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Crawlspace
In this novel of mounting suspense from award-winning author Herbert Lieberman, a terrifying surprise waits beneath a couple’s New England homeAlbert and Alice Graves live a normal, if monotonous, domestic life. They’ve never had children; they spend their days tending to their home and enjoying their time together. One day, when the oil man, Richard, is refilling their furnace, Alice invites him to dinner, never suspecting that a casual act of charity will lead to a horrifying, morbid discovery in the crawlspace underneath their beloved house.The Graves take Richard into their lives, becoming attached to his presence as though to the son they never had. Their town, though, is not nearly so welcoming. When the locals lash out against the Graves and their strange houseguest, the contented household is irrevocably drawn into a darkness they could not have imagined.
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
73 people are currently reading
1318 people want to read
About the author
Herbert Lieberman
31 books47 followersHerbert Liberman received his AB from City College of New York and his AM from Columbia University. He is a former managing editor of the Reader's Digest Book Club.
The author of Crawlspace, City of the Dead, The Climate of Hell, and several other acclaimed novels, Herbert Lieberman is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a winner of France’s coveted Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for City of the Dead. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife. He and his wife Judith have one daughter and twin granddaughters.
The author of Crawlspace, City of the Dead, The Climate of Hell, and several other acclaimed novels, Herbert Lieberman is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and a winner of France’s coveted Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for City of the Dead. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife. He and his wife Judith have one daughter and twin granddaughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 168 reviews
July 10, 2025
He'd Searched 19 Years For Them...
He Wasn't Leaving...
CRAWLSPACE
by Herbert Lieberman
5 stars. Richard arrived one day on foot from the direction of the bog behind the house to check the elderly, childless couple's gas meter...
Albert and Alice Graves invited him to stay for dinner as it was very late when he had finished the meter readings...
Richard ate ravenously...
... until all the food was gone, then disappeared again on foot, and again, in the direction of the bog behind the house, but now it was after midnight and very cold...
A severe snowstorm was expected...
In the pre-snow morning hours, about 3 a.m., the couple heard their cellar door squeal open, then close, then tap, tap, tapping on the pipes below...
The snow arrived...
Their furnace went out. They called the gas company again and asked for Richard but were told that he had quit shortly after calling on the couple 2 weeks prior...
Alice and Albert were now certain Richard was seeking refuge from the elements in their basement crawlspace...
... as evidenced by the remains of small trapped and eaten animals and the rank smell of human excrement...
Alice was frightened of the boy, so Albert blocked and locked all possible access to the basement. Later that night...
Another terrible storm hit...
The couple was in bed listening to Richard desperately trying to find access to the crawl before finally giving up and walking away through the snow and into the forest...
But...
The next morning, there was a message written on the cellar door in Richard's own blood:
GOD...
He'd wandered and searched 19 years just to find them, and he was not leaving... he was going to stay...
Although there's some creepy and edge-of-your-seat suspense in this story, I wouldn't classify it as horror but an excellent, and at times poignant, tale of psychological suspense.
The author did an excellent job of keeping me on edge, never really knowing what path the story was going to take. I've read this novel twice now, and in many ways, it reminds me of another excellent story: THE CORMORANT by Stephen Gregory.
He Wasn't Leaving...
CRAWLSPACE
by Herbert Lieberman
5 stars. Richard arrived one day on foot from the direction of the bog behind the house to check the elderly, childless couple's gas meter...
Albert and Alice Graves invited him to stay for dinner as it was very late when he had finished the meter readings...
Richard ate ravenously...
... until all the food was gone, then disappeared again on foot, and again, in the direction of the bog behind the house, but now it was after midnight and very cold...
A severe snowstorm was expected...
In the pre-snow morning hours, about 3 a.m., the couple heard their cellar door squeal open, then close, then tap, tap, tapping on the pipes below...
The snow arrived...
Their furnace went out. They called the gas company again and asked for Richard but were told that he had quit shortly after calling on the couple 2 weeks prior...
Alice and Albert were now certain Richard was seeking refuge from the elements in their basement crawlspace...
... as evidenced by the remains of small trapped and eaten animals and the rank smell of human excrement...
Alice was frightened of the boy, so Albert blocked and locked all possible access to the basement. Later that night...
Another terrible storm hit...
The couple was in bed listening to Richard desperately trying to find access to the crawl before finally giving up and walking away through the snow and into the forest...
But...
The next morning, there was a message written on the cellar door in Richard's own blood:
GOD...
He'd wandered and searched 19 years just to find them, and he was not leaving... he was going to stay...
