Crawlspace

by Adam Christopher

Enter an edge-of-your-seat nightmare to the darkest frontiers in Crawlspace , an SF horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Adam Christopher, perfect for fans of S.A. Barnes and Event Horizon .

Mission Lead Olivia O’Connor and her team from the Artemis Corporation, along with their military liaison, are in the final preparations for a undertaking that will alter the course of human the first faster than light test flight that finally opening up the expanse of the universe.

But their journey between dimensions is one they never trained for. Strange voices in the corridors. Long lost faces not forgotten. Strange symbols carved into the hull. And gathering outside the ship, ancient forces beyond reckoning.

The crew will need all their skills to survive and uncover the twisted truth behind their mission.

Commencing countdown...

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Horror Thriller, Adult, Audiobook

240 pages, Paperback

Expected publication March 17, 2026

About the author

Adam Christopher is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith and Master of Evil,  Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. He has also written official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show Elementary and the award-winning Dishonored video game franchise.

Co-creator of the twenty-first-century incarnation of Archie Comics superhero The Shield, Adam has also written for the universes of Doctor Who and World of Warcraft, and is a contributor to the internationally bestselling Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View anniversary anthology series and the all-ages Star Wars Adventures comic.

Adam’s original novels include Made to Kill and The Burning Dark, among many others, and his debut novel Empire State was both a SciFi Now and Financial Times book of the year.

Reviews

[OutlawPoet]

This was, unfortunately, a DNF for me.

I found the pacing slow and the characters unremarkable. Eventually, I realized I simply wasn't enjoying the read and stopped.

[Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany)]

Survival horror in space! Crawlspace follows a crew on an experimental spaceship who become stranded on a mission and weird things start to happen. Dark forces gather outside and things are not all as they seem. This was fun and a quick read so I don't want to spoil things, but I think it will be enjoyable for sci-fi readers who want something a bit spookier. The audio narration is good but also fits the hard sci-fi vibe in terms of style. I would recommend this more to people who are sci-fi readers looking for a bit of horror than I would to horror readers looking for a bit of science fiction. I received a copy of this book review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

[megs_bookrack]

ARC received. Thank you, Tor Nightfire!



I love the sound of this one!!!

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a big fan of sci-fi horror, I jumped at the chance to read this book. The cover is super creepy and the synopsis made it sound like I was in for something like Event Horizon or Alien.

Unfortunately the book let me down on a few counts. From a pure reading standpoint, the actual formatting of the book is not good - the margins are so wide that it makes reading the ebook nearly impossible and there are goofy, fruitless chapter titles that are highly unnecessary.

The actual plot of the book is... Fine... I guess. There is really no fear or horror elements until perhaps the last 25 pages. Most of the book is made up of techno jargon that goes on for pages interspersed with quirky characters. If you like techno jargon scifi with characters stuck in weird situations, you might like this. However, marketing it as a horror book I feel is very deceiving and instead I found my eyes glazing over the mumbo jumbo of characters trying to fix a spaceship for 200 pages.

Thank you to NetGalley for lending me a copy for review purposes.

[♡Heather✩Brown♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC✶REVIEW
#ad much love for my advance copy @tornightfire #partner
& @macmillan.audio #partner for the ALC

🅲🆁🅰🆆🅻🆂🅿🅰🅲🅴
< @
ʀᴇʟᴇᴀꜱᴇꜱ: ᴍᴀʀᴄʜ 𝟣𝟩, 𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟨
horror | sci-fi | fantasy

𝙺𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚔-𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚔-𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚔…

When a mission goes all the way wrong, the astronauts aboard XK72 find themselves stuck and running out of time. But it might have been one of their own who put them here. And there’s more to worry about than the time running out, because something is out there knocking.

🎧: Also followed along with the audio and def recommend the audio. Jennifer Pickens did fantastic with this audio - bringing the plot alive before our ears. She captures the suspense and tension so well. Fabulous listen. I prob would have DNF had I not also had the audio.

Reading this one really did feel like reading a SA Barnes book. And boy, did I enjoy it. At first. It’s claustrophobic with characters you may, or may not, fully trust.

They’re seeing people who aren’t there and don’t trust themselves or each other. It’s a pressure cooker of a book. I knew as soon as I saw this book that I had to read it.

But then it all slowly fell apart 😭 - I did like it but it was far from perfect. But I was more disappointed so 3.5.

