first page. Add to that, Whitt has no memory. None. Nothing. The man has to write his name on the back of his hand in case he wakes up tomorrow and realises that he forgot that too. He has no idea who he is, what he's done, where he's come from, and he doesn't know where he's going, only that this strange voice in his nightmares is essentially directing him. And even then, he can't remember that he just realises it at each turn when the man in the slicker shows himself or leaves him a note. This amnesia that Whitt is existing with, paired with the loneliness and the isolation, just exacerbates those feelings making it feel like you can't breathe. It also bleeds a feeling of oppressiveness into the story because Whitt's own brain is seemingly failing him. Even writing this review, and thinking about the story as I do so, I feel like it's hard to breathe. That's how good Daigle is at weaving emotion into his narrative, it literally takes my breath away.

I found what attracted me to this story, was the aspect of it being at sea on a fishing vessel. The ocean, to me, is like space. It is intriguing and it is alluring, and you want to know all about it, but at the same time, you don't want to know all about it because it's so big, and it's full of so many things that we've probably never even dreamed of. Man has explored more of space, than that of our own oceans, and you can't help but wonder, why? Yes, there's the scientific reasons behind that, such as having the means and the tools and the vessels in order to withstand the pressure after a certain depth. But what if there's more to it than that? What if there are worse things down there, than we could ever imagine? That's what endears horror stories set at sea to me. It's the unknown, and man generally fears the unknown because, how can we prepare for it, if we don't know what it is? Stories of ships and planes disappearing over the Bermuda Triangle, stories about mythical creatures and those of legends living beneath the waves. These have always intrigued me yet terrified me at the same time. And I feel that Daigle really did capture exactly that that I fear, in this story.

The pacing on this one, like the other one, was incredibly slow. I'm not sure if this is just the writing style that Daigle has adopted as it helps to slowly build the suffocating atmosphere and tension, or whether it's not intended. The slow pacing does definitely add to the overall feel of the stories, but it can mean that a book that is 200-some pages long has taken me 11 days to read, which his highly unusual, even with my reading speed having slowed down a little. The pacing alone would normally be enough to make me DNF, but I've found with both of Daigle's books that I've read thus far, I don't actual WANT to DNF even though it feels like we're moving along at a glacial pace. The mystery and the reasoning and the overall "why?" behind everything happening has too strong a pull for me to be able to put it down and live the rest of my life not knowing. So, I guess even though the pacing is the reason behind me rating this lower, Daigle's skill at writing an engaging story and flawed, messed up characters, is that good, that I don't even care if it takes me a week and half to read 200 odd pages. I've found that the story, tension and urgency pick up around the 70% mark of his stories and then the pacing goes from 0 to 100. Everything starts to become clear and make sense and then the need to see what's going to happen is just too much and I can't put the book down even if I tried.

The characters were super intriguing. All of them. Even though we don't know anything about them, because they themselves don't know anything, I found that I did really care about what happened to them. I even ended up caring about Freddy and O'Halloran in the end. Daigle is able to write a solid character that deals with real world issues and have them endear themselves to you in next to no time at all. I think part of the bleakness of Daigle's stories is built from what the characters have been through and what they're still struggling with. It just lends a sense of realness to the story and the characters that I feel helps to put the reader into the shoes of said characters and really feel what they're feeling. Hopelessness, despair, loss and trauma seem to be the subjects that, thus far, have been most prevalent in Daigle's works, and I think that we can all empathise with at least a couple of those.

All in all, this is the second book I've read from the hand of Blaine Daigle, I have one more on my kindle, and I'm sure that I'll be continuing to pick up his future books as well. While the slow pacing seems to be a thing with him, his stories are deep and rich horror, that have a strong, palpable atmosphere that is imperative for me to be fully immersed and enjoy the book that I'm reading. He deals with real world subjects and does so in a raw and real way without using shock to garner an emotive and visceral reaction. If you're looking for a horror story that is different to the others, gives you a strong feeling of horror and all its many facets, give this one a go.

