Fooling around on your wife can be hazardous to your health. Jusk ask Tom. He's a man who has a lot to juggle: a frustrated wife, a secret new girlfriend, and the unpleasant task of trying to keep his deteriorating farmhouse from falling down around him. Now with his wife out of town for the week, Tom is eager to get busy under the covers with his beautiful new lover - but first there's something he has to finish up...in the CRAWLSPACE.
Evans Light is author of Screamscapes: Tales of Terror, the upcoming I Am Halloween, and more. He is editor of Doorbells at Dusk and the ongoing In Darkness, Delight horror anthology series, and is co-creator of Bad Apples: Halloween Horrors and Dead Roses: Five Dark Tales of Twisted Love.
Evans lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, surrounded by thousands of vintage horror paperbacks.
When Tom's wife leaves town, he's looking forward to a week of debauchery with his hot young girlfriend Miranda, but first, he must spread lime in the crawlspace. But what will he do when he's locked inside?
Crawlspace is a short story of claustrophobic terror. Imagine your spouse finding out you're cheating on him or her and locking you in the crawlspace? And that's not even the worst part...
Since this was a short story and I don't want to spoil too much, I'll keep this brief. Evans Light's writing did a good job conveying Tom's claustrophobic conditions and his increasing desperation, and also did a good job showing how he'd gotten to that point in his life. I felt sorry for the guy even though he'd brought the situation on himself.
Crawlspace was on the fast track to four territory until I got to the end. "Boo!" on the ending. "Boo!" I say. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
I have no idea why this kept going through my head while I was reading CRAWLSPACE...but I kept thinking- What would MacGyver do? What would MacGyver do? But alas- Tom is no MacGyver...
Tom is not a good husband. Tom is not a good father. Tom becomes a bit of a slob after he loses his job. Tom mopes and sleeps all day, and after some "nagging" from his wife -Kelly- Tom decides to go back to school- where he meets the beautiful Miranda and they fall in looooove. Yup, way to go Miranda he sounds like a real catch! Sigh...how does this happen? I do not know- but it happens in the real life too, so I can't knock the book for that.
...ANYWAYS...moving along...
Tom is looking forward to the coming week. Kelly and his daughter- Emily- are going out of town and he will have the house allll to himself- well not to himself exactly- he has invited Miranda over for some luvin'. He just has to do one thing his wife wants first. Fix the crawlspace underneath the house. Then he can relax...THAT is his plan. But things don't always go to plan, and poor ole Tomcat gets locked in with noooooooooobody to let him out.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this short story- one of my biggest fears is being buried alive, but I ended up enjoying Tom's plight so much I kind of forgot about my fears for a little while. :D
It's difficult to imagine that just a short while ago, I didn't care much for short stories. But now I've seen the light...Evans Light! What an amazing writer! I've read a few of his stories and am incredibly impressed by his talent. His stories are so imaginative and written with such eloquence. I love descriptive writing and Light is a master when it comes to figurative language. His words flow perfectly to evoke a thorough understanding of his characters' plight, thoughts, physical surroundings and feelings, etc. Not only is it effective in making the characters more realistic and relatable, but it draws you right into the story as if you were a particular character experiencing the horrors Light so skillfully concocts.
In "Crawlspace," we meet Tom, a man whose life has grown dismal. With his marriage on the rocks, Tom becomes involved with a younger woman. When his wife decides to visit her family out of state, Tom eagerly makes plans to spend some time with his beautiful new lover. When the cat's away, the mouse will play.... But he'll soon find out that his wife is not as ignorant as he thinks. Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned....
Crawlspace is a chilling story. The concept - being buried alive or trapped in a confined space - is familiar, the worst fears of many. But what made this story stand out was the author's ability to transport me into the body of his main character. I felt what Tom felt, experienced what Tom experienced - the full range of his emotions so perfectly captured and seemingly true-to-life. Fear, denial, anger, defeat... I lived them as I read them, all leading up to an ending I wouldn't change a word of.
What happens to Tom is disturbing. What Tom himself does is disturbing. But real - ever so frighteningly real. When I was a kid, I used to hide in the crawlspace under my house during neighborhood kick the can fests (does anyone play that anymore?) Even then, I thought it would be a great place to hide a body. Thanks to this story, I no longer think it was a great place to hide me.