LMAO SOMEONE’s 5 star review saying it’s about a family and finding a Crawlspace in their home ☠️ tell us you didn’t read the book, without telling us.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big bummer on this one. The cover and synopsis promised cosmic, ancient, claustrophobic horror, but the story never really delivered on that vibe. Nothing genuinely scary happens until the last ten percent, which is way too late to save it.

Instead, it felt like average characters trapped on a failing ship in space, running out of time. Wash, rinse, repeat of something we’ve all seen a thousand times before.

The writing itself wasn’t bad, and there’s definitely potential there. I’d still give the author another chance, but this one just didn’t blast off for me.

[Larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this ARC at New York Comic Con a few weeks ago and I’m so glad that I did. I couldn’t put it down, the end of each chapter made me want to continue on to the next. A+ Space horror!

My only criticism is that the chapter titles were completely unnecessary and cheesy, it almost ruined the suspenseful vibe the book was trying to covey. The titles were all quotes from within the chapter and it did nothing but make me cringe, once when seeing the title and then again when I came across it in the chapter. It was a constant “oh look they said the thing” moment in my head, taking me out of the story for a bit. Remove the chapter titles entirely before release and I’d say this is a 5 star!

[Casey Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this ARC at New York Comic Con, where I got to meet the author and get my copy signed! Adam Christopher is such a nice guy and literally so cool, writing for franchises from Star Wars, to Warcraft, to Doctor Who!

This is a quick but highly entertaining cosmic horror! It involves a crew on an experimental vessel trapped in a starless void. The magic is in the mounting dread and tension. The whole time I just wanted to know what the heck was going on! There was one line earlier on that had me HOOKED, and that was “Do you want in?”. Ahhh, in on what?!? It drove me crazy, I had to know what was going on. Ultimately, the concept presented in this book was absolutely a fascinating thought. As I often find with sci-fi, I know it isn’t real, but I feel like it could be. The reality of the character’s situation would be absolutely terrifying, but reading about it sure was fun!

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and the Tor booth at NYCC for the ARC! Book releases 3/17/26.

[Kate | Date With A Thriller · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite horror subgenres is sci-fi horror and this one did not disappoint!! 🙌

Definitely a bit of a slow burn, but I loved the creepy feeling that built up as the book progressed! I did get a bit of Event Horizon vibes but almost a bit of Virus vibes! Which now I want to watch that movie as it’s been a while..and yes, I know that it’s not set in space, but.. 😂 ANYWAYS, be sure to check this one out if you love sci-fi horror like I do! 👏

Thank you Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Crawlspace" by Adam Christopher is a solid, quick read in the realm of cosmic horror. It excels at building an oppressive sense of dread and danger throughout the pages, and presents a dark scenario involving astronauts on an experimental vessel trapped in a starless void.

There are a few truly standout scenes in this book, and a lot of tension. The mystery remains engaging, even if fans of the genre will find many familiar elements.

Unfortunately, while not completely flat, the characters remain largely one note. And the horror, while present, never really takes off quite the way I was hoping it would, instead remaining at a moderate simmer for most of the book.

Still, it's worth checking out for fans of the genre, as there is a lot to like here. I'll give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫.

Special thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the advanced copy for review!

[Rachel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I genuinely had a fantastic time reading Crawlspace; a lot of creepy, thrilling, eerie scenes that had a cinematic quality. Like...I was fully absorbed and read it in 2 sittings.

While it was the book that got me out of my slump, the storyline had a few moments where I thought, "I've read this before". As with any book set in a spaceship(Is that the proper terminology? lol), at least for me, there are some space-y terms that I had to remind myself what they meant.

Those that enjoyed S.A. Barnes or The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown (totally underrated Nightfire release). Also kind of reminded me of Sarah Gailey's Spread Me a bit.

[Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space horror is my absolute catnip. I am the easiest audience on Earth for this genre. Put a haunted spaceship in front of me and I will show up emotionally prepared to spiral. Alien permanently altered my brain chemistry. Event Horizon walked so my nightmares could run. If a story involves a small crew drifting through the void while something deeply unnatural starts knocking on the hull… I’m already seated, snacks in hand, ready to emotionally support every terrible decision.

So when Crawlspace showed up promising interdimensional terror, strange voices in the corridors, and ancient forces gathering outside the ship?

I was ready to fall in love.

And instead… I spent a surprising amount of time learning about the engine.

