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Creature Encounters #2

They Came from the Ocean

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Exploring the bottom of the ocean is scary. It's worse when something down there is stalking you.

Off the coast of New Zealand, there's an underwater mining facility 8,000 feet under the ocean. The crew stationed there knows that drowning is the least of their worries at such depths. That's why they panic when a maintenance member goes missing while out on a repair mission. He had only eight hours of oxygen, and almost a day has gone by since they lost contact, so the crew can only hope to retrieve his body.

Then they receive a distress call from him - at a depth of 11,000 feet.

A small rescue team suits up and dives to find their missing crewmate. But descending into the unforgiving depths of the ocean is much easier than going back up, and the team learns that too late. Now, stranded at the bottom of the trench without the ability to call for help, they realize that coming down here was a terrible mistake.

There's something far worse down there than the crushing pressure, the ticking timers on their oxygen tanks, and the everlasting darkness that inhabits such depths. And it's hunting them one by one.

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2022

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About the author

Boris Bacic

34 books391 followers
"Boris is my favorite author on Nosleep, he's always killing it with his stories!"
"The security guard series is the best one ever!!"
"I love the subtle connection between each story."
"Like R.L. Stine, but better."
"I want to see this book as a Netflix mini-series!"
"No one can scare me like Boris."

Both traditionally and self-published, Boris is a prolific writer whose horror novels often find themselves on the #1 bestselling ranks. With the books he has published, he is quickly becoming a big name in the horror community.

His stories have been narrated by famous YouTube and podcast narrators, including MrCreepypasta, CreepsMcPasta, DrCreepen, etc. His book, Tales of a Security Guard, is currently in the works to become a short film.

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5 stars
428 (27%)
4 stars
497 (32%)
3 stars
386 (25%)
2 stars
164 (10%)
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59 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
Profile Image for Ti.Me.
552 reviews13 followers
May 6, 2022
Hideous creatures attack a group of explorers as they try to save a lost team member.
4 stars for the book
1.5 stars for the audiobook narrator, who is illiterate and shouldn't be allowed within 15 feet of a recording device
Profile Image for Montzalee Wittmann.
5,014 reviews2,295 followers
June 3, 2024
They Came from the Ocean
By Boros Bacic
This started a bit slow, but when they began going into the ocean, it really picked up. The writing made me feel trapped in the dark, black depths with these creatures in the blackness after my flesh. Very claustrophobic feeling, and I am not normally claustrophobic! Super creepy!
Profile Image for Carol.
3,309 reviews124 followers
March 12, 2023
It was a really excellent, creepy, icky bug story with a likeable main character and a cast of delicious victims. The plot nightmarishly well done and helped to keep the story interesting and the story and victims digesting. I had read a book by this author several weeks ago and really was looking forward to this one. I did really, really enjoy it...since I seem to have this obsession with being scared out of wits, even though I'd as soon not have the image of giant bugs crawling through my brain:) Thank all the "Books Gods" that the author didn't choose spiders as the villains, or the book would have ended very quickly for me:) Other reviews have said the story made them feel claustrophobic....so that might be something that some readers may want to watch out for. What a fantastic creepy read! I would say that to produce the reactions that this book is capable of, is the mark of an author that is more than capable of writing a really good scary story. I think if he has any more "buggie" characters staring in any of his stories that I'll invest in a giant can of Raid.
Profile Image for Leo.
4,747 reviews588 followers
August 17, 2022
The plot was intruiging although I didn't quite enjoy the audiobook. Think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it as an ebook/physical book instead
Profile Image for Melissa.
7 reviews4 followers
August 4, 2023
For starters, the audiobook narrator was awful. There were mispronunciations and no emotion put into the reading. It was hard to keep track of who was speaking (in the story) since there were no clear indications by the narrator.

The book, however… oh boy. I’m someone who finishes books out of spite and rarely DNF. I barely made it through. The premise for the book sounded great. I quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be for me within the first chapter. There is misogyny soaked throughout the entire book with a dash of homophobia. Seriously, man, you think a woman bleeding out is going to stare “enviously” at a merfolk’s breasts? Really???

