What in the world did I read?! This is my first book by this author so I was super excited to be picked for an ARC. I thought this book would give me Oceangate/Titanic Submersible vibes but it couldn’t have been farther from that. I will say that the author did take his time listing out what the definitions are at the start of the book. There was even pictures so for the uneducated such as myself when it comes to those, it did help knowing where the pieces were.
Anywho, onto the book…. All the men in this book had a nickname and a name which became confusing and hard to keep track of. I felt it was repetitive and it ended up boring me instead of leaving me on the edge of my seat waiting for this thing to implode.
I’ll definitely try some other books from this author but this one sadly wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for this ARC for my honest review.

This book is my literal nightmare. Full of suffocation, claustrophobia, and intrusive thoughts. You can’t trust anyone and there is nowhere to run.

The Chamber is intense from the very first page. I enjoyed learning more about saturation diving and appreciated the struggles Brooke faced as the only woman in her field. There was a great focus on mental health - the challenges faced while on a dive and those we face in our everyday lives.

The story is fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. Each twist was shocking in its reveal and the end had me second guessing everything that came before it. Another phenomenal psychological suspense from Will Dean!

This book highlights the trauma and dangers of sat diving, so be sure to check content warnings before reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Will Dean is an auto read author for me he successfully gets me hooked so early into his books and I can’t put them down. This was no exception I read this in 24 hours! If you like eerie, tense, atmospheric locked room thrillers then this will be for you! It is very claustrophobic and describes in detail the close quarters many times so if that will bother you then know that going in! The reason I didn’t rate this higher was because I didn’t feel as invested in the characters. I found myself not caring too much who the killer was and who survived. I also found it confusing for a while that everyone has 2 names. Trying to learn 12 character names right off the bat was a tad confusing. Lastly this may just be a me problem but the ending slightly confused me despite rereading it

WTF did I just read? This was absolutely absurd. I wanted to DNF 10 percent through, but kept going and I regret it. I am so sad about how big of a let down this was. The Last One was an easy five star for me, so I went into this thinking I would get something similar, and boy was I wrong. I feel like this only would appeal to one specific niche audience of Deep Sea Divers. Other than that, I'm not quite sure how people could connect to this book. It felt random. So much back and forth and repetition that was just all around boring. I'm being very inadequate with this review because I just have no words to express how heartbroken I am that it was so bad.

The Chamber follows six saturation divers. Saturation Divers are deep sea divers to the extreme. They are only allowed to live in what is called the chamber, where they get food through a hatch from meters above on the ships headquarters. The chamber is the size of the back of a school bus. Everyone can touch each other at any given moment. As the days go on, the divers start to die one by one. No one is sure what is happening and who is responsible. Will they all make it until they "decompress" or will they all succumb to the "pressure" of the mission.

Thank you Simon an Schuster for the ARC. I wish I had better things to say about it.

This was a huge miss for me. I was intrigued with the “locked door thriller” aspect, but was left short.

It was a very slow book and only got good towards the ending. I found the pacing to be all over the place. Sometimes it was interesting, others I just wanted to get through the book.

Hard read for me. I hope to give this other another try!

This will give you all the claustrophobic terror you could want to read about, tight spaces, under water. The author has clearly done the proper research, the details are extensive & really help you envision things. I truly did not know how an author could pull off a murder mystery in such a confined space but Dean manages it well. My issue is that there is a lot of fact filled repetition & that got to be a little tedious at times. Overall though I think I will try & read another of the author’s books. Maybe one with a plot/setting more my style.

Read if you like:
* Sphere by Michael Crichton
* The Drift by C.J. Tudor
* Abandon by Blake Crouch

Ahhhh!! This was a gripping, intense and thrilling book! It is not for the faint of heart! Twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat! It is impossible to out down once started!

I was a bit disappointed. I loved The Last One and had high expectations for this one. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat. I thought it was too repetitive.