The premise is honestly fantastic. Mission Lead Olivia O’Connor and her team from Artemis Corporation are testing a brand new slip drive that could change human space travel forever. Faster-than-light exploration, new dimensions, the kind of scientific breakthrough that sounds amazing until literally anything goes wrong. There’s also a military liaison onboard, which in fiction is basically a neon sign that says something shady is happening here. The test flight begins, the ship jumps between dimensions… and suddenly the crew is stranded somewhere they were absolutely not supposed to end up.

Then the weird stuff starts.

Voices echo through the corridors. Faces appear that absolutely should not be there. Strange symbols show up carved into the hull like the universe is leaving creepy little Post-it notes. And outside the ship, in the endless dark, something ancient and unknowable seems to be gathering.

Which is exactly the kind of setup that makes space horror fans like me start rubbing our hands together like cartoon villains.

Because the magic of this subgenre is that moment when the ship stops feeling like a vehicle and starts feeling like a coffin. The walls close in. The crew stops trusting their senses. Reality gets slippery. The universe suddenly feels way bigger and way meaner than humanity ever planned for.

The bones of that story are absolutely here.

But the problem is we spend a lot of time explaining the ship.

And listen, I respect good sci-fi. I appreciate the science. I support competent people trying to fix complicated machinery while trapped in a nightmare dimension. But I kept waiting for the horror to grab the story by the throat and whisper, “You should never have come here.”

Instead we’re troubleshooting the slip drive for… a while. Imagine watching Alien, but every twenty minutes someone pauses the movie to explain the Nostromo’s fuel system. That’s a little bit the vibe.

The pacing ends up feeling like a slow burn where the match is slightly damp. The creepy elements are there, lurking just outside the airlock, but the story keeps circling back to the mechanics of the ship and the logistics of getting home. Meanwhile I’m sitting here whispering, “But what about the cosmic nightmare outside?”

Olivia herself is a solid lead. She’s capable, level-headed, and doing her best Captain of the Disaster while reality quietly unravels around her. I liked her immediately. But the rest of the crew unfortunately blur together a bit. Characters come and go, strange things happen to them, and I kept wishing they had stronger personalities so those moments would actually land. Here, a lot of the crew feels like variations of Extremely Concerned Astronaut.

Now let’s talk about the audiobook, because Jennifer Pickens genuinely carries a lot of the atmosphere here. Her narration is smooth and grounded, and she gives Olivia a calm, capable presence that anchors the story even when the plot drifts deep into technical territory. She keeps the tension moving when the narrative gets knee-deep in slip-drive mechanics. Honestly, if I had been reading this in print instead of listening, my attention might have quietly floated off into deep space somewhere around the fourth engineering explanation.

And here’s the frustrating part, because you can absolutely see the potential here. The cosmic horror ideas are genuinely cool. There are glimpses of something ancient outside the ship. Reality bending in subtle, unsettling ways. That creeping sense the crew opened a door humanity absolutely should have left closed. When the horror elements finally start pushing forward, they’re eerie and interesting and exactly the kind of thing the premise promised. It just takes a long time to get there.

Part of the issue is expectation. This book gets compared to Alien and Event Horizon, which are two of the heaviest hitters in space horror. Those stories thrive on dread, escalating terror, and characters slowly unraveling under pressure. Crawlspace leans much harder into the science fiction side of the equation. It’s more about the mechanics of being stranded in a broken ship than the psychological nightmare of being trapped with something unknowable.

Which means if you walk in expecting full cosmic terror, you might feel a little stranded yourself.

That said, Adam Christopher clearly knows his sci-fi. The premise is strong, the ideas are intriguing, and the writing itself is polished. This one just didn’t quite deliver the level of horror the setup promised. But his work across the genre gives me hope. The imagination is there. The weirdness is there. If the horror dial gets cranked up in future books, I will absolutely board that spaceship again.

Final vibe check… this lands at 2.5 stars for me. Not terrible, not amazing, just a slightly frustrating case of a great premise that never fully ignites. Jennifer Pickens’ narration is excellent, Olivia is a strong lead, and there are some cool cosmic horror concepts floating around in the void.

But if you come in hoping for something that hits the same nerve as Alien… This is not that mission.

Whodunity Award: Most Patiently Explained Haunted Spaceship in the Galaxy

And a big thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ARC, which allowed me to float through this haunted spaceship engineering lecture from the safety of Earth instead of getting stuck in a malfunctioning slip drive with a bunch of extremely stressed astronauts.

