Deep Down: the 'intimate, emotional and witty' 2023 debut you don't want to miss

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When their explorations lead them to the infamous Paris catacombs, they will finally be forced to face the secrets lurking in their past that illuminate the questions in their present. Deep Down is something altogether darker; an examination of the legacy of abuse shot through with sharp wit and compassion. After their father’s sudden death in America, where he was living with his new wife, the pair come together. The subterranean climax introduces a note of the uncanny that doesn’t quite convince, and the ending feels unresolved, though perhaps this is in keeping with the idea that the “möbius strip” of complex grief does not allow for tidy closure.

Deep Down is a wonderfully astute and often hilarious look at sibling relationships, intimacy and family repression. Even so, they didn't spend that much time together and they were cordial the entire time so it felt like the tension was diluted. Deep Down begins as Billie, a twentysomething Londoner, and her older brother Tom, a “failed actor” living in Paris, face unexpected news. In one finely wrought section during a family holiday to Spain, 13-year-old Tom is privy to an awful altercation between his parents in the supermarket. I found Tom’s story more compelling but maybe that’s just because I love Paris and can’t resist a bit of romance 🤷‍♀️ Together the siblings make for some uncomfortable reading, finding any reason to pick at each other and disagree until it all comes to a head in the catacombs (loved this little sidebar of the story, fascinating!We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. I agree with one reviewer who said that the author is a 'human story- teller' but disagree that she is 'hilarious' as I didn't find much humour in the book. I would wager that West-Knights herself is a drama kid at heart and they should know that this idea is a little bit tired. Tom and Billie’s memories, vivid with the clarity that childhood shame or fear can retain, are therefore presented with the same immediacy as the days of limbo between death and funeral.

It's valid that it all goes back to their upbringing and childhood but while we dug deeper, we didn't get to go broader.Tom starts to pick up the glass too, and the only sounds in the room are the gentle clink of tile on shard, and the rumbling of the kettle. Even if Tom had been a failed drama student but had some sort of redemption in this regard the constant poking at his degree may have felt slightly less like deja vu. There is a LOT of description of movement from one place to another, which I find absolutely exhausting as a reader.