The writing itself was poor - misused words, stale dialogue, and way too descriptive of irrelevant things. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to take place in the future or present. The technology described sounded way too unrealistic and took me out of the story constantly. The super suits that allowed them to hear a spear hitting glass, water whooshing, etc. while 12,000 feet under the sea were too ridiculous to take seriously. Oh, and the crew could somehow move and run around like they were on land from that depth.

Save your breath… pun intended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2022
This was a pretty straight forward underwater creature feature read. It takes awhile to learn what ‘they’ are but the mystery only adds to the dreadful feeling. Being thousands of feet underwater is scary enough with so many natural threats but having to run for your life while down there is nothing I’d ever like to experience. The main storyline does feel very commonplace but I’m a sucker for underwater reads and it’s all about the details for me. The pacing increased right along with the intensity as the book carried on. I like the little bit of a twist at the end and I guess I can’t really say I’m surprised how things turned out.
Profile Image for Tara Losacano.
Author 12 books84 followers
November 6, 2022
What a fantastically creepy and claustrophobic read!! I wasn't ever sure where the story was going but I was always excited about where it went. Definitely a cool twist on underwater "creatures" and an unexpected ending! 4/5 skulls💀
Profile Image for Lori.
1,663 reviews55.7k followers
October 20, 2023
I picked this up as an ebook for a couple bucks because it sounded like it'd be a fun, campy horror novel and as long as you go in knowing that, it'll totally meet, and possibly exceed, your expectations. I really enjoyed this one.

Our narrator Ellie takes what appears to be her dream job with a mining company stationed 8,000 feet under the ocean. When one of the maintenance guys disappears while performing a routine repair on one of the drills, Ellie and a handful of others convince their chief to let them go out there and attempt to rescue him. No one seems to question the fact that he only had 8 hours of oxygen when he went out there, and didn't activate his distress signal until nearly a day later. Or that he seems to be 3,000 feet further down from where he should be... they just know he's alive and they've got to try to save him.

What initially felt like a good idea quickly becomes a chilling, claustrophic nightmare as Ellie and crew realize they may never make their way back up towards the surface. Their search finds them exploring a hollowed out underwater mountain, complete with strange obelisks and hieroglyphics on the walls. It doesn't take long for the crew to realize that they are not alone down there in the deep inky darkness. Something is out there stalking them and you'll never guess what it is!

If jellyfish and shark weren't enough to keep you out of the water, whooo boy! This book sure will! You'll be gasping for air in no time.
Profile Image for Scimone Jackson.
73 reviews4 followers
July 14, 2023
I don’t know how this book has so many stars. The writing was very under developed to me. The characters were bland. And at one point the word “unstuckable” was used. It was so many unnecessary descriptions that it took forever for the book to get going. Kept describing rocks for hours. I couldn’t get through it. I feel like sometimes people are meant to be screen writers and not authors. This might make a decent movie but the book was just written like someone in the 10th grade wrote it. Might do better as a movie. I ended up shelving this on DNF.
Profile Image for Kortni.
80 reviews1 follower
April 15, 2024
3.5⭐️

Holy shit… this was messed up. The ending literally made me “what the fuck” out loud after what I read had clicked in my brain.

This was bleak. It took awhile to get there but man half way through shit really started to hit the fan.

An easy and fun read for anyone who finds the unknown of the ocean as terrifying as I do.
Profile Image for Susan.
1,001 reviews21 followers
May 26, 2023
This is a tense deep sea adventure that takes place in a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere. I am enjoying the Creature Encounters series. Scary and surprising with an ending that got me.
Profile Image for Fred Rayworth.
420 reviews5 followers
October 14, 2022
They Came From The Sea was a decent if long-winded B-movie icky bug story. It had a likeable main character and a decent cast of victims. There were enough plot twists to keep things interesting.