[Christian Orton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think I’m the right audience for this book. I kind of expected an Alien or Event Horizon type novel, but it’s more of an “if RL Stine wrote a sci fi novel.” The characters are lifeless, many indistinguishable from each other outside of their names. Description of the action is bland. Needs some kind of stinger to open the novel. Unfortunately, it’s what I’ve come to expect from modern writers. Kind of feels like a friend at a sleepover in middle school telling me a story.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for an advance copy of this science fiction novel that tells of a ship, a new way to travel and the horror that lurks on the threshold, an evil we can not see, but eagerly awaits our travels among the stars.

I lived in an apartment for the first years of my life. Houses were places that my relatives had, in New Jersey and Long Island. They always seemed big to me, spacious, full of places that I could hide when social events got too much. My first experience with haunted houses was Disney's Lonesome Ghosts, watched on a Fisher-Price Movie Viewer. I loved it. The idea that a house, a home could be filled with malignant creatures, wanted to frighten, maybe even do worse to people scared me to no end. I have loved stories of hauntings ever since, both in book and film, and maybe over the year I have become more jaded. There are only so many ways a door can't be opened, a window not be broken, even drywall kicked in, to escape a house. However in space, not only can one not hear a scream, one can't escape in a void loaded with radiation, and nothing to breathe. That leaves one with few options, especially when one hears knocking at the door, the door being an airlock. Crawlspace by Adam Christopher is a science fiction tale about a group of adventurers trying to help human progress by testing a new means of transportation, and finding that the universe is far more mysterious and deadly than science could ever predict.

Olivia O'Connor, known as Liv, is mission lead for in a bold experiment, a combined project between Artemis Corporation and the military. To test a new form of hyperspace travel, one that can go further and faster than anything that has come before. The team is highly skilled and highly motivated, though everything has not gone to plan. The original test pilot has been replaced by another military man, but he seems to be gelling well with the others. Everything seems to be going well, until the switch is pulled and alarms blast from every device. Stopping the crew finds they are out of communications with Earth, and things are not what they should be. They find themselves in a void, with nothing, no stars, no radiation, just sitting, and seemingly waiting for something. As the crew tries to figure out what has happened, things really start to go wrong. Crew members start to disappear, and worse something is knocking on the ship, as if wanting to come in. Though what could be in the void of space. Liv fears that eventually they might find out.

A book that is a mix of hard science fiction, a bit of psychological horror and cosmic horror. Thought the story is reminiscent of Event Horizon, and the classic horror movie From Beyond, the story is uniquely its own. I liked the mix, thought I wish it might have been a little more balanced. However this is a minor quibble. The book starts fast, keeping readers locks in and takes it time revealing things, not dropping too much information, or jump scares, letting the story play out. The book offers various points of view, and a lot of unreliable narrators, for reasons that become clear. There is a lot of exciting scenes, and Christopher does a good job of explaining things, especially the jump drive, and its components.

A spooky tale set in space, something that I am seeing a lot of recently and a trend that I enjoy. I liked this story, and as this is the first book by Adam Christopher I have read, I look forward to more by the author.

[CarlysGrowingTBR · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was something I was really looking forward to as I love sci-fi horror almost as much as I love possession horror. Which is to say, a lot. Unfortunately this let me down in a lot of big ways. The best I can come up with to describe this book is aggressively average.

First of all, I wanna talk about the narration. That was the shining highlight of this novel for me. I did do a tandem read with the e-book as well as the audiobook and the audiobook narrator really nailed this. I really feel like her narration is what carried me through through most of this novel.

The pacing and premise were absolutely fine. I had no problem with either one. I really liked our main female character. She seemed smart, capable and strong and she did the best with the information she had available to her. I really appreciated that there is absolutely no romance within this novel. I feel like too many people try to shove some sort of romantic sub plot into these sci-fi horrors, and it always just takes away from the edge and the desperation. But there was none to be found here and that was a highlight for me as well.

unfortunately, I did not connect with any of these characters. I really feel like some background and information and humanity could've been given to the characters within the pages of the novel versus the character just constantly contemplating, "How are they gonna fix this busted ship". I wanted more in depth nuance into the characters in order so that I would care what happened to them. But as each character met consequences or dangers within this book, I found myself just completely uncaring as to where they ended up. And unfortunately, I am the kind of reader, especially where dread and suspense is a forefront emotion, that if I don't care about the characters it's gonna be hard for me to care about the book. The last point that caused me to rate this so low is that I just never felt scared or dread or even claustrophobia. These novels are meant to elicit a certain response from the reader and I did not get that response. That meant the end was just not a very big payoff for me.

There was a decent amount of mystery within this novel, but by the time the reveal started coming I was so disconnected with the characters that I found that I didn't really care about the resolution.