3.5 First of all, I have to admit that I am more than biased. Cheating is something that ruins any story for me even if it is only mentioned. It overshadows everything else. I can't help it. Maybe in the future I'll stop being annoyed, but now it's simply something that I hate in books. I might even read this again to test it. That being said, I have to say that I liked Crawlspace.
You can get at least some of the story from the blurb: a house that needs fixing, cheating husband, wife gone for the weekend and so on. While I wasn't very surprised when he got under the house (you know he will have to go there) and got stuck, what happened there is excellent (in a very horrible way, of course). Tom is despicable. I am not comparing him to his wife or anyone else. While it is true that you don't get too many details about him, his life or marriage to form a proper opinion, his thinking was enough for me. Whining, incompetent, horrible father. I can't comment on anyone else because it would spoil the fun.
This rating is from a completely biased person so take it with a grain of salt. The ending (I mean the last scene in the story, not the culmination) is not something I liked but the story itself is satisfying. Not even a couple of inconsistencies could ruin it.
This is a classic tale of karmic retribution. And I love that the source is ambigous...at least for awhile. This was nice and creepy, and would be right at home in any anthology of the horrific and macabre. In fact, this wouldn't seem a bit out of place in the new collection of King stories. I highly recommend spending an hour with this one.
This was a tasty morsel of horror done right. Having read more horror stories than I can count, this one went somewhere else entirely. The ending could not have been more chilling.
Evans Light, and his brother Adam, write some of the most excellent and creeptastic short stories you will ever read. Crawlspace is a prime example of Evans originality and his twisted mind. LOL
He is a bestselling author and his short stories are a delight (?) to read.
I feel confident he will have me cringing and the hairs standing up on the back of my neck as I delve into this one.
I love the covers that foreshadow the wickedness between the pages.
Thomas had been living the high life, until…..
His depression over the loss of his career was paralyzing.
I can picture him as he gains weight and doesn’t care enough to even shower.
Then he met her, Miranda.
Kelly, his wife, is at her wits end.
I can feel her frustration with the situation.
She heads out the door with their daughter, giving him an ultimatum.
Finish the work in the Crawlspace, or else.
He could do that.
He just needed to pick himself up and get on with it.
I’m tring to figure out how Evans can make a crawlspace any creepier than it already is.
I mean, think about it. It's dark, damp, dark and there are creepy crawlies in there.
Evan Light's description of the darkness and smell makes me not want to go into the Crawlspace, but glad that Thomas has to. LOL
The darkness is so deep, he can’t see his hand in front of his face.
The ground is muddy and cold, seeping into every pore of his body.
Oh no, spiders. But they are just webs, empty with empty carcasses of captured prey.
I’m getting claustrophobic.
My heart starts to beat faster.
My breath comes quicker.
I had a glimpse of where this is going, but the extreme machinations of Kelly, a woman determined to keep her man, no matter what the lengths she has to go to, knows no bounds.
I sit tensely waiting …..
Crawlspace is a dark and horrifying tale that had me on the edge of my seat, wringing my hands.
I did not see the end coming and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit when it did.
I may have a morbid sense of humor.
I am an armchair editor and found some minor issues.
They did not affect my rating, because the writing was so imaginative, I feel Crawlspace deserves a high rating.
After all, how do you take something as common as infidelity and make it into a story you can't put down?
I made the mistake of starting to read this story in the dark of my bedroom with only the Kindle Paperwhite as light...
Big mistake.
The moment Tom shuffled off beneath the house, and into the crawlspace beneath I was overwhelmed with the sense of the darkness in my room closing in upon me. Truly.
I shut the Kindle off, pet my dogs, and my cat, and went to sleep. There was no way I was going to read any further without plenty of light, and daylight to keep me company.
This story is taut. You're caught up immediately with Tom, and with his fantasies of his new love, and the disgust of having to deal with the crawlspace.
Normal crawlspaces are scary, and those men that crawl under houses to fix rot, deal with termites, or fix plumbing, are brave men (and women!). I would not go into a crawlspace if you paid me!
But, Tom goes because there has been a problem with water, finances are tough, and he needs to save money. He's thinking about the new girlfriend so he isn't that worried about being beneath the house.
That all changes after he does get into the crawlspace, and the heavy door shuts, effectively trapping him beneath.
He's not alone, and that's where everything gets worse.
WARNING: If enclosed spaces, unyielding darkness, and an imagination that goes wild are triggers for you, you may want to reconsider reading this story.
