I have been a fan of Will Dean's books and The Chamber did not disappoint. This book had me on the edge of my seat. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel early. I loved this book! Great characters and storyline, will read anything this author publishes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. As someone who is very claustrophobic, this one affected me in a different way. The story is about 6 deep sea divers who are stationed in a hyperbaric chamber in a very confined space. The only time they get out of the chamber is on their dive days. Shortly after this rotation begins, the divers start to experience medical issues and one by one they start to die. This is even more creepy as the remaining divers cannot be immediately released from the chamber as it takes 4 days for the chamber to decompress or that would kill them too if they were brought back to the surface too quickly. Now the remaining divers must be aware of everything, the food being sent down to them, the water and their fellow crew members. Hold on tight at Will Dean takes you on another thrilling adventure like only he can do. Enjoy!!!

After reading and loving Will Dean’s book The Last One, I was excited to see his new book, The Chamber, on NetGalley. Unfortunately I really struggled to get into it, and I decided to DNF. I may come back to it someday, as I don’t think it’s a bad book, it just wasn’t working for me at the moment.

Highlights:
✨Deep-sea saturation diving: lots of background information - I didn’t know this was an occupation
✨Mysterious deaths: I couldn’t guess the why or how.
✨Narration: Helen Keeley performs a terrific narration with different accents.

Bottom Line: Even though I thought the narration was excellent, I didn't feel engaged with the mystery or the characters. Maybe too much detailed information about deep sea saturation diving and not character development for me.

I adored this book. It was an edge-of-the-seat thriller that had me hooked from the first page to that last sentence. It made me physically uncomfortable with every page as I felt my own sanity slipping, just like the characters in this confined space. This book was unlike anything I have read this year and I'm looking forward to discussing this with everyone I force to read it too (they'll thank me though).

4.5 ⭐️

The Chamber follows a team of 6 saturation divers working a month long job. during this time, they are living in a tiny hyperbaric chamber to stay at their working depth. the only time they leave is to go to work on the seafloor, otherwise they are locked in this little room. outside staff pass food and whatever supplies they need through a small door, the MedLock. this book gave me all the claustrophobic feels! when one of them is found dead in the chamber, the team has to try and save them and deal with the aftermath. they start their decompression process, but it’s going to take 4 days until they’re at a safe level and allowed out. then another diver turns up dead. paranoia starts to set in. what or who is killing them?

wow, this book! I was on edge the entire time. the claustrophobic feeling really got me and the build up towards the end? so tense, I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough.

my main con would be that each character had their nickname and their real name and they would use both and I found that confusing. it made it hard to keep track of who was who. I read some other reviews that were not a fan of the diving phrases, despite the glossary in the beginning of the book, but that didn’t bother at all. I think I only referenced it twice and was fine with the terminology used.

no spoilers but this book leaves you thinking and questioning yourself. I have a friend reading it now so I can discuss, cause the ending raises some questions. contrary to some reviews, I felt it ended well.

Claustrophobic, edge of your seat thriller that kept me up late because I had to finish! A mix of science and locked room mystery, this was a solid must-read for fans of S.A. Barnes.

Thanks for the opportunity to read!

This book was intense. I was on edge and felt claustrophobic the entire time. What a fun premise! I really enjoyed this thrilling read.

I loved the idea of this and thought the author did a good job pulling it off. What a unique premise, divers in a pressure chamber that they can't leave while they are dying one by one. The main character was really interesting, too, and her past trauma intensified what was happening in the chamber. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

Six experienced saturation divers are locked inside a hyperbaric chamber, relying on each other for survival. Rapid decompression would be fatal, so they are confined for four days in close quarters. When one of the divers is found dead, the group is on edge, as they must wait out the decompression period while suspecting something—or someone—is causing these deaths. As another diver becomes unresponsive, paranoia and fear escalate among the crew.

The novel creates a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere, filled with mystery and growing suspicion. The technical jargon about diving adds realism, though it may be heavy for readers unfamiliar with the subject. The story keeps readers guessing, with twists and a mounting body count. Despite the complexity, it remains gripping, especially as the conclusion makes you question everything you thought you knew.