Unfortunately, this one just was not a hit for me, but I think it could be a hit for other people which is why I do still recommend people read it. This was just something that didn't land with me personally.

Thank you to the publishers for the gifted copy of this audiobook and e-book

[Trevor Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclosure Statement: I received a finished copy of this novel from the publisher. My thoughts and opinions on the book are entirely my own and have not been influenced by either the publisher or the author in any way.

Crawlspace is sci-fi horror through and through. It's a book that takes all of the jargon of science fiction, along with its emphasis on the "novum"--the thing that gives shape to its worldbuilding--and then establishes the story in a setting of dread. And dread is the book's dominant mood, amplifying the creep factor progressively throughout the book until it's time to release the airlock and depressurize the cabin.

My adoration for this book is laser-focused on Christopher's craft, how he manages to build and maintain dread throughout the entire book's length. Even the final chapter recognizes the exhaustion of the book's tension, the emotional turmoil that comes with so much exposure to the frayed nerve of anxiety. It's so difficult to maintain tension and mystery in a way that feels satisfying for an entire novel, but Christopher manages that tension and anxiety for the whole length of the book. If you're a horror writer looking to understand the craft of suspense, this is one of the books you should be studying and studying closely.

At the beating heart of the book is the primordial horror of survival, of what it means to be stripped away of all of your human technologies and superiority, to be faced with a void that is no longer recognizable and that resists your ability to make sense of it. It's a high-tech set stripped completely bare of any ability to help, just a crew reduced to their wits and realizing that maybe those aren't enough to save the day. That primal fear is what gives this book its aura--and I don't think it's unfair to compare it to similar media like Event Horizon or The Descent. It's doing its disorienting and dismantling with deliberate intent and style.

Somewhere, this book is someone's favorite movie, and it's good.

[Ashton Ahart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set sometime in the far future, this novel takes the reader on an eerie space journey through a starless sky and a ship full of shadows. The story begins right as the ship XK72 takes off for its first test drive with an experimental new technology. However, things don’t go according to plan and the crew is launched into a place in between space and time. There, they have to fight the clock in order to return home but time is not the only enemy they must face.

From the plot to the characters this novel is a typical run-of-the-mill space story where the limited crew gets stranded somewhere in space and have to fight off an inhuman entity. The characters get introduced one by one as the crew get ready to launch and the different backstories are both cliche yet fitting for the setting. With common tropes such as ‘the mysterious and obviously evil military officer’ to ‘the strong-willed female leader with no other personality other than she is in charge,’ the writing makes it hard for the reader to connect with anyone in this story.

The narrator also makes it hard to be engaged with the text since the writing style is filled with forced quips from the author. Overall the writing felt like it was better suited to be a screenplay than a book. With unrealistic dialogue yet believable action scenes and a mysterious plotline, this book would make a better movie than novel.

The story shines through the author's extensive history on writing about sci-fi space travel with long passages outlining the extremely detailed inner workings of the spaceship XK72. However, if you’re not someone who likes to read about made-up space travel then this isn’t the book for you. But, if you do enjoy tense space epics with lots of complex sci-fi terminology, then Crawlspace is right up your alley.

[RobbyReadsActually · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited when I was approved for the audiobook of Crawlspace by Adam Christopher because I love sci-fi horror, especially cosmic horror. Unfortunately, it did not deliver much on the horror front.

What frustrates me the most about this is the marketing of the book. Comparing this to Event Horizon and describing it as "for fans of S.A. Barnes" sets a very specific expectation; those comparisons imply dread, psychological tension, horror, etc. When you position your book alongside heavy hitters like that and do not come close to the tone or intensity, it leaves the reader disappointed which ultimately does a disservice to the author.

The actual horror elements don't really appear until the last 10% of the book and even then, they felt very minimal. I never found myself on the edge of my seat or feeling a sense of creeping dread. Instead, much of the story focuses on the stranded crew attempting to repair their damaged ship. There is a significant amount of engineering and technical lingo throughout. If you enjoy hard sci-fi with an emphasis on mechanics and problem solving, this may be up your alley.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a decent job. The writing itself isn't bad either. My main disappointment comes almost entirely from the mismatch between the synopsis and the actual reading experience. If you're going in expecting intense, cosmic horror, you may feel let down. If you're looking for science fiction with heavy technical focus and a light touch of horror at the end, this is the book for you.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ALC. Crawlspace by Adam Christopher will be available 3/24/26.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crawlspace. An interesting name for a cosmic horror novel… set in outer space… on a spaceship. And yet, it kinda works, because the ship’s crawlspace is exactly where all the real trouble starts.

