It's Under the Deck

by Jacy Morris

163 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2026

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

So squishy. So good.

Highly recommended.

[Phillip Keeling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacy Morris is working some serious black magic here. He lulls you in with the promise of something gruesome and pulpy (if you’ll excuse the term) and delivers a gut punch of loneliness, loss, and the folly of self-medication. And then, BAM: we’re back in a world of surreal grotesqueries and cosmic horror. And the roller coaster goes like that for 150 pages and you’re left heartbroken but sated (and suddenly paranoid about your scent). Best of both worlds. A brilliant trip into nausea and heartache. Pour yourself a ginger ale.

[Amanda Elizabeth Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like slow and steady, this book is for you. Grief horror has a way of pulling you along and making you feel every emotion possible. This book did that. It all started with a dead animal and an old guy missing his one true love. I had no idea where this story was headed but I was pretty sure it was going to involve zombie-like creatures but I was very wrong about that assumption.

[A Reader's Plight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of It's Under the Deck by Jacy Morris

Thank you to the author for the early e-copy of this book!

Ratings out of 5 stars.
- Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Interest Rating: 📖📖📖📖📖
- Humor Rating: 🎭🎭
- Scare Rating: 👻
- Tension Rating: 🪢🪢🪢
- Predictability Rating: 💭
- Writing Style Rating: 🖋🖋🖋🖋

Favorite character?
I don't really think I can say any character other than the main character, Phil, because there aren't really any other characters that are built up. There are some characters that the main character comes across throughout the story, but for brief moments. Readers don't actually get to know any characters other than the main character.

Most memorable scene/moment?
For me, the most memorable scene was when the raccoon corpse first starts to create a cloud of weird gaseous air when touched with the machete. I think that was really the part that got me to start thinking about what was going on with the corpse. I had a lot of different speculative biology-based causes for something like that and I was even trying to figure out what was wrong with it before it died. But, I think that scene was the forst that made me start wondering what this thing was gonna become.

Did the ending satisfy you?
I think the ending was sorta satisfying? I'm not sure honestly. I don't think I really understood if there was a character arc that culminated there or not. I do know that I was fine with the way it ended, despite the ending being quite odd and feeling a little out of place/rushed. It did get me thinking about what the story may have been inspired by.

Would you read this book again?
I don't think I will. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but I think it was a trip that I would only like to go on once. There were points that were a little bit of a struggle for me to read just due to a specific phobia I have (didn't take away from my experience or impact my review), but I just don't think I really want to endure some of that again.

Additional Notes:
- This book was a trip. The main character is actually really well written in the sense of being the kind of person I feel I could actually meet in real life. Even though for me they weren't always directly relatable because of things like age and situation, I feel like there are a lot of people that have similar thoughts and feelings as this character does about general life as a human in modern society. Some of the stuff the character says and thinks have some humor in them (even if sometimes it is a bit dark).
- I think this book was far more grotesque and disturbing than it was actually scary. For the people that need the trigger warning (me), there are a lot of descriptions of vomit and the act of vomiting throughout this book. I can understand the use of it in the scenarios presented, but there were times where I found myself wondering if it was necessary to be included as often as it was.
- For a story labeled under cosmic horror, I do see the relation while also feeling like there could have been more elements of it. While I do see the sort of eldritch horrors that could be inspiration and how cosmically eldritch the being in the book is, I think that the story overall was slow to reach the point where we started getting those elements and was too fast to wrap them up.
- I also want to mention that, at first, I was a bit confused by the style of writing, but then I very quickly adapted to it. I know that might seem weird since it's written in a fairly straightforward manner, but there were little stylistic things that I had noticed at the beginning that I needed to adjust to. Once I did, it was generally very well-written and enjoyable.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful tale of grief horror, full of regret, loss and the vagaries of old age, with a strong supernatural element cropping up when you least expect it! And it all starts with a dying animal; hard to believe it, but when that poor creature finally dies, it puts in motion such a nasty turn of events, it's impossible to understate the mess that develops from that deceptively simple occurrence. Yet it creates such a hugely complicated disruption in the narrator's life - the narrator is an old man carrying a lot of psychological baggage, both marital and emotional - to the point that he spends every waking moment of his day trying to get rid of the carcass; and that's it, that's the premise of the story. Is he going insane? Perhaps. Is he losing his marbles because of old age? Perhaps. But there's good reason to believe something far more sinister is going on, and indeed the novella has quite a lot of surprises for the unsuspecting reader.

At some point, I was convinced this would turn out to be a zombie tale. There's constant reference to the stench of death, and the awful smell of rot; depictions of slowly liquidating flesh; frequent interruptions in the plot to accomodate bouts of vomiting, and even (thankfully brief but still revolting descriptions of) productive coughing. Happily or not, however, this isn't a zombie tale - it's about something far less familiar and far more unsettling! Expect similar eruptions of violence, but wholly planned and purposeful.