Although there's some creepy and edge-of-your-seat suspense in this story, I wouldn't classify it as horror but an excellent, and at times poignant, tale of psychological suspense.
The author did an excellent job of keeping me on edge, never really knowing what path the story was going to take. I've read this novel twice now, and in many ways, it reminds me of another excellent story: THE CORMORANT by Stephen Gregory.
May 27, 2022
Creepy good.
May 1, 2022
This 1971 novel is marketed as horror (just look at the covers) but what I got was a brilliantly written psychological drama about an aging childless couple who take a young man into their home. Albert and Alice have retired to the country (in the US) when Richard Atlee comes to check the oil tank in their cellar. He spends all day there, and a week or so later turns up again without his truck. A while after that it becomes clear that Richard Atlee has made himself a nest in Albert and Alice's crawl space. Things go missing from their house, and when Albert goes down to investigate the terrible smell, he discovers the remains of many tiny animals. Sounds like horror? Yes, but then the story shifts and the couple invite Richard to eat with them and eventually to live upstairs, and he takes on - especially for Alice - the role of the son she never had. They might welcome Richard Atlee but the local townspeople don't and when they reject him events turn nasty on both sides.
Thoughtful and character-driven, this in an exceptional novel; my only disappointment was the last 15 pages which read like something an editor told Lieberman to stick on the end because readers would want an explanation.
Crawl Space explores what happens if you offer sanctuary to an outsider, expecting one thing and getting another: even outsiders bring with them their own history, requirements and challenges. It deals with aging, charity, mental health and prejudice. And it made me think what I would have done if I'd been Albert or Alice.
I listened to this as an audio book (a physical copy was not easy to get hold of in the UK), and it was wonderfully narrated by Joe Barrett. 4.5 stars, rounded down because of the ending.
Thoughtful and character-driven, this in an exceptional novel; my only disappointment was the last 15 pages which read like something an editor told Lieberman to stick on the end because readers would want an explanation.
Crawl Space explores what happens if you offer sanctuary to an outsider, expecting one thing and getting another: even outsiders bring with them their own history, requirements and challenges. It deals with aging, charity, mental health and prejudice. And it made me think what I would have done if I'd been Albert or Alice.
I listened to this as an audio book (a physical copy was not easy to get hold of in the UK), and it was wonderfully narrated by Joe Barrett. 4.5 stars, rounded down because of the ending.
November 10, 2019
This was the best book I’ve ever read in my life. I’m not sure what possessed me to pick it up but I’m glad I did. It’s a culmination of dealing with a person you so long to hate but can’t help but love. It’s a story of hard places and tough decisions that pull on your heartstrings. It’s doing the right thing but wanting to do the wrong thing. The ending made me cry and makes you wonder about loss, love, grief and cats! Lol. You won’t regret this one. I promise you!
June 15, 2016
Fabulous book - 4.5 stars. Creepy and suspenseful and unique, not at all the kind of book I thought I was getting - much more psychological than the cover would have one think. Couldn't put it down.
December 22, 2015
I chose this book based on the title and the cover alone, fully expecting it to be one of the cheesy horror novels I am so fond of. Instead, it was anything but. The writing was quietly beautiful, and so filled with grace. This is more of an existential horror novel than anything. It turns out Herbert Lieberman is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, which explains why this is not the Ketchum-style gorefest I thought I was signing on for. I try to make myself feel better about my terrible taste in books by alternating each bad horror novel with one work of serious literature, and in choosing Crawlspace I accidentally messed up my order because I thought I was getting one and instead got the other. If you want to read a book that looks like it would have a cover like this one, this is not your book. If you want a beautifully written examination of what it means to be family, what it means to be Christian, and a bunch of other difficult issues surrounding aging, parenting, unfulfilled longings, adoption, mental illness, and failure, then this is the book for you.
August 25, 2019
All I knew about this novel going into it was that it's about a retired couple living in an isolated house who find that someone has been living in their crawlspace. In actual fact, this is only the tip of the iceberg and the story involves so much more than that.
There are some brilliantly chilling moments in the first section and then the story develops into something else which, albeit less creepy, I still found very compelling. There is still plenty of tension throughout the story and it becomes a very complex study of these characters, their relationships and dynamics with each other and the other townsfolk. Albert and Alice end up at the mercy of the small community they once found happiness in, and there is an element of small town justice and a tit for tat, eye for an eye mentality. The behaviour of Albert and Alice did get frustrating at times but I still saw it as realistic and believable.