Told in solid third-person, past-tense, the prose was a bit long-winded, though it didn’t stop my enjoyment of the story. It was also a very slow buildup as the first half of the book was mostly technical details about living in an underwater lab and using the diving suits. Of course, I had to throw science out the window on this one, but that didn’t bother me at all. I still had a good time and the payoff at the end made it worthwhile. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Boomer.
394 reviews7 followers
March 1, 2022
This one showed up on my recommended list, probably because I read a lot of deep sea thriller/monster books. This one starts off well and reminded me of the 80's deep sea horror movies Leviathan and Deep Star Six - a group of people working in a sophisticated undersea habitat several thousand feet below the service. One of their crew gets in trouble and launches a distress call 11,000 feet below the service, and the crew has to send some of their people down in a submersible to save him. In the beginning, the author captures the claustrophobic feel of the submarine perfectly, with isolation and utter darkness of the deep ocean becoming a tense environment when the main characters find themselves stalked by unknown creatures.

A great start but things go south quick. The actual creatures when revealed come across as rather silly, and as with most books of this genre there's plot holes all over. There's the magical underwater suits the heroes wear which allow them carry a day's worth of oxygen with no tanks, and also to run and jump at the bottom of the ocean just as they can on land. The fact that a crack in the glass helmet of one character is enough to doom him when he implodes under the water pressure, yet later in the book at even greater depths, cracks in the glass of the escape pods and habitats make them start flooding with no adverse effects to nearby characters. Spears are somehow able to thrown underwater with enough force to penetrate bodies. The list goes on. The ending was also a bitter disappointment, feeling like a setup for another book. A good undersea thriller, but it could have been a great one with a little more work.
Profile Image for Grace.
2,227 reviews109 followers
January 29, 2022
Yes, this isn’t my normal read, but the premise is giving me Deep Star Six vibes, so I had to check it out. I loved the exploration parts and when the danger escalated, but some parts were rushed.

The creatures, which were very unexpected, didn’t scare me as much as I wanted them to.

But the story overall was a good escape to the depths of the ocean.
Profile Image for Terry and dog.
902 reviews25 followers
April 10, 2023
Wherever they are I don't want to be.
They Came From the Ocean, and I'm not going in that ocean. I adore
undersea stories and yet I can't imagine myself ever going there Maybe that's
why I like to read about it.…
Profile Image for clumsyplankton.
931 reviews14 followers
March 31, 2022
I really really liked this one. It was fast paced and ocean horror stories are something that should be more common
Profile Image for Alison.
363 reviews8 followers
May 22, 2024
I love spicy sea monsters.
I’m convinced this is how it’d be if they were real
I also have such an irrational fear of the ocean, this book is perfect. This story was so scary, so spooky, I’m never swimming again. I might never shower again.

The only thing I’d change is the NARRATOR MY GOD. we should leave him with the monsters, away from all microphones.
Profile Image for BH.
3 reviews
July 26, 2022
I'm loathe to give a negative review on a DNF, but there's a reason I abandoned this one so it's only fair to give a heads up to any other readers with a similar taste to mine.

There are three reasons actually. One is easily avoidable so it isn't really factored into my reasoning for giving up, and that's the fact that the audiobook narrator is just no good. I don't think you need capital lettered Dramatic Readings necessarily, nor am I a fan of trying to put on a spooky voice for spooky stories, but this guy has a similar affect to Barack Obama (though the accent is different, the speech patterns are very similar) and it just doesn't work. That style of speaking is great for public speaking and political rallies but really falls flat when trying to read a tense sci-fi/horror story and it really hurts the presentation.