If you need a good scare that includes a strange twist at the end this little short scary story is for you!
Of course, if you go and read it in the dark after I warned you not to, I'm not at fault for your nightmares.
.....or, that thing in the closet....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
An eerie, claustrophobic horror tale that gut punches you two thirds in, but well worth the ride. When husband Tom decides to work in the crawlspace under his house, while daydreaming about his upcoming tryst with his mistress, he gets much more than he bargained for.
I suffer from claustrophobia. Don't try to lock me in a broom closet or even a larger room. I will lose it completely and go ballistic.
I have also had the misfortune of experiencing sensory deprivation so strong and darkness so complete that even after several minutes it did not dissipate in the crushing silence of the room where I slept while working in a very remote astronomical observatory. Believe me, it was freaky as hell!
Finally, my grand parents lived in a building with a quarter height, dust and earth laden large cellar that was accessed by going down a perilously steep staircase leading into a poorly lit, sinister washing room. The stuff of nightmares when I was a kid.
By combining all these elements, this story therefore evoked a lot of uncomfortable feelings in me. The author's descriptions are inspired and hit the mark for me.
The wrath of a wife betrayed is also something that keeps most men on the straight and narrow. Certainly, it does it for me. Love is only part of the reason behind my unwavering fidelity . :-)
For those who felt unsatisfied with the ending, I invite you to get someone to lock you up for a few hours in a completely dark environment from which you cannot escape. A condition of the imprisonment should be that you will not know how long they will leave you in your condition. You will quickly discover the limits of your tolerance and possibly your sanity. This can be a deeply traumatizing experiment, so I don't recommend it especially if you suffer from claustrophobia. :-)
I totally enjoy Mr. Light’s writings, on any topic, because he has such a new perspective and offers such vivid and poetic imagery. His metaphors are graceful and very original. So naturally I totally enjoyed this novella, but I must confess: I have no sympathy or empathy whatsoever for the protagonist! Yes, bad stuff dribbles into every life (sometimes it pours, not just dribbles) but an adult has to learn to face it, cope with it, and get up and move on. That doesn’t include constant whining, leaving your grade-school child locked out of the house, or playing around. Sorry, dude, that doesn’t cut it: so get up, grow up, and be an adult, Tom!
That said, even though the protagonist claims to not be claustrophobic, this reviewer is, terribly. I also do not do cellars, basements, attics, coal furnaces, or crawlspaces—and after reading this story, I really hope to never encounter a crawlspace!
I venture to guess that very few, if any, readers will guess in advance the outcome.
A man finds himself near bottom after losing his job and having his marriage crumbing more and more. As his family leaves to visit relatives, he stays behind to do some needed repairs on the home. The main job is to get rid of the moisture in the crawlspace. The job turns into a nightmare as he finds himself trapped in the tight space.
I had real troubles with this story. I literally had to stop multiple times as I suffered attacks of claustrophobia. The author does a wonderful job (or too good depending on your attitude on tight spaces) of creating an atmosphere of terror when describing the crawlspace. The problem comes when he leaves those descriptions behind to explore the other terrors of the story. Perhaps it was because I had been so freaked out early in the story, but I found the later terrors to be not so bad . In fact, they were almost predictable at times.
I feel obligated to give this warning. If you suffer from claustrophobia, this story will freak you out in parts. Keep this in mind while deciding if you want to read this story or not.
This was a great short story. Very psychological. Just when you think you know something is going to happen, it does not. And when you are sure it won't, it does. I usually like to do my reviews from the heart and not add tons of info about who published it (no offense to anyone) or what the hidden meaning was. But honestly I have to say there are some lessons to be learned from this story. It was scary, pretty scary. Again not in blood and gore way but the gets into your psyche way. I just ask you, put yourself in the main characters place, what would you do? That is what I was asking myself.
There was also a decent amount of humor in the book. I enjoyed that. And the author you can tell very carefully chose his wording. Whether to give you a nibble or a bite of information. You really do not know what is going on until the end. Maybe not even then, depending how you look at it.
This is a short story about a husband looking forward to his wife going away to her mother's for a week so he can have some time alone with his mistress.........as long as he completes the job in the crawlspace under their house first. When he climbs under to start the work he gets some unexpected surprises.
This story is not for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia. It is beautifully written to scare the living s*** out of you if you do. Can't reveal too much without giving away the story but it portrays perfectly what the atmosphere would be like under a house for someone who does not like small spaces. My skin crawled quite a few times. It's horrific but mind horrific instead of physically horrific.