Without giving any spoilers, there were a couple of things about the ending and how the story wrapped up that I don't know if I really liked but it did not spoil my overall enjoyment of the book. This is an intriguing and excellently written novel that delves into the psychology of the characters, their choices and actions, and how doing the right thing can have horrible consequences.
There are some brilliantly chilling moments in the first section and then the story develops into something else which, albeit less creepy, I still found very compelling. There is still plenty of tension throughout the story and it becomes a very complex study of these characters, their relationships and dynamics with each other and the other townsfolk. Albert and Alice end up at the mercy of the small community they once found happiness in, and there is an element of small town justice and a tit for tat, eye for an eye mentality. The behaviour of Albert and Alice did get frustrating at times but I still saw it as realistic and believable.
Without giving any spoilers, there were a couple of things about the ending and how the story wrapped up that I don't know if I really liked but it did not spoil my overall enjoyment of the book. This is an intriguing and excellently written novel that delves into the psychology of the characters, their choices and actions, and how doing the right thing can have horrible consequences.
June 9, 2022
Albert and Alice Graves, a retired couple living out a simple existence in their country house outside a small, New England town. They putter around with their garden, go for walks in the woods, and occasionally drive into town for supplies. When an odd man from the oil company comes to work on their furnace, the couple invite him to stay for dinner and realize they enjoyed having someone to pay attention to outside of each other, even it was only for a little while. A little while later, they hear noises coming from the dark crawlspace under their kitchen. Richard, the odd man from the oil company, is now squatting under their home.
Crawlspace deliciously touches a psychological nerve I don’t get to use very often. Dread slowly builds as the couple struggle with the back-and-forth of trying to help out and be a difference in the life of the less fortunate and dreading their decision. Richard, the squatter, pulls the full range of emotions out of Albert and Alice, and Lieberman puts you center stage as the couple struggle with their decisions, even though you know it won’t end well. It’s a roller coaster ride to the end, one that was a five-star read until the messy coda and the very end. Still, Crawlspace is about the journey and not the destination.
4.5 Eaten Carcasses out of 5
Crawlspace deliciously touches a psychological nerve I don’t get to use very often. Dread slowly builds as the couple struggle with the back-and-forth of trying to help out and be a difference in the life of the less fortunate and dreading their decision. Richard, the squatter, pulls the full range of emotions out of Albert and Alice, and Lieberman puts you center stage as the couple struggle with their decisions, even though you know it won’t end well. It’s a roller coaster ride to the end, one that was a five-star read until the messy coda and the very end. Still, Crawlspace is about the journey and not the destination.
4.5 Eaten Carcasses out of 5
January 12, 2021
Truly a gem of a book, published fifty years ago and aging quite well! Crawlspace is narrated first person by Albert Graves. Albert, after some heart trouble, takes and early retirement and he and his wife, both city folks, buy a little house in a small town in New England. Lieberman is never very specific when it comes to place; just about any small town would do. Albert tells the story as something of a confession, stating on the first page that he needs to rid himself of it so he can live in peace.
Shortly after Albert and Alice his wife move to their new home, an oil truck arrives and Richard Atlee, the oil guy, goes down to service their furnace. He stays down there all day, and when he finally comes up, Albert and Alice invite him to stay for dinner. A few weeks later, Richard stops by again, but this time not driving the oil wagon, but walking up from the backyard. Again he goes into the basement all day and once again, Albert and Alice invite him for dinner.
A few weeks later, Albert and Alice notice a funny smell in the kitchen and Albert goes into the crawlspace under it and finds something like a nest there, surrounded by dried bones and half-eaten bodies of small animals. No surprise here, but the couple shortly find Richard living in their crawlspace. Richard is a real odd one-- truculent maybe, but very taciturn at the same time-- they reach a sort of uneasy truce over the holidays. Richard stays in the crawlspace, but is allowed to use the bathroom on the first floor; he leaves early in the morning and comes home late at night. Finally, after Richard is cajoled to coming up for Christmas dinner and given new cloths, he agrees to stay in a spare room on the first floor. Thus begins the start of a strange, co-dependent dream which eventually turns into a nightmare.
Enough plotting. What makes this so special is the way Lieberman carefully, but subtlety maps out the relationships among the three main protagonists. Alice at first sees Richard as the child she never had (Richard is probably around 20) and Richard is definitely a hard worker. He paints the house, he revamps the wiring, he builds a new stone wall around the property, he cooks them breakfast and dinner, he gradually leaves Alice and Albert nothing to do!