"The Chamber" written by Will Dean is a gripping psychological thriller that gradually intensifies its suspense. While the initial portion of the book, focused on saturation diving's technical aspects, presented some challenges for me, the tension soon started to escalate. Centered around six divers confined within a cramped chamber, a series of mysterious deaths unfolds, leaving everyone wondering about the culprit's identity - is it one of the divers or an outsider? Will Dean skillfully evokes the reader's fear and claustrophobic terror, vividly capturing the atmosphere within the compact enclosure. As a result, I confidently rate this book with a well-deserved four stars, acknowledging its quality and uniqueness.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for the ARC to read and review.

With an author that has yet to write a bad story, I knew before even starting that this was going to be a good one. What I didn't know was how much I was going to love it. This has to be the most nerve-wracking, claustrophobic story I have ever read. The sense of dread was so incredibly powerful that I found my own heartrate through the roof. This was fear-inducing, to say the least.

This starts off kind of daunting with a glossary of terms for saturation diving. Don't let this sway you one way or the other. I got about halfway through before switching to google to find out what saturation diving is and to look at a few pictures to get the gist of it. I rarely needed to put this aside while reading to understand a term. This author does an excellent job of describing it as the story moves along.

Each character was easy to distinguish from the next between their appearance and personalities. Whether you will love or hate each one of them, they are powerful and highly memorable. The storyline was perfectly paced, and the plot was remarkable. As always, this author ended this book with his signature uniqueness. I devoured and loved this one, and I highly, highly recommend it. Five perfect stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Atria Books, for this ARC.

This captivating thriller dives deep into the world of saturation divers, where the tension rises alongside the body count. As suspicions mount and histories unravel, you're left wondering who will survive the chilling ordeal. I was hooked from the start, fascinated by the unique setting and intrigued by each diver's backstory. While some phrases felt repetitive and the ending a bit uncertain, the overall experience was thoroughly entertaining. I highly recommend this gripping locked-room mystery to anyone seeking a thrilling read, and Will Dean's diverse storytelling keeps me coming back for more.

This book begins very interestingly. It has a great storyline. The author goes into great detail explaining all the terminology related to saturation diving. He gives you a good base to go on. The story begins good, but you don't really get to the meat and potatoes until the very last 2 chapters. I personally enjoyed the book, but I will give it 3 stars as it did not blow me away. I would say read it for yourself and draw your own conclusion.

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. First of all, Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the early copy of this book to review.
Going into this book I was sure how I would enjoy it. The terminology, and lack of knowledge had me a little skeptical.
But wow!! This book was soo good.

Six experience divers are locked inside a hyperbaric chamber and will spend the next month together. Ellen, the female diver has left behind her husband and 2 kids to be there, and now has no idea if she will get to return to them as one of her colleagues dies in front of her. Unfortunately for the crew, they have to start the decompression phase which takes 4 days anything earlier can kill them.

The divers are now concerned someone is doing this to them on purpose as they witness another colleague go down.

This book had me feeling like I was reading this inside the chamber. I felt like I was hyperventilating while reading it. Trying to figure out what was going on. How this was happening. It def left me gripping my kindle and not wanting to stop reading. When you are finished you are going to question what the heck you just read!! Soo good! Highly recommend!

This book gave me chills! Locked room thriller, underwater, great depths, raspberry jam?! I will never look at raspberry jam again! Flew thought the first half of this book, found the second half repetitive. Read this for lovers of locked room thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley, atria books, for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

And then there were none...
So so SOOOOO GOOD

In the Chamber, Will Dean introduces us to the niche career of Sat (Saturation) Diving. Divers spend up to a month or so living in close quarters underwater as they work a high paying yet dangerous job. Brookes, is a female diver, unusual and our narrator. As she explains the ins and outs you slowly get used to the military talk and the militant lifestyle for safety concerns, sort of like slowly moving down deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean.

