"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Tuesday 5 March 2013

CRAWLSPACE by Evans Light



CRAWLSPACE is a punchy short story about a man with an unloving, nagging wife and a secret girlfriend. His wife agrees to get out of his hair for a week so he can sort out the crawlspace which is causing the house to rot - but Tom has other ideas. He intends to get the crawlspace sorted in one day, and then get his lover - Miranda - over for a week of blissful sex. But when he gets into the tiny, smelly, freezing space under the house, someone shuts the heavy steel door, and he is trapped.

This story is very effective and well written. I felt sorry for Tom, trapped in the crawlspace for a potentially infinite amount of time, in the intense chilliness of the space with no food or light (who knows what might be down there with him, in the inky darkness). Light’s skilful writing creates a terrifying sense of intense claustrophobia, suffocation and panic; I felt as though I was trapped in the crawlspace with Tom, stuck in the cramped, smelly tomb, filled with mud and spiders (amongst other nasty things), in the pitch dark.

I’m sure some people would say that Tom deserved what he got, but not me. I felt the author displayed him in a sympathetic light, rather than someone who was getting his just desserts for cheating. I wanted him to escape and exact grisly revenge. I really enjoyed this short story and I will definitely read more by this author in the future; it is perfect if you want an incredibly quick, grisly, and satisfying horror.

Rating: 8/10

2 comments:

  1. I've had this on my TBR shelf for a while. Great review! Now I need to get around to reading it.

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    1. I think you would like it; it's perfect when you want a quick horror fix!

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