I thought the blurb on the cover page by the Philadelphia Bulletin put it nicely: "Memorable, haunting tale of love, fear, hate, and the tragic insufficiency of intentions." I guess some could call it horror, as there are some scary aspects, but I think tragedy is a better categorization for it. Albert and Alice are characters you feel you have known a long time and Richard, while decidedly odd, comes off as a needy young adult just about dying to do anything he can for his new family. Unfortunately, Alice and Albert do not realize just how needy Richard really is, and when they finally do, it is a little too late. This one will stick around in my brain for awhile. 4.5 stars rounding up!
Shortly after Albert and Alice his wife move to their new home, an oil truck arrives and Richard Atlee, the oil guy, goes down to service their furnace. He stays down there all day, and when he finally comes up, Albert and Alice invite him to stay for dinner. A few weeks later, Richard stops by again, but this time not driving the oil wagon, but walking up from the backyard. Again he goes into the basement all day and once again, Albert and Alice invite him for dinner.
A few weeks later, Albert and Alice notice a funny smell in the kitchen and Albert goes into the crawlspace under it and finds something like a nest there, surrounded by dried bones and half-eaten bodies of small animals. No surprise here, but the couple shortly find Richard living in their crawlspace. Richard is a real odd one-- truculent maybe, but very taciturn at the same time-- they reach a sort of uneasy truce over the holidays. Richard stays in the crawlspace, but is allowed to use the bathroom on the first floor; he leaves early in the morning and comes home late at night. Finally, after Richard is cajoled to coming up for Christmas dinner and given new cloths, he agrees to stay in a spare room on the first floor. Thus begins the start of a strange, co-dependent dream which eventually turns into a nightmare.
Enough plotting. What makes this so special is the way Lieberman carefully, but subtlety maps out the relationships among the three main protagonists. Alice at first sees Richard as the child she never had (Richard is probably around 20) and Richard is definitely a hard worker. He paints the house, he revamps the wiring, he builds a new stone wall around the property, he cooks them breakfast and dinner, he gradually leaves Alice and Albert nothing to do!
I thought the blurb on the cover page by the Philadelphia Bulletin put it nicely: "Memorable, haunting tale of love, fear, hate, and the tragic insufficiency of intentions." I guess some could call it horror, as there are some scary aspects, but I think tragedy is a better categorization for it. Albert and Alice are characters you feel you have known a long time and Richard, while decidedly odd, comes off as a needy young adult just about dying to do anything he can for his new family. Unfortunately, Alice and Albert do not realize just how needy Richard really is, and when they finally do, it is a little too late. This one will stick around in my brain for awhile. 4.5 stars rounding up!
January 1, 2016
I found this book on an article of the scariest books to read. I read it, barely finishing it. When the book first started, I was curious and with that came the desire to know more but it quickly faded when I realized that there wasn't anything more that was going to happen.
The book dragged on, giving mundane details of a family's daily life with a curious visitor who after coming into the picture turned out to be just as boring but with a little bit of crazy.
There wasn't anything that kept me going and I'm not proud to say, I skipped to the end just to see what happened. It didn't surprise me, it didn't make me change my mind about skipping some chapters and it certainly did not scare me.
The book dragged on, giving mundane details of a family's daily life with a curious visitor who after coming into the picture turned out to be just as boring but with a little bit of crazy.
There wasn't anything that kept me going and I'm not proud to say, I skipped to the end just to see what happened. It didn't surprise me, it didn't make me change my mind about skipping some chapters and it certainly did not scare me.
June 2, 2023
Herbert Lieberman mi ha completamente conquistata. Questo è il secondo suo romanzo che leggo e ancora una volta, l’autore sembra come se entrasse nella mente dei tre protagonisti per metterne a nudo desideri, passioni, paure, angosce.
C’è un ragazzo che sembra non avere una famiglia e c’è una coppia senza figli, Albert e Alice Graves. I bisogni dei tre sembrano incontrarsi, tanto che la coppia decide di ospitare in casa il giovane operaio, Richard Atlee.
Dopo un inizio roseo, la situazione precipita quando il desiderio della genitorialità si scontra con il terrore dell’abbandono.
“Durante quelle lunghe notti insonni, mentre giaci nel letto aspettando l’alba, è bello sapere che non sei l’unica creatura rimasta sulla Terra, che sei unito alle altre persone che dormono, sognano o, semplicemente, aspettano.
Credo che tutto si riduca a questo, a una manciata di creature strette le une alle altre lungo una pianura selvaggia nelle ore fredde e scure che precedono il mattino; ci si soccorre a vicenda, aspettando un’alba che a stento promette di arrivare.”
Tra 4 e 5 stelle.
