Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy of The Chamber!
While I was so excited to dive into this read as the synopsis was so intriguing, this book was a major let down. The beginning 60% of the book was very slow and VERY repetitive. It felt so unnecessary. Six divers go in, two emerge and four die in all the same manner....dropping one by one.
While reading it just felt like a slow death for me. Waiting to see which character was going to die next. I reached a point of not even being curious as to what was killing them because I was so bored with the whole book at this point. I did not DNF because I was hoping for some big jaw dropping explanation at the end... there wasn't. The ending continued the stories pace of being anticlimactic. The reason they were dying was interesting I will admit that, however this was so dragged out and a snooze fest.

Title- The Chamber by Will Dean

Publication Date- 08/06/24

Publisher- Atria Books

Overall Rating- 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review- Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Chamber by Will Dean is an interesting and unique story. As a fan of locked room mystery stories the synopsis of this book was really intriguing to me. The main thing you need to know going into this is that we follow a group of professional saturation divers embarking on a month long expedition deep beneath the North Sea. This is almost a story of two halves, firstly it is a fairly in-depth look at the lives of saturation divers and the conditions that they work in. I found this aspect really interesting and really admired the amount of work that had gone into researching this. I do think that this may put some readers off however as sometimes the usage of specialist terms and jargon feels a little dry and confusing. The second part to this story is the mystery of what is happening to the divers as they start to die one by one. The tension in the chamber builds as the divers try to work out who or what is responsible. Added to the mix are the backstories of the divers, their motivations for taking on such hazardous jobs and ‘campfire’ stories of disastrous dives of the past. The claustrophobic setting makes this story feel extra tense and Will Dean does a fantastic job of capturing the mood of the divers as they come to realise the danger they are in. A solid thriller with a unique and entertaining hook.

2.5. Not for me. I’m so sad because I loved his previous book, The Last One, but this book was so slow. I usually love a closed circle mystery but this was mainly a lot of technical details about diving/old diving stories and I just didn’t find it interesting. The author clearly did a lot of research but even with a glossary and diagrams provided at the beginning, it was hard for me to picture the inside of the chamber. By the time a plot twist rolled around I was checked out. The whodunnit here is also pretty weak. Rep for intrusive thoughts but not done well imo, leaned too far to the “can she trust herself mentally” side.

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy.*

4.5 it takes a strong heart to read this one stars

This closed-door (literally) thriller kept me on my toes and raised my blood pressure!

I knew nothing about what was involved in saturation diving until I read this book. A complicated process to get humans to the depths of the ocean where they probably shouldn’t be at all!

There are many technical terms in this one. The divers breathe helium (not just oxygen) in the chamber and wear suits filled with warm water. If something goes wrong, decompressing takes days before they can open the hatch.

Our main narrator is Ellen, and it is somewhat rare to have a woman diver. She has to be in top physical condition to do the work. She’s worked with many of the divers before, and there’s a team atmosphere. She brings along pillowcases from her children and puts up photos to remember her family while she’s away for long stretches. She dives because of the lucrative paycheck.

Ellen does her first dive, working on equipment at the bottom of the ocean. There’s a tense moment at the end when a valve is bumped. That’s nothing compared to the chaos that greets the team of two when they get back into the main chamber, though. One of the team mysteriously dies, and the entire operation must be scrapped. They must wait four long days to decompress (it’s a slow process), though.

As tensions are heightened, the large team on the ship that works to keep the divers safe is frantically trying to determine what went wrong. Meanwhile, in the chamber, everyone is suspicious and anxious to escape.

As other divers collapse, it becomes a rush to determine whether the threat is outside or within the chamber. Will anyone be alive at the end of decompression?

This one has an ambiguous ending!

Atmospheric, claustrophobic, unsettling, and captivating! Will Dean has delivered another thrilling and chilling mystery thriller that kept me on my toes and turning the pages.

Divers are a rare breed. They are willing to enter a small hyperbaric chamber with other divers, breathing helium, away from friends and family, to dive deep down in the ocean. Decompression, if done fast, is deadly. This is an uncomfortable job where many things can go wrong with horrible consequences.

When one of them is found dead, the divers are left reeling, anxious, and suspicious of their fellow divers in the tight, hot, chamber. Ellen Brooke is one of the divers and readers are given her POV. When another dies, things get even more dire. What is happening? Is someone amongst them to blame? Is it someone on the outside to blame? Is there contamination? Questions swirled though not only the characters minds but swirled through my mind as well.

