Abyss is another striking, thought-provoking release from Nicholas Binge. I went into this having loved his previous work, especially Ascension, so my expectations were high, and once again Binge delivered a story that’s clever, unsettling, and difficult to put down.

One of the things that makes Abyss feel particularly effective is its modern-day setting and an immediately relatable protagonist. He’s someone many readers will recognise: intelligent and capable, but stuck in familiar ruts, prone to habits of self-sabotage, and quietly aware that he has never quite lived up to the productivity and potential that people around him seem to expect. When he’s given a new role, the question hanging over the story is whether this change might finally unleash the productivity and focus that everyone believes he should have.

At first, the book feels like science fiction, but as the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that Binge is crafting something closer to horror. It reads like a novella very much of its time, tapping into contemporary anxieties such as the rise of AI, the fear of workplace automation, and the unsettling idea of being controlled, monitored, or reduced to a tool by the very systems and employers we work for. Beneath the surface is a quiet but powerful commentary on the influence of elites, corporate power, and the fragile sense of agency many people feel in modern work culture.
On a surface level, Abyss can be read as a strange, eerie office-based horror story set in an oddly mundane but fascinating location. Underneath that is a much deeper exploration of modern life, including productivity hack culture, corporate greed, the pressure to optimise ourselves, and the isolation that persists even in a hyper-connected social media world.

My only real criticism is that I wish it were a longer version of this story, given the number of ideas explored; however, the novella length does keep the pacing tight. It is a short read I genuinely could not put down, but the ideas are rich enough that I would have loved to see them explored in even more depth. Even so, the book’s momentum and immersive atmosphere make it a gripping experience from beginning to end.

Overall, Abyss is another compelling entry in Nicolas Binge’s catalogue, smart, timely, and quietly disturbing in the best way.

I absolutely adored this read, and devoured it in two days!

This book took me in two different reader directions:

1. Creepy-thriller

Binge was great at developing atmosphere, and delivering a slow gradual increase of general creepy vibes. The horror parts perhaps didn't really hit me as hard - as a scientist I can become a bit obsessed with whether something is actually physically possible - but I love that the author pulled me up on that thought and was in the next instance, making me question just what was going on. I felt so engaged with the story during the whole read, and really related to the MC. I felt that the representation of anxiety was spot on, and by the end of the novel, I was all set to call my own parents and make sure they weren't feeling isolated (they weren't but we had a nice chat xD ).

2. Thought-provoking critisim of modern day corporate culture & social isolation due to media obsession.

Whether I read too much into it, and was taking away things that weren't there, didn't really matter to me. The fact that it provoked thoughts, and had me questioning things made it for an incredibly compelling read! At times I was sat there questioning whether yes, maybe I do too much doom-scrolling late at night, yes - perhaps I should be more sociable at times and less work obsessed. I LOVED this! Give me a book that makes me question my own life and be introspective and that'll make for the perfect horror read in my humble opinion! What's more terrifying than self-reflection?

Either way, both aspects ABSOLUTELY DELIVERED and this was an easy 5 star read for me! I'll be checking to see if Binge has written anything else. A perfect short, engaging novella that can really make you think or just be treated as a quick, fun thrilling read. Thank you for the advanced reader's copy!

Book Review: Abyss by Nicholas Binge

“This job will eat you alive” sounds dramatic until you read Abyss and realise it’s less a warning and more a very polite threat. Nicholas Binge has written a book that somehow feels like being slowly consumed by your own screen time, which is… comforting. In a deeply unsettling way.

The story follows Joe Rice, who is basically the king of “I’ll just check my phone for five minutes” and then somehow losing two hours, his motivation, and possibly his entire personality. He’s lonely, disconnected, and completely stuck in that awful space where you don’t really know what your place in the world is anymore. That part hit hard, because it doesn’t feel exaggerated, it just feels real.

Then comes the job. The huge empty office. The manager who feels like he’s one bad email away from a nervous breakdown. The wellness chatbot that definitely isn’t there to help anyone’s wellbeing. From the first day, something is wrong, and the book doesn’t waste time pretending everything is normal before it goes off the rails. It just starts strange and keeps getting worse in the best possible way.

What really makes this book work is how fast it moves. Once things start spiralling, they spiral properly. No gentle build-up, no slow reassurance just straight into the chaos. It’s the kind of story where you suddenly realise you’re halfway through and slightly stressed but also completely hooked. I finished it with that perfect “what did I just read?” feeling, where you’re not confused, just stunned that it actually went there.

And the horror isn’t just monsters and shocks it’s the feeling of being stuck. Stuck in a job you don’t care about, stuck online instead of living, stuck drifting away from people without really noticing it happen. The monster in this book doesn’t just feel scary; it feels familiar. Which is honestly worse.

Overall, Abyss is intense, fast-paced, weird in all the right ways, and strangely relatable for a horror book. If you’ve ever lost hours on your phone, wondered what you’re actually doing with your life, or slowly drifted away from people you care about while telling yourself you’ll sort it out later, this will hit harder than you expect.

Unsettling, addictive, and definitely one of those books that leaves you staring at the wall afterwards thinking, “Well… that was mildly traumatic. I loved it.”

SO GOOD 🙌🏻👏🏻

The book is kind of in two parts, the first is quiet, isolating, odd - a real creeping black mirror what the hell is going on here vibe, then, with a (literal) bang, we completely 180 and turn into this race against time action / sci-fi / horror.

I loved the pacing of this story, it left me edgy and uncomfortable and was slightly jerky in the way some of the chapters changed but in the best way possible that only added to the whole wonderfully bizarre experience that I couldn’t get enough of.

This book is a great social commentary on societies awful working culture, corporate elites, evolution of AI and the increasing reliance and self imposed isolation due to social media.

I will without question check out more of this authors work!

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and Book Break UK for the opportunity to read this on NetGalley 🖤


**Just as a little note, I both agree and disagree with reviews saying this should be longer - absolutely yes because so much more could be added and explored within the action and for our main character that would be awesome to read, but also no, because it being a novella only adds to the disjointed feeling and uncomfortable abruptness of the story that I think we’re supposed to feel.