‘Crawlspace’ – Adam Christopher (Tor Nightfire)

 


Page Count: Nightfire picked the weirdest font for the page numbers, I couldn’t even read it with my glasses on (damn, I’m old). Oh well, I’ll have to take Amazon’s word for it and go with 240 Pages.

I’m staring down the barrel of a week with one less day to get work done (Bank Holiday on Friday) and trying to mediate between an over enthusiastic kitten and an older cat that just wants to be left alone. I’ll tell you how it all went next weekend.

Having said that, I’m headed into that week off the back of a weekend where I pretty much spent the whole time reading (with small breaks for ‘sporadic cat mediation’) so I’m in a good place :o) Lets see if I can stay there...

Regular visitors here will know that I love the movie ‘Event Horizon’ and honestly, just seeing those two words on the back of ‘Crawlspace’ was all it took for me to grab a copy and make time for it over the weekend. Well played Tor Nightfire, well played ;o)

‘Crawlspace’ definitely plays to the ‘Event Horizon’ fans but it’s a little more than that at the same time. Let me tell you about it…

Mission Lead Liv Halliday and her team from Artemis Inc. along with their military liaison, are in the final preparations for an undertaking that will alter the course of human history: a test flight that promises to open up new frontiers in 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.

‘Crawlspace’ wears its influences proudly and is all the more fun for it. I really wish I could give you the example I’m thinking of but the book has only just been published and it’s a moment that I don’t want to spoil for you. Lets just say that when you come across a particular moment in ‘Crawlspace’, you’ll know where it came from and fans of ‘Event Horizon’ will get a lot out of it. ‘Crawlspace’ isn’t just paying homage to ‘Event Horizon’ though; we also get a nod to some ‘Cosmic Horror’ seasoned with little hints of ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Wild Blue Yonder’. The resulting plot does a great job with the ‘Haunted House in Space’ trope, easily avoiding the potential pitfall of riffing too heavily off its influences. ‘Crawlspace’ is a more refined supernatural horror than ‘Event Horizon’s full on assault on the senses, the kind of tale you might hear in the smoking room of some Victorian Gentleman’s Club. It still has the kind of vicious energy that hooks you and then proceeds to make you jump and, in some cases, yell ‘no, don’t do it!’ at the book. Or maybe that was just me? Anyway… You can see the influences but Christopher has made this tale all his own.

I’ll be honest though, I’m not too keen on sci-fi where technical detail is promoted at the expense of the pot and at certain points, that’s what ‘Crawlspace’ felt like. Again, that’s just me and your mileage will inevitably vary. It wasn’t a deal-breaker (I finished ‘Crawlspace’ over the course of Sunday afternoon/early evening) but there were moments where I found myself wishing something ghostly or horrific would happen.

The good news is that something ghostly or horrific always happened and when it did, ‘Crawlspace’ swept me up easily and carried me through all manner of nastiness. The sci-fi concepts went over my head (that’s on me though, not the book…) but the ghost story/horror vibes are expertly handled and made for a real compelling page turner of a book. Just what this reader needed for a Sunday afternoon’s reading. The ‘Event Horizon’ comic is in safe hands already but reading ‘Crawlspace’ left me wondering what could have been.

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