But stripping that away, since it isn't really indicative of the story itself and can be easily avoided by simply reading it instead of listening to it, there are still two more things that killed my interest. One is simply the structure of the story. They Came from the Ocean is, at its core, a slasher movie. You're quickly introduced to five or six very different people with very clear character differences and then follow them as they're picked off one by one by a monster. This CAN work but the execution really falters. This setup simply works better as a 90 minute movie than a several hundred page novel. It especially doesn't help that a solid 40% of the book is just setup explaining how the hi-tech deep water suits, weapons, and vehicles work on a technical level. There are moments of tense atmosphere but they're undercut by being separated by miles and miles of technobabble that ultimately wind up pointless anyway. You get very lengthy explanations of how underwater guns work and why they're ineffective when it comes to certain situations, only for them to function indistinguishably from assault rifles on the surface. There is a heap of exposition about how a certain vehicle works only for the characters to operate it smoothly before being disabled offpage. Some of it is obviously foreshadowing (for example, simply naming a diving vessel the Dolphin and an in-depth explanation of how explosive decompression works, and then even namedropping the Byford Dolphin incident leads me to pretty safely assume that that will be how the monsters are ultimately dealt with) but a lot of it is fluff and counterintuitively takes me out of the story instead of immersing me. Maybe this is my fault for giving up early and these things are all handled well in the third act, but through what I'd finished it functionally served only to absolutely decimate the pacing. The inciting incident happens early and then a solid third of the book goes by with nothing of significance happening because every tiny detail needs to be explained for some reason. Trust the readers to understand that some science-y stuff happens to let the setting exist and then focus on the interesting bits instead of bogging us down with irrelevant filler, please.

And lastly, the big reason I gave up. Admittedly this can be explained as personal preference but it needs to be said for others: the monsters are merfolk. This is so brutally disappointing because the setting is what drove me to check this out in the first place. The deep ocean is so wildly interesting because it's basically outer space on earth. The ocean is SO vast and SO deep and SO unknown, anything could happen down there. We, as humans, barely know anything about the largest area of the planet we've always lived on and that has so much potential for interesting ideas. It's probably the best way to blend sci-fi and cosmic horror, if you ask me, because of how paradoxically understandable it is (we all know what the ocean is and we can all grasp that it's really huge) while being completely unknowable (we have no idea WHAT is in the ocean and we can feasibly stumble into anything we can imagine down there). So taking such a creative space and using it to create a shlocky monster movie where the villain is a fairy tale creature we already understand on a cultural level is hugely disappointing. I DO NOT CARE about people being picked off by evil mermaids. It is such a shockingly lame reveal that it turned the whole story into a road trip to a parking lot. All the tense exploration of the ruins (the best part of the book by a long shot) is undercut immediately by being explained as being built by an uninteresting and unthreatening fantasy creature. Yes they're nasty, animalistic, and gross, but they're still human torsos on fish tails carrying spears and holy christ that is such a shameful waste of a great setting.

Maybe these are petty reasons to you and hey, more power to you if you like this, but for me, this is a textbook example of how to torpedo a neat setup. Using an underutilized and nearly infinite setting to tell a very utilitarian story we've heard a million times before with what are essential cheesy movie monsters just does not work for me and I suspect it won't work for others as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Matt Pryor.
14 reviews1 follower
June 22, 2023
Super B movie inconsistent campy has no idea how the ocean works spooky summer book. Worth every penny for a quick summer read sometimes I was on the edge of my seat other times laughing at how silly or how predictable a situation was but all in all I definitely got my moneys worth from this one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ciphertext.
135 reviews24 followers
November 13, 2023
It's gonna be a no from me tbh

The writing style was very tell-y, repetitive, and soulless. Atmosphere wasn't atmosphere-ing because of this so I found it hard to get into the spookiness of it. Characters were bland and quite two-dimensional. Any time someone was going to die, we switched to their POV so we knew they were going to die, completely took away from the tension (also it was weird how we had their death's described in detail while we were in their heads ngl. Didn't work for me). Science was purely inconsistent - Raymond cracks his helmet and implodes instantly, which makes perfect sense. However, later, when Marco has a massive gaping hole in his suit through which one of the mermaids is eating his literal organs, he somehow doesn't implode? There should be nothing left of him for the mermaid to chew, no? On that note, I found it hysterical that the merpeople could come out of the water and stand up on their tales. That's not scary, it's comical. And my final point, Ellie doesn't feel like an active character in the story. She "becomes aware" of things a lot, and "realises" things often. She is just passively experiencing the plot with the label of "main character", barely seems to feel things when it counts, yet gets emotional about the past during moments of quiet. Didn't vibe with her.