The ending was perfect for everything gone before. It promises an escalation, though it never forgets that this novella is essentially a one man show (even though people are coming and going throughout the story, as if the titular deck were also a stage).

I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys horror stories that take their time to allow the cracks to surface. Definitely worth reading.

[unstable.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Under The Deck is one of those strange little horror novels that quietly burrows its way under your skin. What starts as a simple premise of a terrible smell coming from beneath a man's deck, gradually mutates into something way more unsettling, blending psychological deterioration with some downright *redacted* horror. (Redacted to leave the story as unspoiled as possible.) Phil is an especially compelling protagonist because he feels so painfully ordinary. He is grieving, isolated, frustrated, and struggling long before the mystery beneath the deck ever begins. That emotional groundwork makes his downward spiral feel believable rather than sensational. I found myself questioning whether what he was experiencing was supernatural or psychological, and the story plays with that uncertainty so well. The atmosphere itself is a great strength. Morris captures the suffocating feeling of decay remarkably well, lingering over every interaction and making everyday mundane tasks and conversations feel increasingly uncanny. There is a grim, unpleasant quality to the entire novel that horror fans looking for the genuinely grotesque will love. This is definitely a slower burn tale, a gradual descent despite its shorter length. It spends time on Phil's isolation and questionable mental state before the grand reveals. The ending also introduces fascinating ideas. It's Under The Deck does not shy away from body horror and nauseating imagery. The descriptions are vivid and I swear you can smell ALL the smells. It's Under The Deck delivers an unsettling blend of grief, paranoia, creeping horror, and one unreliable main character. It is not interested in quick scares as much as it wants you deeply uncomfortable and it is done so remarkably well. Thank you Jacy for the review copy. You can preorder this book now over at Sobelo Book's website. It's Under The Deck drops July 28, 2026!

[Lana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read with a slow-burn beginning, It's Under the Deck leads you down a path where you think you know all the twists and turns, only to find out that you are in strange territory, indeed.

I love subtext; it's that discovery of the villain under the mask. In It's Under the Deck, that subtext is quietly humming away beneath the louder sensory horrors. Phil's a man in isolation—wife gone, no family, no job to go to, and no friends to socialize with—and he's left with his thoughts as his only companionship. He's a guy who literally loves his neighbors as he loves himself: he's got no affection for either. It's fitting that the paranormal affliction he develops destroys all chance of connection. Dig even deeper, and the most significant estrangement Phil suffers is that of his Indigenous community. When things get strange, there are no elders to offer wisdom, to talk story with, no context for Phil to understand what's happening or why. This three hundred and sixty degrees of disconnection leaves him feeling like he's never really lived, like he's been left on a shelf.

Once the story is over, that ending leaves you feeling completely disoriented. Talk about twists. However, taking the subtext into consideration, this ending is what has to happen. It's fate. But it happens in such an unusual way that it takes the reader by surprise.

Thank you to Jacy and Sobelo Books for an advanced reader's copy through BookFunnel. It's a fun read!

[Matt M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fantastic horror novella. The premise is simple: a man smells a terrible odor coming from under his deck and investigates, but finds that the odor just will not go away.

I’m a big fan of stories with unreliable narrators, especially when it is done effectively, and Morris succeeds in that. There is an ambiguity inherent to the first person narration style as Phil, the main character, recounts the events as things get crazier and crazier. Is there something supernatural happening here? Or is it all in his head? Regardless you can SMELL the odor coming off the words on the pages.

Phil is a very interesting character and that is needed for a novella with the aforementioned simple premise. He’s someone you both feel for and feel repulsed by in different moments. Most of us know a guy like Phil.

I don’t want to spoil anything so I will say no more, but if all of that sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend you pick up It’s Under the Deck when it is out on July 28th from Sobelo Books.

Like the stench under Phil’s deck, this book will linger long after you close it.

Thanks to the author and Sobelo for an eARC for review!

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about a fun read! Our MC Phil is hanging on by a thread. Since the loss of his wife, he has been aimless and hidden away in his Beaverton, Oregon home, avoiding others while he rides out his misery. It seems as if things can't get any worse when an atrocious smell rises up from underneath the deck, but as Phil investigates the matter, the miasma becomes all consuming, filling the air with a death smell that just won't go away.

Interactions with his neighbor, the community, and eventually the cops all go sour as others strive to avoid him at all costs. In his desperation, Phil does everything he can to dispose of the reek, but as he digs deeper under the deck, we learn that there's more than just a dead animal under there, and perhaps there's more to the story of Phil and his wife, as well.

A fun, quick read with a strong, relatable main character.

[Natasja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't wait to read this one and I loved it. It's a short read but there's a lot packed in this novella. I was actually disgusted by some scenes, and it's such an original premise and story. Truly gets under your skin.