I didn’t fall head over heels for this one, but Adam Christopher absolutely knows how to let the tension simmer and marinate his readers in atmospheric dread.

The story takes its sweet time getting going. We meet the crew of the XK72 (truly one of the least inspiring spacecraft names imaginable) as they prepare for a test flight of a hyperspace prototype called the SLIP drive — a machine meant to break the laws of physics and fling them across two light‑seconds in two microseconds. It’s a lot of setup... but hang in there.

While the descriptions of the different parts of spacecraft and the mechanical techy terms were a bit snoozey and hard to follow, the characters were pretty fun and easy to latch on to. You can tell something's going to go down pretty early on and when the weird and sabatogy stuff does start, everyone does that classic horror‑story thing where they shrug it off, rationalize it, or pretend it’s fine until it very much isn’t. And by the time they finally stop making excuses, well… it’s already too late.

The knocking that sounds like it's overhead, and then underfoot, and then in the walls. The shadowy movements in the corner of their eyes, catching the reflection of someone in the mirror or the window when you are alone in the room ... and now the missing crew members...

Crawlspace doesn’t reinvent cosmic horror, but it knows exactly how to make you sneak a peek over your shoulder before you turn out the lights and brings the darkness of the void uncomfortably close.

[Ezra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Space horror is my favorite kind of horror and so every time I come across a new title, I get very excited.

This, unfortunately, was pretty boring considering the genre.

None of the characters stood out from each other. I would frequently start a new chapter and not realize that the POV had switched until someone's name was said. They had no personalities or really any backstories except Deacon's being "military" and Mirai (spelling?) being "dead sister".

Even when the characters started to see things, none of them said anything to each other! And it wasn't like any of them voiced a fear of not being believed, it was like the thought didn't occur to a single one of them. Plus every technical failure that was shrugged off as an actual technical failure??? And not maybe something related to everything else going on???

What a long game the space creatures played. Liv almost got ripped out of the ship only for "Deacon" to save her... even though it was not Deacon nor Astrid. And both knew how the return tripped was planned and had the information to do so so why even bother saving Liv? Especially considering the ending. It was all pointless.

And okay, so Mirai brought back the creatures pretending to be Deacon and Astrid. And Avery and the military guy were taken from the pod. So how was Astrid taken so quickly?

The title of the book implies a feeling of being trapped and claustrophobic and as someone who is claustrophobic... this was not. It became clear very quickly that the crawlspace was actually the ship being in the crawlspace of the universe but even that doesn't feel fitting for the situation the crew finds themselves in.

Overall it was very slow and boring.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crawlspace markets itself as a sci-fi horror that ended up being more like 85% sci-fi/thriller and 15% horror. I'm not faulting the book for this - it can literally be whatever Adam Christopher wants it to be, but I definitely went in expecting more horror. The horror we do get, however, was creepy: a cross between Event Horizon (a comparison also found in the description) and The Thing.

I don't really know if I can give a full synopsis here because as heavy as it was on the sci-fi, I didn't understand everything, especially when it came to phrases like "quantum something something" and "slipdrive." I used to be a literature teacher, for gods sake. I CAN tell you that it takes place on a spaceship during an inter-dimensional test flight. One of the crew members goes rogue, which unleashes a series of spooky and mind-blowing events for the other members. They think they've lost people who then come back...differently. We spend the majority of the novel trying to determine what to do next and how to make it back.

I think I enjoyed this novel for the most part, especially with this narrator. I listened to Jennifer Pickens' reading of The Haunting of Velkwood and liked her style on that one as well. She has a unique voice that lends itself to the uniqueness of this story. My biggest gripe, however, is that the novel ends on a cliffhanger that didn't necessarily feel appropriate. It would have been nice to have some more definitive answers by the end, but I guess we'll just have to settle for.......eh?

*Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Adam Christopher for this audio ARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*

[Victoria Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank NetGalley, Adam Christopher, and Macmillan Audio for early access to Crawlspace.

Despite tackling some very science-heavy concepts, I found the plot fairly easy to follow. I won’t pretend my attention didn’t drift at times. There were moments I completely zoned out. Even so, I was able to jump back in without feeling lost, which says a lot about how clearly the story is structured.