This story follows a story of 6 diverse stuck in a chamber and one of them is know dead. This book is perfect for those fans of And Then There Were None which I have read and was also a great story. This book follows from the perspective of Ellen who is now navigating this scary obstacle where she and the other divers must get out. This story was well planned out but I do have to say that the diver’s langagage was hard to understand. The author did provide a glossary but it would be hard to go back and forth with it. The pacing was fast and I did enjoy the thrill of this story.

Ellen is the FMC of this story. You learn from her pov who the other divers are and how she’s navigating this problem by finding out who’s the problem. Often times, I found her unreliable as a MC which I liked because it showed me you can’t trust anyone. There are side characters in this book where you will try to figure out if they are the killers or an innocent person. I liked how the divers also explained their story, making it confusing if you should trust them or not.

The ending was well done and overall this was a well planned story. I do have to say that picturing what was happening in the chamber was hard because of all the info dump we would get but overall you still get the thrill out of it at the end.

*this book was sent to me by the publihser to give an honest review in return*

A deep and twisty psychological thriller about being stuck in a deep sea diving pod. Suddenly there is a death to contend with leaving the ultimate locked room thriller… until suddenly no one is to be trusted. Will dean’s writing is superb! Thanks to NetGalley for the read!

Ugh. I was meh about Dean's first release, likes his next one okay, and this one is back to meh. It started out strong in the first quarter to half, but in the second it just dragged and went nowhere. Now that two out of three have been a miss, and the third was barely a hit, I'm thinking this is an author for me to skip here on out. Disappointing.

I absolutely devoured Deans last release, so i was excited for The Chamber. The beginning was fun...very claustrophobic and creepy, however, the second half was just meh. Didn't hate it, but didn't really like it either.

Extremely well written. I have so much anxiety just thinking about this heart pounding mystery.
Six divers enter a locked chamber similar to submarine.
They’re submerged to the bottom of the sea to work for a month. Who can be trusted and who will live long enough to exit the chamber?

Highly recommend!!!!

A copy of this book was kindly provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review! Thank you!

This review has been posted to Goodreads and Storygraph on September 17th, 2024. Links provided.

In The Chamber, six professional saturation divers are confined within a hyperbaric chamber for what should be a routine job. As they endure the sweltering and cramped conditions, everything shatters when one of them is found dead in his bunk. Needing four days of decompression before the remaining survivors are able to safely exit the chamber, the team is force to stay vigilant and must constantly watch each other’s backs. Yet, when a second diver is discovered unresponsive, tension escalates. As paranoia, exhaustion, and suspicion rise, the group begins to wonder if they’ll survive until the end - or if something, or someone, is eliminating them one by one.

Sadly, this book did not hit the mark for me. Once again, I was really looking forward to this book based off the premise/summary but in reality the story left me disappointed. I felt the pacing was very slow, especially for what is supposed to be a thriller novel, and I found the storyline to be a bit boring. While the idea of being trapped a claustrophobic environment sounded so intriguing, in reality it led to very little actually being able to happen. Even with all of that aside, I would have enjoyed the book more if I received more satisfaction from the ending. But alas, I only found disappointment there as well. I felt the ending was ambiguous and the author did not provide enough closure for me to be pleased with they ways things ended. There was only one instance throughout the entire book where I was surprised by a certain reveal. But one fleeting moment of surprise (especially when it is a “twist” that doesn’t actually affect the plot) is not enough for me to like this book. Hopefully others will have a better experience reading it. This was my first book by Will Dean and, while I didn’t necessarily enjoy The Chamber, I will likely still give the author another chance with a different book.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read to an ARC of The Chamber in return for my honest review.

This is a locked room thriller that will give you anxiety so be ready for the ride. I enjoyed this and you can tell the author did much research on the topic so it was heavy on the actual terminology. Thank you to the author and Netgalley for a copy of the EArc all opinions are my own.
3.5/5

THE OCEAN IS SO SCARY! Will Dean does it again! I knew this would freak me out but I didn't expect the murder mystery aspect of it. I will definitely recommend this book to others! Thank you so much for the free book!

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.