C’è un ragazzo che sembra non avere una famiglia e c’è una coppia senza figli, Albert e Alice Graves. I bisogni dei tre sembrano incontrarsi, tanto che la coppia decide di ospitare in casa il giovane operaio, Richard Atlee.
Dopo un inizio roseo, la situazione precipita quando il desiderio della genitorialità si scontra con il terrore dell’abbandono.
“Durante quelle lunghe notti insonni, mentre giaci nel letto aspettando l’alba, è bello sapere che non sei l’unica creatura rimasta sulla Terra, che sei unito alle altre persone che dormono, sognano o, semplicemente, aspettano.
Credo che tutto si riduca a questo, a una manciata di creature strette le une alle altre lungo una pianura selvaggia nelle ore fredde e scure che precedono il mattino; ci si soccorre a vicenda, aspettando un’alba che a stento promette di arrivare.”
Tra 4 e 5 stelle.
November 1, 2015
I simply could not put this book down.. It was not what I was expecting but was much better than expected.. This book builds the tension page by page, you know something is going to happen but what? Well done.
January 29, 2022
"Sure"
Rarely have I read a book where you hang on every word spoken by a character who barely speaks.
When people say they couldn't put a book down, I was awake one night until 5am reading this. I found this to be an extremely personal novel for... reasons.
It's such a wonderful, atypical book; it's not a horror, it's not home invasion, as the cover would have you believe but a treatise on how far we can, or should, help another fellow human.
Extremely touching and quite unlike anything I've read.
Rarely have I read a book where you hang on every word spoken by a character who barely speaks.
When people say they couldn't put a book down, I was awake one night until 5am reading this. I found this to be an extremely personal novel for... reasons.
It's such a wonderful, atypical book; it's not a horror, it's not home invasion, as the cover would have you believe but a treatise on how far we can, or should, help another fellow human.
Extremely touching and quite unlike anything I've read.
August 15, 2023
Like a hotdog with everything; the expectation is high, but the indigestion is higher.
I found this on a list of horror books. There is no horror. In fact, it reads like an episode of Days Of Our Lives. Boring.
The 🫒 in my 🍸 are scarier than this.
DNF
I found this on a list of horror books. There is no horror. In fact, it reads like an episode of Days Of Our Lives. Boring.
The 🫒 in my 🍸 are scarier than this.
DNF
April 12, 2020
Really enjoyed this 1970’s horror type read I found in a thrift store. It was exceptionally well written in a solid, slow burn and intriguing kind of way. I enjoyed the characters, the build up and the subtle but suffocating atmosphere. There were definitely some worthy and very chilling moments, particularly early on. There may have been a few times that I wished for just a bit more ‘horror’ but came to appreciate the claustrophobic element and the authentic story being told. I enjoyed it similarly to Misery by Stephen King, I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid and Penpal by Dathan Auerbach.
May 30, 2011
I had no idea what this book was going to be about, but as the story goes on I absolutely could barely put this down to keep finding out more. Such a strange little story and one that the author could have taken anywhere, I had so many different throughts racing through my head while reading this one.
The author really captivates you and makes you feel as if you are right there with them in the house. Amazing.
The author really captivates you and makes you feel as if you are right there with them in the house. Amazing.
October 28, 2017
I found this book after a search for mysteries, but I don't feel it fits that bill, and I didn't enjoy it. I liked the writing, but the plot and characters felt too unbelievable. All the back and forth "should we or shouldn't we" was just too much for my taste. This felt more like a human drama, and the writing worked to that effect, but I'd hoped for an atmospheric, spooky mystery with a title like Crawlspace, and I didn't get that with this story.
September 8, 2019
The Graves take Richard into their lives, becoming attached to his presence as though to the son they never had. Their town, though, is not nearly so welcoming. When the locals lash out against the Graves and their strange houseguest, the contented household is irrevocably drawn into a darkness they could not have imagined.
''There is something about injustice.Once it starts,it spreads like contagion.First,you have one small injustice;then a whole conspiracy of subsequent injustices are required to support and sustain the initial injustice.And so very quickly the whole atmosphere of a place is irreversibly polluted.''
This was not the book I thought it would be, the information on the Goodreads page is more detailed than the back of the paperback I managed to source so what I read was a very different story from what I expected. It is the tale of Alice and Albert Graves who have moved to an isolated farmhouse, as a result of Albert's increasingly poor cardiac health, to reduce the amount of stress in his life. At the very start your antennae are tingling because a)isolated-two hours to the next villahe and b)poor health. Also it is winter.This does not bode well...
They are visited by a travelling salesman, Richard, to buy the fuel they need to fuel the furnace, they take him in, feed him, buy oil and he goes on his way. And then things in the house start being moved around, things go missing and the unsettling feeling that they had about Richard leads them to the conclusion that he may never have actually left...