The novel follows three astronauts: Mission Lead Olivia O’Connor and her team from the Artemis Corporation, along with a military liaison. Their mission is dimension hopping in the hope of expanding humanity’s understanding of the universe. From there, everything begins to unravel. One crew member harbors ulterior motives, putting the entire mission in jeopardy. People go missing. Strange knocking echoes through the ship. Visions and symbols begin to appear. Power failures are only the beginning of their problems.

I enjoyed the opening and the ending, but the middle section dragged for me, and I struggled to stay engaged. I’m glad I pushed through, though, because the final act delivered genuinely creepy moments and captured the tone I wish the entire book had maintained. If you’ve ever watched Doctor Who, there’s an episode with a similar plot feel, just without Ten and Martha swooping in to save the day.

I’d be interested in reading more from this author, but only if the horror elements are pushed further and given more space to breathe.

Rating: 3/5

[Brittney · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite genres of science fiction is that sort of isolationist psychological horror that deals with existential dread as much as it does actual villains and monsters. Lucky for me, Crawlspace took just such a path.
Stranded in a liminal pocket of space, an experimental ship and its crew must find a way out of the emptiness between dimensions before they succumb to madness—casualties in a far grander and older plan than any of them knew.
While outright scares and gore are scarce in this book, they weren’t missed. The entire atmosphere of Crawlspace is one of eerie disturbance. Similar to when you wander through an empty house and everything around you is far too quiet. That sense of paranoia is rife in the characters creating a tension that immediately had me hooked from the get go, and felt carried through all the way to the conclusion. It was one of the reasons I had a hard time putting this book down.
My one complaint is that the dialogue did feel a little clunky, especially in the beginning. Crawlspace felt like it was supposed to have a cold open, but there was so much exposition delivered through inorganic conversations that it sort of defeated the purpose. However, that one gripe isn’t enough to prevent me from recommending this to every scifi fan I know that prefers a more science-centered approach to the genre as opposed to a character-driven one. Basically, once you get past the first 20 or so pages, it’s all appropriately distressing gravy from there.
Overall, a great read, especially if you are into movies like Sunshine (2007) or Alien (1979), or books like The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

[RavenReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crawlspace was, for me, a case of mismatched expectations. I picked this up because of comparisons to Dead Silence and especially Event Horizon (because that one is still one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen). That comp alone had me fully sold. Unfortunately, the tone and focus here are very different. Rather than cosmic horror or a terror driven space saga, this novel leans heavily into the technical and mechanical aspects of spacecraft systems and engineering.

If I were to offer a closer cinematic comparison, it might be The Cloverfield Paradox, though with significantly less horror. The emphasis is on the inner workings of the ship, procedural problem solving, and contained tension rather than dread or psychological terror.

That said, there is certainly an audience for this. Readers who enjoy detailed depictions of mechanical systems, engineering challenges, and the logistics of space travel may find a lot to appreciate. The technical focus is consistent and clearly intentional.

On a positive note, the audiobook production, via Macmillan Audio, is as always, excellent. The narration is strong, with effective tension building and immersive sound design elements, including subtle ship ambience that enhances the listening experience.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Adam Christopher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

[Michael S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crawlspace is a classic closed-room horror/mystery, set on a spaceship run by the Artemis Corporation in cooperation with “The military.” It is reminiscent of Blindsight with some elements from Solaris thrown in. Less scientific than either of those, but it had the psychological drama elements that pulled me back to those titles.

Note: My review is based on the audiobook ARC/ALC, so please excuse any character names that may be spelled incorrectly.

After using their new special drive in their experimental spaceship, the characters begin to experience issues as reality blurs into uncanny valley versions of themselves. Are they being replaced with alien impostors?

I tore through this book. It was such an easy listen that I hadn’t realized how quickly I was finishing it, which is surprising, as there are layers of plot from corporate politics through the military interfering in the mission. We follow the mission leader, Olivia, as she tries to figure out what happened, save her crew, which has somehow gone missing, and deal with potential aliens. Crawlspace kept me guessing until the end.

3 3/4 stars. Crawlspace would have scored higher if it had a more satisfying ending.

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Shrike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, sincere thank you to NetGalley / Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to an ARC of this audiobook.

To hit on the audio aspect first, Jennifer Pickens always hits it out of the park as a narrator in this house. While not the single most emotive choice in my opinion, her voice is pleasing in a way that I always find hits that sweet spot where I can multitask and still fully be present for the story.