I loved the mounting sense of unease, the tension, the dread, the suspicion, and the danger. Alone with each other and their thoughts, they have nowhere to go, and nowhere to hide. Plus, they must finish decompression while trying to stay alive against an unknown threat. They clean, clean, clean while watching what they consume, keeping a suspicious eye on each other. But will that be enough to survive?????

In the beginning, I found myself boggled down with a lot of technical terms which made the book feel very authentic but took some time for me to wrap my mind around. As I mentioned, this book was very atmospheric, and Will Dean nailed the trapped room mystery vibe.

Claustrophobic, unsettling, well written, well thought out, and atmospheric.

In a word? Breathtaking. Pun intended. This was a fantastic book overall. I did get a bit bogged down in some of the mechanics and terminology of the diving inner workings, but this was more than made up for by the impressive plot, pacing, and characters. A really great read!

This made me feel so claustrophobic!!!! I really enjoyed this and flew through it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

The Chamber by Will Dean is a masterfully crafted locked-room thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The novel follows six saturation divers trapped inside a hyperbaric chamber. When one of them is found dead, the tension escalates as the remaining divers realize they have four days of decompression before they can escape—and a killer is among them.

Dean's writing perfectly captures the claustrophobic and high-pressure environment, making you feel the characters' anxiety and fear. The suspense builds steadily, and the plot twists are expertly timed, keeping you guessing until the very end. This novel is a must-read for fans of intense, psychological thrillers. Highly recommended!

This book definitely had a very claustrophobic feel to it. I loved the fact that the more I read the book the more anxiety I felt, literally feeling much the way the characters felt. The pacing of this book was a little off too me, and I did struggle at times holding my attention and you definitely had to suspend logic in some instances, but overall I felt this was a good popcorn thriller to read through in a single read. I had to know how this would end and how everything would be tied up!!

✨Rounded up from a 3.75⭐️ rating✨

The Chamber was good. It held my attention, and I was eager to learn the ending. I was anticipating a few good twists, but the suspense level stayed fairly even throughout. The unique setting (deep sea diving chamber) helped and hindered the story. The claustrophobic locked-door factor added to the plot's urgency, anxiety, and suspense. However, the unusual location also interrupted the reading experience. As someone with zero knowledge of saturation diving, the terminology and equipment were difficult to remember, so I often returned to the glossary. This pulled me out of the story and the characters' struggles.

My overall breakdown that brought me to a 3.75 ⭐️ rating:
📚Character development 5/5 ⭐️
📚Plot 3/5 ⭐️
📚Writing Style 4/5 ⭐️
📚Suspense 3/5 ⭐️

Overall, I recommend The Chamber to readers who love locked-room suspense, are particularly interested in diving/underwater plots, or enjoy a character-driven story.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, such a great book! I’m an avid psychological fiction fan, but never has a novel made me literally nervous for the characters like this. It was not overly technical like some reviewers said, I have never been Sat diving and I was able to read with ease. I repeat such a great book from beginning to end!

Thank you to NetGalley for opportunity to read and review this ARC. I’m sure a diving enthusiast or science buff would be fascinated by the content presented in this novel…but I was lost. The technical verbiage overshadowed the story presented and the mystery involved. I found myself doing a lot of skimming through anecdotes and technical language to get to the meat of the story. It was very creative and had a great ending. Give this book a try if you are scientifically inclined and love a good whodunnit.

I recently read The Last One by Will Dean and absolutely loved it, so I jumped at the chance to read the Chamber. I was beyond excited when I was approved, and this did not disappoint. For anyone who loves a locked room mystery thriller this book is for you. And just for an extra element of anxiety this takes place in a pressurized chamber similar to a mini submarine. This book was a super-fast read and I will be sure to buy a copy on publication day.

If you are anything like me, you would never want to be confined into a small enclosed space, nor would you want to be a saturation diver, being deep within the ocean fixing that which needs to be fixed.

For the intrepid saturation divers, living within the confines of a hyperbaric chamber, they know the risks, the dangers, breathing helium, and being in quite close quarters. However, never did they dream of death caused by something unreal, something unknown, something that is stealing lives one by one.

They have four more days until the chamber can be brought up bit by bit, but will anyone of them survive, as another perishes in this what could be called a chamber of death.

Will Dean has created a frightening story, that is clever and filled with suspicion and danger. He includes many ideas and paints a vivid picture of what it is like to live and work in such an environment.