A quick phone call to the oil company confirms that they hire a variety of drfiters who work for them and then they move on, leaving with the wind they blew in on. And Richard has handed in his notice with no forwarding address...this is because he has moved into the farm's crawlspace!!!
From then on in I imagined a novel where the couple were stalked and menaced by this intinerant fellow, miles from help,in winter, in poor health.
However, this is where the novel does a complete one eighty and becomes something very different indeed.
Instead, the Graves become accustomed to their 'guest' and leave food for him and try to entice him out to eat, buy him clothes and eventually, they turn up at church with him as part of their 'family'.
Despite the attempts of several professional folk, including the great 'We don't want your sort round here' Sheriff Burge, to point out the folly of keeping basically a feral stranger in their crawl space, the Graves instead, withdraw from society as they focus on their own. Alice is delighted with the son she never had, Albert has an altogether different relationship with Richard, more a love/hate affair. He protects and stands up for Richard as the townsfolk slowly turn on them, but when Richard, with an inate sense of justice and loyalty fights back, the violence and aggression towards the Graves and their curious visitor becomes increasingly scary and deadly.
The claustrophobic nature of the crawl space, the isolation and motivation of each of the characters is really interesting to explore. The natture of who is and who is not accepted by the general societal norms reminds me of David Morrell's 'First Blood'. Yes it makes the reader feel uncomortable and awkward as you read how Alice and Albert take Richard in, it just seems so odd, but the way that the villagefolk behave and react is so much worse. There are religious undertones to the book in the mention of the poetry of William Blake, the Bible and Christian duty which brought to mind the parable of prodigal son.
This is a vintage horror that feels like it is not dated, the action and creeping sense of dread and horror is totally on point and I really enjoyed reading it! It's not a book to rush, every page needs to be read. The ending is deliberately ambiguous and sort of open ended whilst the introduction of Richard's backstory felt tacked on to maybe appease an editor/early reader. Leaving him as an enigmatic drifter would have been a bold move in this humble reader's opinion.
It's a full 4 stars out of 5 read for me! I read this novel along with Alex aka @HeyLilThrifter/ Hey Little Thrifter on Twitter/Instgram-go check out her Twitter/Booktube stuff, she posts great content!"
''There is something about injustice.Once it starts,it spreads like contagion.First,you have one small injustice;then a whole conspiracy of subsequent injustices are required to support and sustain the initial injustice.And so very quickly the whole atmosphere of a place is irreversibly polluted.''
This was not the book I thought it would be, the information on the Goodreads page is more detailed than the back of the paperback I managed to source so what I read was a very different story from what I expected. It is the tale of Alice and Albert Graves who have moved to an isolated farmhouse, as a result of Albert's increasingly poor cardiac health, to reduce the amount of stress in his life. At the very start your antennae are tingling because a)isolated-two hours to the next villahe and b)poor health. Also it is winter.This does not bode well...
They are visited by a travelling salesman, Richard, to buy the fuel they need to fuel the furnace, they take him in, feed him, buy oil and he goes on his way. And then things in the house start being moved around, things go missing and the unsettling feeling that they had about Richard leads them to the conclusion that he may never have actually left...
A quick phone call to the oil company confirms that they hire a variety of drfiters who work for them and then they move on, leaving with the wind they blew in on. And Richard has handed in his notice with no forwarding address...this is because he has moved into the farm's crawlspace!!!
From then on in I imagined a novel where the couple were stalked and menaced by this intinerant fellow, miles from help,in winter, in poor health.
However, this is where the novel does a complete one eighty and becomes something very different indeed.
Instead, the Graves become accustomed to their 'guest' and leave food for him and try to entice him out to eat, buy him clothes and eventually, they turn up at church with him as part of their 'family'.
Despite the attempts of several professional folk, including the great 'We don't want your sort round here' Sheriff Burge, to point out the folly of keeping basically a feral stranger in their crawl space, the Graves instead, withdraw from society as they focus on their own. Alice is delighted with the son she never had, Albert has an altogether different relationship with Richard, more a love/hate affair. He protects and stands up for Richard as the townsfolk slowly turn on them, but when Richard, with an inate sense of justice and loyalty fights back, the violence and aggression towards the Graves and their curious visitor becomes increasingly scary and deadly.