Secondly, if you're hoping for Alien style all gas no brakes horror, this is not that. Crawl space is very much an atmospheric or novel that puts a lot of weight on a setting that is, if you ask me, one of the scariest possible environments. It's a slow beast for how quickly it kicks off, so if you're into that sort of vibe keep that in mind and if you're against it entirely ... I fear there's better space horror to suit your interests.

Overall, I don't know if I just put a lot of pressure and expectation on the book from how absolutely tense the blurb sounded, but I thought it was ... fine. Certainly worth a listen or a read if the premise intrigues you, especially for fans of slow dawning atmospheric ( < mostly) horror - but I can't in good faith claim that this is a story that will leave the lasting impression on me, or one that I personally would care to ever revisit.

[Erin Crane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love space horror, so this one was disappointing. I did read more than 50% of it, so I'll go ahead and rate it.

The concept of this is cool. The "crawlspace," the isolation, the dire straits. But once you get through the initial tension, it's a slog. I made it to 50% before I checked reviews for a sense of what to do... and I skipped to the last bit at the end just to learn what happened.

The middle chunk of this does have some suspense - noises in the ship, characters seeing things, unsure what's real or not. But it's quite repetitive and in between all that you have characters talking absolute nonsense about the tech of this ship. This is fantasy SF in the sense that it's got made-up tech and science that has little to do with anything in our real world. So I was baffled to be reading so much technical detail - it's made-up! It doesn't make any sense. Which is fine! I'm not mad at SF with nonsense tech. But why am I reading so much about how the nonsense tech works when that's just more nonsense. 😆 Made for very dull reading.

I wanted more horror than I got with this - and I feel the title, the cover, and the marketing pushes it as horror. I don't really know who to recommend this to since I imagine hard SF fans are not going to be interested in fictional tech details.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[domsbookden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t realize I was signing up for a spaceship slice-of-life story, but that’s basically what this is: a blow-by-blow account of a crew made up of generic, cardboard characters trying to fix their ship. I didn’t care about anyone or anything going on, and had I not found the audiobook narrator's (Jennifer Pickens) voice so pleasant to listen to, I wouldn't have finished it.

Most of the book is info dumps and technical jargon that ends up sounding like meaningless rambling. It’s also a big offender of “and then” storytelling—one thing happens, and then another thing happens, and then something else happens—without any strong cause-and-effect or meaningful escalation to keep things interesting.

Zero intrigue. Zero tension. Zero stakes. Zero horror. Nothing ever felt dangerous or urgent, and there was never a moment where it seems like the crew is truly at risk. Scenes just drift from one technical problem to the next without building suspense or atmosphere. It felt like watching routine maintenance play out in real time.

If you’re hoping for another Dead Silence from this, don’t even bother.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Space horror can go either way for me, I may love it madly or I hate everything about it. Crawl Space sits somewhere in the middle, with some parts that I enjoyed profusely, and others that were a bit too complicated for my limited science brain. The characters are well portrayed and their personalities have real depth. I enjoyed their interactions. Narrator Jennifer Pickens gets their voices just right. She does something remarkable by reflecting how they are more or less transformed by the experience, you can hear and recognize who’s speaking and, as they change with the circumstances she gets the subtext perfectly well. I can’t say more about this, but I was truly impressed. The production is also excellent, reflecting the emptiness of space. Now to what I didn’t love: I forget that, even though I love HP, I’m not a big fan of Lovecraftian horror. There isn’t too much of that here at least. The explanation of what’s going on and how also went over my head. I think it has to do with physics but I’m just too dumb to get it. Good news is, you don’t really need to understand to enjoy the story. It’s highly entertaining and suspenseful.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Macmillan Audio.

[Brian Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Crawlspace by Adam Christopher had great promise, billed as a Sci-fi horror story for fans of Alien, Event Horizon and more. I’m a major fan of the genre, as well as the works specifically cited, so I was stoked for this one. That said, the story fell short of those expectations.

SPOILERS ABOUND!

What I enjoyed:
• Jennifer Pickens, the narrator. She was excellent, especially the way she read the transmissions… it gave me chills.
• The description of the fully-realized entities - I love cosmic horror, and Adam Christopher’s vision for these tentacle-clad monstrosities was awesome
• the peak of the story’s escalation - when the s— really hits the fan, the story gets way more enjoyable.

What I didn’t enjoy:
• I felt the story took way too long to get going. I found my mind wandering around 40% of the way through, but I stuck with it.
• I was hoping for more horror. I wonder if having a couple more crew members as cannon fodder would have risen the stakes more.

Overall, I enjoyed the final third of the story, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the first two-thirds.