Crawl Space by Steve Toase

I would like to thank the author for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Journalstone

Published – Out Now

Price – £13.61 paperback £4.61 ebook

While recording abandoned vacuum postal systems in a small German city for the Durchsickern Institute, Rachael and Ben make a discovery that should be impossible. What at first seems like a measuring error reveals the dangerous and disturbing Crawl Space.

Once they enter the Crawl Space, will Rachael and Ben make it out again in one piece, and why is Herr Bettelmein so interested in their discovery?

There is a fascinating blurry line between horror, fantasy and weird fiction. These are all areas of fiction that can stretch our imaginations but the impact on the reader can vary. Writers such as Clive Barker or Premee Mohamed have weaved tales going through all the areas to create unique tales where often the reader will be unsure where they’ll eventually arrive but the journey if not always enjoyable in the normal sense of the word will be at the very least memorable. In Steve Toase’s new novella Crawl Space we go to modern day Germany, but what appears on the surface an archaeological horror takes on far away from our world to a disturbing yet fascinating new dimension.

Rachel and Ben are archaeologists for hire in Europe specialising in jobs where no questions are asked. In particular they work with the strange pneumatic air mailing systems that various countries used to send around objects. Now in Germany they’re working for the mysterious Durchsickern Institute led by the very demanding Herr Bettelmein who constantly wants to know about their progress. This job though is posing new challenges. One of the capsules is found to contain human teeth, another has strange creatures still moving in it, and the capsules seem far bigger than the tubes they are finding. Increasingly the duo feel they are under watch and a dreadful attack on Ben forces Rachel to accept this is no ordinary dig, but she is unprepared to find out she is about to find out our world is even stranger than she thought.

Toase does an excellent job of first of all immersing us in the reality of Rachel’s world and then slowly twisting the dial. It feels very gritty Rachel an archaeologist not allowed to work in the UK due to being framed is a fascinating hard nosed yet we sense damaged character trying to still do the work she enjoys but knows she must make compromises. Ben her loyal friend is a struggling alcoholic. They feel refreshingly human, skilled and vulnerable all at once. Toase very much uses the power of the archaeological horror tale to build up the atmosphere from the grisly finds, the demanding boss who seems to know too much about them to the mysterious watchers it all makes you think this is a tale of objects, the past and likely to get messy. There isa  grisly attack on Ben where I realised that reading this just prior to my own dental appointment was a bad decision but I in the process realised dental horror is very effective on me!

All of which deliciously turns midway. I was very much thinking I was in the world of cursed objects and archeological secrets but in an incredibly tense scene everything changes. We have body horror, dimensions shifting and suddenly we move into the realm of the weird and fantastic. Toase creates a incredibly unreal word contrasting very well with the Germany we have just been in and finding out we are in a place the inhabitants call Crawl Space means the themes of first, ruin and discovery are now played with in a different way. Rachel’s reactions to this are powerfully human but also she is intrigued and the mysterious Institute takes on a different form to the one I expected. By going out of reality Toase is really freed to be very creative on the rules of the second half and it’s very much a ride for the reader to enjoy (occasionally behind your fingers).

Crawl Space is a fascinating reading experience full of surprises, inventiveness and not afraid to play with the rules of time, space or biology. It may not always be a pleasant experience but it’s a highly recommended one!