The claustrophobic nature of the crawl space, the isolation and motivation of each of the characters is really interesting to explore. The natture of who is and who is not accepted by the general societal norms reminds me of David Morrell's 'First Blood'. Yes it makes the reader feel uncomortable and awkward as you read how Alice and Albert take Richard in, it just seems so odd, but the way that the villagefolk behave and react is so much worse. There are religious undertones to the book in the mention of the poetry of William Blake, the Bible and Christian duty which brought to mind the parable of prodigal son.
This is a vintage horror that feels like it is not dated, the action and creeping sense of dread and horror is totally on point and I really enjoyed reading it! It's not a book to rush, every page needs to be read. The ending is deliberately ambiguous and sort of open ended whilst the introduction of Richard's backstory felt tacked on to maybe appease an editor/early reader. Leaving him as an enigmatic drifter would have been a bold move in this humble reader's opinion.
It's a full 4 stars out of 5 read for me! I read this novel along with Alex aka @HeyLilThrifter/ Hey Little Thrifter on Twitter/Instgram-go check out her Twitter/Booktube stuff, she posts great content!"
October 17, 2023
Ascoltato in audiolibro su Storytel.
Un libro dai tratti inquietanti ma anche molto triste sotto certi aspetti.
Non è stata la lettura che mi aspettavo ma mi è piaciuto moltissimo.
Un libro dai tratti inquietanti ma anche molto triste sotto certi aspetti.
Non è stata la lettura che mi aspettavo ma mi è piaciuto moltissimo.
January 22, 2023
Really was something more than expected. It reminds me a lot of Of Mice and Men because throughout there is that forebodance that it won't end well, and throughout the story ticks along realistically and emotionally pulling you in. Really, just a great story
August 12, 2024
DNF on Chapter 4
This book is bad in every way a book can be.
Steeped in misogyny and religious delirium, absolutely raw-dogging stereotypes around childless couples to the point a woman is SO broody, she desperately wants a literal stalker who smells like mold, eats rodents (but breaks into their house to eat pie with his hands) and writes on her house in his blood to move in to her home. Sounds legit.
In less than 4 chapters, there was so much description on his teeny weeny tiny miniscule small frail cowering scared whispy XS polly-pocket portioned wife, my brain bled.
Also, the lack of research about flowers that bloom in winter and would survive a snowstorm ready for picking the next morning is just lazy.
This book is bad in every way a book can be.
Steeped in misogyny and religious delirium, absolutely raw-dogging stereotypes around childless couples to the point a woman is SO broody, she desperately wants a literal stalker who smells like mold, eats rodents (but breaks into their house to eat pie with his hands) and writes on her house in his blood to move in to her home. Sounds legit.
In less than 4 chapters, there was so much description on his teeny weeny tiny miniscule small frail cowering scared whispy XS polly-pocket portioned wife, my brain bled.
Also, the lack of research about flowers that bloom in winter and would survive a snowstorm ready for picking the next morning is just lazy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2011
I was cruising the fiction section of my library back in 1973 and found this book...it looked interesting so I checked it out and I really enjoyed it!
It has been a long time so I don't exactly remember the ending but I do remember that the book was fun to read, and more than a little spooky. Recommended.
PS: I have a strong recollection of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" being constantly played on the radio when I was reading this and I've always had a strong association between the book and that song...to this day I think of the book when I hear that song...strange how the mind works.
It has been a long time so I don't exactly remember the ending but I do remember that the book was fun to read, and more than a little spooky. Recommended.
PS: I have a strong recollection of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" being constantly played on the radio when I was reading this and I've always had a strong association between the book and that song...to this day I think of the book when I hear that song...strange how the mind works.
October 23, 2013
It's a relic of another time. It's a PG-rated (not even PG-13) horror novel that doesn't scare and doesn't disguise its Freudian psychology under much. I give it a good rating because of some great details and that it shows the lynch mob/conformist mentality isn't confined to the South. But still, when friggin' coffee grounds on a wall are some of the most graphic details in a scary book that means give it to your minister.
September 18, 2021
I loved this. It is technically horror but the horror is so incremental in a way that is totally believable, and the way the author writes the duality of the protagonist’s feelings is incredibly well done. I thought this was going to be a run of the mill thriller/horror, and it was much more thoughtful and well written than I expected it to be. I definitely recommend this.
February 17, 2023
2.5*
I enjoyed the first half of the book, but I started to get very tired with the repetitiveness of the events - a million pages about how Richard was strange, and Albert started to get on my nerves.
The multiple religious references weren’t my thing, and I felt like I was waiting for a surprise that never came.
I enjoyed the first half of the book, but I started to get very tired with the repetitiveness of the events - a million pages about how Richard was strange, and Albert started to get on my nerves.