I hate crawlspaces! What a stupid construction idea! I'd like to say I really enjoyed reading this, but I was so uncomfortable during parts that it was hard to catch my breath! Evans Light had me in that crawlspace, too! Cold, damp, tight... ::shivers:: The story... I loved. I don't want to give anything away, I'll get my thoughts together & add a link when the blog post is up.
I listened to the audio version of this, too. I liked the guy that did the narration :)
This story needed another round of edits. Some sentences were horribly broken, some metaphors were way overblown. Did the door to the crawlspace open inward or outward? There seemed to be some confusion in the text about this somewhat important detail.
The story itself wasn't bad. Just needed some polish.
Tom thinks he's in for a week of romantic escapades with his young lover while his wife is away - that is, until he ends up trapped in the crawl space under his house.
This story was vicious, dark, gruesome, and a ton of fun! Evans Light is very talented, and I look forward to reading more by this author.
More like 3.75 stars for me, but it was good enough for me to round up rather than down...
What a very Staphen King, mess with your head sort of tale about Tom, his girlfriend Miranda, and his wife Kelly. It wasn't what I expected, and the end just leaves you with a "What just happened?" sort of feeling...I'm not sure what to think or why I want to think it...
Oh, Evans Light, how you creeped me out with this story!
How far will a scorned wife go to teach her cheating husband a lesson in fidelity? Ladies, just let your man read this story and I doubt he will even think about straying (okay, I'm just kidding...kinda).
This story is creepy and unpredictable. I knew from the get-go that Tom gets trapped in the crawlspace, but everything after that...unpredictable! You just have to read this story to be able to understand. Craziness at its finest!
The ending was very unpredictable and not what I expected at all. I felt a slight disappointment, then I was like, “oh, hell, that makes this even creepier!”.
Crawlspace was simply amazing! I devoured it in one quick, easy session. The whole time I read I kept thinking, "this can not be happening." It was intense and dramatic. It was awesome and painful at the same time. It was creepy, eerie, and fun. I wanted to sympathize with the main character, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it - sorry bastard.
I'm a real 'Stephen King and his kids' kind of guy. Like a classic King short story, this was neither too long nor too short and had everything it needed to tell the whole story without being overly wordy. I'm looking forward to reading more from both Evans Light and his brother Adam.
Whoa! The ending! *Big eyes, nervous giggle, shudders*
There are some great, shiver inducing moments in this short story. The whole claustrophobic theme had me involuntarily taking deep breaths throughout.
Crawlspace is an uncomfortable read. Tom's introduction, in just a few lines, sets him up as an unlikeable guy. Bad husband, and an even worse father. Obviously something is going to go wrong when Tom ventures into the crawlspace, but I didn't guess the full extent of the horror that would greet Tom...
You can't go wrong with this one. It's a quick read, at 40 pages, and it's free!
Pretty good short story in that 'Tales From the Crypt' sort of way. Might have to check out the full collection of stories this one was a part of called, Screamscapes: Tales of Terror. ... Update: This story has been popping in and out of my head for the past 6 months since I've read it -- so much so that I think I'm going to have to start charging Evans Light rent ;) It has clearly made an impact on me and I just have to say nothing I've ever read has done that to me. What a terrifically creepy story this was. Thanks for the nightmares, Evans!
I was made aware of this story by a Goodreads buddy who quite liked it, and I thought I'd give it a go. The author did a good job of portraying Tom's sense of claustrophobia and increasing desperation, although some of the metaphors were a bit overdone. I was hoping for a bit more of a chill but just didn't quite get there. The ending was excellent, though. This short story is definitely worth a read.
This was the second story I've read from Evans light. It was a very short one, but it was advertised as short and Very reasonably priced as free! Was a good little story though. I actually started to feel a bit claustrophobic while reading it. I'm not overly keen on the ending,I think That could have played out slightly better, but overall a good Shorty. I'm sure I'll check out some more from this author in the future
Tom has a secret only it's not quite the secret he thinks it is. When his wife goes away for a week giving him an ultimatum to clear out the crawlspace he plans to do the job quickly and spend the remaining time with his lover. But things don't work out even remotely as he had planned. I loved the truly frightening scenario this story sets up; great writing and it was only the end that knocked it down to 4 star for me.