🇹​​🇮​​🇹​​🇱​​🇪​⦂ A Dark and Endless Sea
​🇦​​🇺​​🇹​​🇭​​🇴​​🇷​⦂ Blaine Daigle
​🇵​​🇦​​🇬​​🇪​​🇸​⦂ 300
​🇬​​🇪​​🇳​​🇷​​🇪​⦂ Horror, Oceanic horror, Descent into madness
​🇹​​🇮​​🇲​​🇪​ ​🇵​​🇪​​🇷​​🇮​​🇴​​🇩​⦂ Contemporary
​🇧​​🇪​​🇨​​🇭​​🇩​​🇪​​🇱​ ​🇹​​🇪​​🇸​​🇹​⦂ No
​🇸​​🇺​​🇲​​🇲​​🇦​​🇷​​🇾​⦂ Whitt Rogers is plagued by mysterious, nightmarish dreams every night. When he wakes up he has no memory of his past, or even the previous days or weeks. One night a strange figure comes to him and suggests he join a fishing boat where his crewmates seem to be suffering from the same problems. As Whitt and the crew struggle to understand that which plagues them, they're also at the whim of a strange captain that has his own agenda.
​🇷​​🇪​​🇻​​🇮​​🇪​​🇼​⦂ ⭐⭐⭐3/4
This book is a slow burn horror/mystery with some gruesome injuries, cosmic creatures, and multiple descents to madness. If any or all of those interest you, you will probably really enjoy this story.

This is my first time reading Daigle's work (although I've had my eye on some of his other stories before this). I was drawn to the book due to my love of oceanic horror and I felt the eerie, monotonous setting to be really effective in immersing the reader in the story. The characters were well-rounded, despite having little memory or backstory for any of them, and Daigle did a great job of slowly building the tension on the ship as things got weirder and weirder.

Overall I thought the story was successful and I will be reading more of Daigle's work. I do think the book got a bit repetitive, particularly with the many dream sequences. If it was about 50 pages shorter, I believe the story would have been just as successful and eliminated some parts of the story that just sort of stalled.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Whitt is plagued by horrible dreams and a past he can't remember. Yet there's a voice in his dreams that leads him to a crab ship, the Sonia. Once aboard, he realizes that he's not the only one who can't remember his past. The entire crew save the deckhand and the captain also have horrible dreams and pasts they can't remember. The captain is aware that something isn't quite right with the crew, but has a deal with them: they keep everything they catch, divide amongst themselves, as long as the captain sets the course and no one asks any questions. This deal leads them into troubling waters with scenes that seem to come straight out of a Lovecraft novel.

The novel starts off at a slow pace as it sets the scene and builds up on the fact that Whitt will be a somewhat unreliable narrator as he can't remember much besides what's happened within the last 24 hours. However, once the novel sets everything up, it takes a nosedive into the eerie horror that I enjoy. Daigle's writing helped with the imagery so well that I felt like I could picture everything in my head as it was happening. Overall, I feel like it was a strong novel. I was afraid that the ending would just be hurried up and concluded, but I'm glad it ended the way that it did and it was satisfying.

One of the best books I’ve read recently! Seriously, this book has such a dark foreboding that I can’t quite put my finger on, but felt deep within my soul. I connected with the MC in an unexpected way given that I don’t have any of the afflictions he suffers from and I’ve certainly never been a crabber.. The writing is descriptive and genuine, and left me unable to put the book down. I have quite a book hangover that I’m sure I’ll feel for days if not longer. Absolutely brilliant.

I enjoy this kind of horror because it's eerie, dark, and has some scenes that gave me the chills. With just the right amount of boredom and body horror, I adore the supernatural aspects that were incorporated. Reading this was a great experience.

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this advance reader copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was a WILD ride. I definitely got sucked into the story and I needed to get to the end to find out how everything came together. Overall I loved the plot, there’s not many books like it out there. 100% recommend!