Thank you to Will Dean, Atria Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out in August of this year.

Will Dean, does it again

I mean, did we expect anything else?

I completely fan-girled out last year after reading The Last One, and fell in love with Dean’s, writing style. Right then, after concluding, I knew that Will Dean, would join my list of "auto buy authors" .

I love the way Dean, throws us right into the chaos. The suspense is present early on. The character development is on point and each one of the characters come to life between the pages. The twist will get anyone and everyone’s pulse racing and left me in pure shock.

This is a MUST READ for everyone who loves thrillers, suspense, and even drama.

The Chamber is out August 6, 2024, you know what to do! Head on over to your favorite bookstore and pre-order this book!


Teaser :

Six experienced saturation divers are locked inside a hyperbaric chamber. Calm and professional, they know that rapid decompression would be fatal and so they work in shifts, breathing helium, and surviving in hot, close quarters.

Then one of them is found dead in his bunk.

With four days of decompression to go before the locked hatch to the chamber can be safely opened, the group must watch one another’s backs at all times. And when another diver is discovered unresponsive, everyone is on edge. What…or who…is taking them out one by one? And will any of them still be alive by the time the four days is up or will paranoia, exhaustion, suspicion, and pressure destroy them all?

Oh my goodness gracious. If you don’t have an acute case of both claustrophobia and thalassophobia by the time you’re halfway through this book, you’re better than I.

Six divers enter a hyperbaric chamber. Then they start dying, one by one. Even though those outside start the decompression process immediately after the first deceased person is found, the rest of the divers have to wait for four interminably long days before they can exit the chamber safely. Who’s responsible? Who can you trust?

Will Dean has definitely done his homework here, and it shows. You will get intimately acquainted with what it takes to become a saturation diver, the best of the best of the best. You’re locked in a small chamber for a month, and if you freak out and try to open the door…not only will you die, but all of your fellow divers will also perish in an exceedingly gruesome manner. You need to be extremely cool under pressure. If you have thoughts come into your head about getting out of the chamber, you need to banish those immediately.

Those pesky, intrusive thoughts. They could really get in the way of a successful dive for everyone. You better hope they go away. You better hope no one snaps.

All aboard!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the eARC. All opinions are mine.


(Side note: I don’t care what kind of money you throw at me, I will never be a diver. Not commercially and not even for recreation. The sheer fact that you can’t just rise immediately to the surface if there’s a problem….yeah, no. Not for me. My proverbial hat is off for those who can and do these dangerous jobs.)

Will Dean is an auto read for me and all of his books have been 5 stars.. This one was not as good but that just maybe because I am still thinking about last year's The Last One- book of the year for me! This book's ending was a little anticlimactic and made me feel I was missing something. The extreme amount of diving information and detail was too much. But, I would definitely recommend this one as Dean is still an amazing storyteller. I look forward to his next one! Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The chamber by Will dean

Brooke is a woman in a man’s world, she is a skilled diver located in a hyperbaric chamber, with 5 other men. They are skilled in their trade and each one supports the other being calm and composed in this otherwise chaotic setting.

One of the divers is found dead in his bunk and the insanity really starts as other divers start falling ill. Will they make it out alive in the four days they have left to decompress?

What a wild ride in the world of divers! Holy moly this book was incredible on all accounts and it had me on the edge of my seat! Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books!

The chamber started off really strong. I like to scuba dive so I was very excited to read this book. The Chamber is very atmospheric and made me so claustrophobic and anxious at times. It did slow down some about half way through, and I found the ending a little anti-climactic, especially compared to Will Dean's other books. However, I did enjoy it and would recommend this book to readers looking for a good "who dunnit" book.

I'm not gonna lie, I almost DNF'd this one very early on because of how much detail it went into about dive boats (sorry for doubting you, Will Dean - I should have known better!). I found myself so invested in the story and wanted to learn more about this topic and had to stop several times throughout the book to google more information, pictures, etc so I can really imagine myself in the setting. and understand how claustrophobic it was.

The Chamber follows saturation diver, Ellen Brooke as she and a handful of other divers embark on a month-long journey to the bottom of the North Sea. They will be locked in a very small hyperbaric chamber with almost no personal space while taking turns diving to the bottom of the sea to fix an oil line. In order to survive a job like this, the team has to prioritize cleanliness and follow strict processes to make sure there is no chance of contamination to their environment. So, when the divers start mysteriously dying one by one, time is of the essence to figure out if this is some-thing or some-one causing it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy.