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?
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. Boy, do I have a unique novella to tell you about today. Honestly, I’ve never read anything like this and I’m really excited to share it with you.
Ben and Rachael are in business together clearing old mail pod pipes and documenting the contents, at the behest of a guy called Bettelmein, who won’t quite tell them what they’re even looking for. They find a tube that is too big for the pipe and this is a mystery because that’s just impossible. They also find teeth and weird wormy things. And thus, the plunge in an insane direction begins.
Honestly, my mind is blown by this story and the way the horror wriggles into it. It starts in what feels like a dry environment – literally. Dusty, disused rooms, tubes, rubble, documents and recordings. The profession of the characters is one that most people would never even know exists and on the surface might seem stale, but it’s actually very interesting. We follow these people as they uncover mysteries (one of them reminded me of something in House of Leaves, always a compliment from me because I loved the oddities of that story), and the pacing was perfect. At the very moment that I was thinking, ‘I’m enjoying this but I hope something a bit bigger happens soon’, something bigger did indeed happen. From there, the ante was on a swinging upward trajectory.
I’m being evasive about further plot points because I’d hate to spoil anything about this book, but what it boils down to and what kept me so hooked was the peril of it all. Professional first, then personal, then safety, then life or death. Then even bigger than that. And the way this was written – mysterious details dripped out in a restrained fashion, the next phase of the story always pushing it right to the edge and then reeling it back in so I couldn’t wait to turn another page.
The subversion of my expectations every time the author explored the…wriggling things…that was also genius. They’re an uncanny valley-like oddity that made me twitchy but also invested.
This is one of the most unique stories I’ve read in quite a while. I can’t even think of anything it reminds me of. I absolutely recommend it.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you. Crawl Space will be released soon, on March 6th.
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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