Review: Alone in the Dark... and Creepy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2014
Author Evans Light knows what people are really afraid of. It's not vampires or zombies or guys in hockey masks carrying chainsaws ( none of which there's much chance of ever actually running into). It's something more basic and primal... being alone and trapped. And that's exactly where the protagonist of Crawlspace finds himself in this deliciously creepy novelette.The plot's fairly simple. The main character, known simply as Tom, agrees with his wife to do some repair work in the cramped, wet, dark crawlspace under his house which is conveniently located pretty much by itself out in the country. The wife is going away for a few days and he is eager to get finished because he plans to spend the time with his new girlfriend. The reader will be miles ahead of Tom in figuring out what he's letting himself in for.Wisely, author Light keeps this book short. There's only so much you can say about a guy trapped in this predicament and Light does not spend page after page rehashing the obvious. Instead, he lets the reality of the situation settle in on both Tom and the reader and gives the reader several pages to let imagination take hold. Then, he hits readers (and Tom) with one plot jolt after another in quick succession, leading to a finale that is a real stunner.One of the few really scary things I can remember from my childhood was watching a TV show about a prison escape in which a rather heavyset convict got stuck in a narrow tunnel which was then cemented shut. That show gave me nightmares for days. Crawlspace brought that memory back for me and I had a few gruesomely delicious chills thinking about it. I don't often give a 5-star review, especially for a work this short, but Crawlspace is one delightfully twisted, creepy story with an ending that I never saw coming.