This dive is different. Before much time has passes one of the six is discovered dead in their bunk. Brookes and the rest have to work to stay alive as the ship slowly moves them back up off the ocean floor. Which one of them is the killer and who will they kill next?

Completely original and absolutely beguiling. Perfect Movie IMO! Grab this thriller now! #Atria #WillDean #TheChamber

This book definitely had me reading late into the night giving me all the claustrophobic feels! I also was so captivated by the setting that I went down the rabbit hole that is saturation diving and learned a lot. Such a unique setting for an and then there were non trope that truly had you guessing until the end. 4.5 stars! Love this author!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced evolution in exchange for my honest review.

Title: The Chamber by Will Dean
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: August 6, 2024

Sat Divers
Psychological Thriller
Claustrophobic Conditions
Mysterious Deaths
Unreliable Narrator

⭐️ 3/5

My Review:
First I want to say, I hate rating books less than 4 stars. I was so excited because I've heard amazing things about this author so I jumped as soon as I saw The Chamber available.. Unfortunately, this particular one is a miss in my opinion.

I didn't mind the technical description of how to dive in the beginning (it is actually kind of neat) but I did notice that several things were mentioned often (ie. things being wiped, mentions of sweat, the necessary processes, etc.) making it feel repetitive.
The premise has a lot of potential (six divers being stuck in essentially a tin can full of helium, dying for no apparent reason) but I was underwhelmed. I'm not one for claustrophobia or anything having to do with being under water, but even those factors didn't make me feel suspense. Even the twist, which isn't dropped until 80% in, fell flat for me. I finished the book feeling like we needed more.
The writing is good and I still plan on reading more of Dean's work as even my favorite authors have books that just aren't for me. I'm thankful for the opportunity to have read it early!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Atria Books for the digital review copy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital arc!

I love a locked room mystery and this is as locked as it gets. The pacing was slow, I think due to an over abundance of technical jargon that didn’t lend itself to the story, but overall I was satisfied with the ending which is usually a 50/50 occurrence with me and thrillers.

This book was SPOOKY.. I have never read a book inside a submarine setting before and let me tell you it was eerie. It reminded me of the 2002 move Below (which I was obsessed with). I really enjoyed this book and now want to read this authors back log.

Six saturation divers embark on a long job, everyone is prepared and no one is worried... until one of them dies suddenly. Despite the tragedy, the team continues. When the next diver dies, things change. Saturation divers are prepared for all kind of frightening situations, but with two out of six divers now dead and no obvious cause to speak of, things quickly become tense. The dive job is canceled, but the remaining divers must stay inside the chamber for the rest of the multi-day decompression or risk the bends. Suspicions build and history emerges, and you're left wondering who, if anyone, will make it out alive.

I really enjoyed this one! I love that Will Dean's books are so drastically different from each other and this one was no exception. The setting in this book is so cool and so unique I was absolutely fascinated. I will say that the first two chapters took me a bit to get through, not because the writing was bad but because the setting was so interesting that I ended up going down a YouTube/TikTok rabbit hole about saturation divers, and I'm not sorry, it was awesome just like this book. Once I had a basic working knowledge of what Saturation diving is, I could not put the book down. I absolutely loved it. I can't imagine being literally locked in a room while your colleagues. drop dead in front of you. Absolutely terrifying. I also love how the backstory of each of the divers slowly emerges while they're swapping dive stories. It was definitely reminiscent of the Quint/Hooper/Brody singing scene in Jaws, which is briefly referenced, and I loved that.

I did find that there was some repetitive phrasing (bubble brain, raspberry jam, ect, especially at the end) and while I loved the shocking introduction of one of the diver's backstories, I didn't love the end. It seemed almost seemed like the author wrote two endings and couldn't decide between the two. I don't fully understand how the end would have worked mechanically, but it somehow managed to not derail the book. The whole thing is very entertaining! Highly recommend this book to people who love a good locked-room mystery, but I also recommend this author to everyone!