Interesting concept and story, would have made a more interesting movie even without putting more heart into it.
January 10, 2022
This was an interesting read.

But there were too many detailed scientific description of underwater mining facility. Everything was explained in details, which was good but felt boring after some time.

One of the crew member gets lost in a repair mission, so some of the crew members volunteer to go find him further deep in the sea.


The book is written with good knowledge of the underwater mining facilities.
Not bad to read it once for some thrill ride.
Profile Image for Devann.
2,460 reviews180 followers
February 2, 2024
It's obvious from fairly early on that this is definitely not a 'good' book but I really love underwater horror so I thought that for me at least it could turn out to be decent. Unfortunately it kind of just kept getting worse as it went. The writing feels incredibly stilted and the audio narrator doesn't help but showing absolutely no emotion at all while reading. The pacing is awful and the characters are all incredibly two dimensional. Fairly sexist and a little bit homophobic towards the end just for funsies I guess. Honestly wouldn't have even finished it but at least it's short if nothing else.
Profile Image for Michael Duren.
140 reviews3 followers
November 17, 2023
This is a rough one. I never DNF a book, but I came close a few times. The writing leaves a lot to be desired. I found myself eye rolling over the dialogue constantly. It has a cool concept, however there are numerous other similar stories that are much more competently written. I really don’t understand the amount of good reviews this book has. Stay clear and read The Deep, or In the Drowning Deep instead.
Profile Image for Alyssa Guidry.
58 reviews
August 24, 2024
I hate when I can't finish a book but this thing made my blood pressure skyrocket and not in a good way. Clearly the author needs an editor. So many typos, errors and contradictions makes this story just painful to sit through. I even tried skimming it, to get to the "good part" but this book lacks one. The characters are flatter than pancakes at the bottom of the ocean. Don't get me started on the gross way the females are written. The part where the big strong men will protect them with the guns made me gag. DNF and won't be picking up another book from this author. What a mess.
June 28, 2022
2.5 stars
This is the type of book that I love reading in the summer. I love this B movie sci-fi type story I can just check my brains at the door and enjoy. The first three chapters I thought were well done because they gave you a sense of who and what would you rarely get in this genre. Once we got underwater ‘yikes’ I just stopped giving a damn. It was all done before. It was too much, I did finish the book but I have no desire to continue reading the series. The women were strong.
Profile Image for Cujo.
201 reviews11 followers
January 18, 2024
I'm really loving this series thus far. It combines my love of horror with my love of cryptids and in the case of this one, my love of the ocean and combines them into a nice, tasty...., well I can't think of a good description but you get the point. Anyway this was a really good, creepy story about Merpeople, which is something I have been craving for a long, long time.
Profile Image for GiGi.
639 reviews4 followers
May 22, 2024
Decent story with some physical impossibilities. I didn't like the sudden pov changes near the end but understand why they were needed. Maybe 3rd person limited would've been better than 1st person.

I still hate the narrator. His cadence and intonation is bad enough but mispronouncing common words is just jarring and constantly pulled me out of the story.
Profile Image for Jeni.
78 reviews6 followers
January 27, 2025
This could have been a favorite of mine. I love aquatic horror, creatures, etc. But why did he have to tell us the guy could see the creature's "feminine perky breasts and pointy nipples (but) the creature looked hideous by human standards."? And why is this chick about to die and thinking she's jealous of how big this monster mermaid's titties are? The sex was obviously thrown in for the sake of being there. Also, it managed to be homophobic without any queer characters. This is the type of thing I think of when I hear "written by a man."

Edit: The narrator mispronounced chasm twice, and he also said barred when the word should have been bared on two separate occasions. idk if that was his mistake or the author's. It was distracting. Mispronounciations happen, but it was weird that it happened twice per word and no one caught it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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