The multiple religious references weren’t my thing, and I felt like I was waiting for a surprise that never came.
December 30, 2012
A book that's hard to classify. Part thriller, part study of love and its sometimes terrible, twisted cost. The protagonists are occasionally conveniently dumb or implausibly passive, but it's a queerly gripping read all the same, possessed of a melancholy, elegiac heartbreak.
September 11, 2020
I adored this book. I brooded a strong hatred for a lot of the characters, which made it all the more better. It scared me in the best moments. Definitely a book that should be more popular than it is. A true classic.
January 9, 2022
One of the best and most beautiful and haunting novels I have ever read. Words cannot capture the feelings I have for this book.
July 17, 2023
My brother often tells me how, when it comes to the arts, he likes to occasionally try something (a book or a show) that is out of his niche. It is in that spirit that I decided to read Crawlspace.
I'm not sure if this 1971 novel is of the horror genre, or if it's just horrific. It has no vampires or werewolves or demented serial killers. It is about a retired, childless couple that lives in the country and one day finds a teenage boy living in the crawlspace under their house. Creepy? You bet. But it is so much more than creepy. It's actually a very intelligent, thought-provoking novel.
It's a story about need and loneliness, and the desperate things we do to try to fill the voids in our hearts. A boy crawls under a house because he doesn't have a place to live. A childless couple lets him live there, and even invites him into their home because they are so lonely. Soon they are living together as a family. But all is not well because the boy is socially maladjusted and the couple is desperately needy. They tolerate behaviors in the boy that should be unacceptable. They protect and defend him when they shouldn't. Little by little, they create a monster.
I loved this book. It was beautifully written by Herbert Lieberman. Yes, there are countless scenes in the book that are unsettling and will have the faint of heart squirming. It definitely has the feel of a horror novel. But the book is never gratuitous in its violence or profanity. That may be the thing I liked best about it, that the author horrified me without the typical rampaging monsters and bloodletting. The ending, which I would not classify as either happy or sad, was nonetheless satisfying. I closed the book with a sigh of relief that I do not have a crawlspace under my house.
I'm not sure if this 1971 novel is of the horror genre, or if it's just horrific. It has no vampires or werewolves or demented serial killers. It is about a retired, childless couple that lives in the country and one day finds a teenage boy living in the crawlspace under their house. Creepy? You bet. But it is so much more than creepy. It's actually a very intelligent, thought-provoking novel.
It's a story about need and loneliness, and the desperate things we do to try to fill the voids in our hearts. A boy crawls under a house because he doesn't have a place to live. A childless couple lets him live there, and even invites him into their home because they are so lonely. Soon they are living together as a family. But all is not well because the boy is socially maladjusted and the couple is desperately needy. They tolerate behaviors in the boy that should be unacceptable. They protect and defend him when they shouldn't. Little by little, they create a monster.
I loved this book. It was beautifully written by Herbert Lieberman. Yes, there are countless scenes in the book that are unsettling and will have the faint of heart squirming. It definitely has the feel of a horror novel. But the book is never gratuitous in its violence or profanity. That may be the thing I liked best about it, that the author horrified me without the typical rampaging monsters and bloodletting. The ending, which I would not classify as either happy or sad, was nonetheless satisfying. I closed the book with a sigh of relief that I do not have a crawlspace under my house.
October 23, 2022
I decided to read this book for Halloween, Crawlspace, because I was under the impression it was a horror novel. It's not. But it's something even better. Crawlspace is an excellently written social commentary of the problems going on at that time in the history of our country. However, I had no idea this book was published in 1972, it seems so pertinent even today. The two main characters a middle aged, lonely couple by the name of Albert and Alice, discover to their amazement that a young man by the name of Richard has taken up residence in the crawlspace of their home. Having never had any children of their own, nor wanted any, the couple are very hostile to Richard. But their initial resentment towards their unexpected guest slowly melts away, and they take him under their wing. And Richard becomes deeply attached to Albert and Alice. Sounds cozy, doesn't it? But alas, the story takes a turn for the dark side when Albert and Alice find out Richard has some serious issues. Like control issues and a huge fear of abandonment. Sort of like a toddler with separation anxiety. It doesn't help that the townspeople have taken a definite dislike to Richard and have no sympathy whatsoever to his very real plight of being all alone and homeless in the world. They just want him gone from their town. Albert and Alice trying very hard to be good parents, stand by Richard almost to the bitter end. Yet there is an end to even their goodwill and patience. This is a very sad and heartbreaking story. It is also a great read, and I couldn't put it down and finished it in practically one day. Never a dull moment. Highly recommend this book.
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