I've been off thrillers lately because so many feel formulaic and predictable, but this was a fresh and inventive premise that reeled me in. It's the story of six saturation divers - deep sea divers usually hired by oil companies to do repairs on machinery deep underwater and stay in a diving chamber at depth for around 30 days. It seems like a normal mission at first, but one by one, the divers start to die suddenly from some mysterious illness. As soon as the first diver dies, the mission is cancelled, but the slow and arduous decompression process means the divers are stuck with each other - one of them being a potential murderer - for weeks as they go back to the surface.

This is a well executed locked room mystery with great gradual character reveals and good tension. The pacing felt a little off at times, with some moments in the sub taking forever and the ending feeling rushed. I also wish I could visualize the complexities of saturation diving a bit better, which is so important for understanding how this process works. Overall - a solid and worthwhile thriller!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Goodreads (won an ARC) for advanced copy for honest review.

I was approved for this book one week before publication, but I'm here to tell you, I didn't need but a rainy Saturday afternoon and a pot of hot.

The Chamber really grips you from the start as you have hours to get ready to go into a cramped (and I mean cramped) living quarters to do your job as a Sat Diver. This job is not for everyone. We follow along with Ellen Brooke who has been doing this for years. This is her happy space where she feels the most comfortable, where she can get away from 'the world' for a month at a time. Will Dean has given us a glossary of the spaces inside, how things work outside, and everything between to keep the divers safe. You actually learn a lot. Everything starts off great, until Will Dean's twists come into play (If you know, you know)! And with no spoilers of how many dead bodies will be walked over, you need to find out what is happening and why? Who would harm these divers? Absolute 5 star read, Highly recommend!

I’ve liked this author’s previous books, but this one was a slow burn and kind of confusing. I’m not sure if the characters weren’t fully developed or if I couldn’t fully wrap my mind around the idea of saturation divers, but the story seemed to drag on until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Published in the UK in June 2024; published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on August 6, 2024

This is a plot that crime fiction fans will likely have encountered before. A half dozen people have gathered in a remote area. One by one, they die of an unknown cause. If foul play is afoot, one of the group members is likely a murderer. Is the killer one of the survivors or did the butler do it?

The Chamber images that six deep-sea divers are housed in a diving bell. Because they are living at the bottom of the sea, they cannot leave. Bringing them back to the surface will take days because they need to decompress.

The divers (or at least some of them) die serially for no apparent reason. Their job requires them to be compulsive about hygiene, but is it possible that the atmosphere or their food supply is contaminated? Could someone outside the bell be poisoning them?

The details of saturation diving make The Chamber a thriller that reads like a horror novel. Will Dean conveys the fear, claustrophobia, exhilaration, and boredom of confinement in a cramped undersea chamber, breathing helium, anticipating a simple and last mistake, and enduring days of tedium when the chamber returns to its mother ship. All of this to keep the oil flowing. I can’t imagine why anyone would choose this occupation. Just reading about it makes me cringe.

The narrator is Ellen Brooke. She is the only woman on a team of divers working at the bottom of the North Sea. Each character has a personality, some more than others if only because some characters outlive others and thus spend more time in the reader’s company. Although all saturation divers are trained to respond to contingencies in the same way, each character has his (and her) own way of dealing with adversity. Their differing responses to a growing threat (including the degree to which they are willing to continue trusting each other rather than allowing order to break down entirely) contribute to the story’s realism.

The divers pass the time by telling funny or harrowing stories about other diving experiences, either commercially or in the military. Death is obviously on the characters’ minds — it would be even if they weren’t dying, one by one — and some of the most intense moments come as characters discuss the deaths of family and soldiers and co-workers. All the stories add flavor to the novel, but they also add meat to the characters.

Ellen misses her children when she accepts long contracts, to the point where she brings their towels with her so she can smell them. (I don’t understand the desire to smell kids. If they ever have a pleasant odor, I haven’t noticed.) In any event, although the money is good, I wondered why Ellen works in a dangerous occupation that makes her miserable by keeping her away from her kids for weeks at a time. To Will Dean’s credit, the novel eventually provides a convincing and surprising explanation of Ellen’s choice, one that will help the reader understand the underlying mystery.

With nearly a hundred people working on the mother ship, the list of potential suspects is long, assuming they are positioned to poison the divers’ food or drinks. The suspects that occur to Ellen include the supervisor (although he’s always been trustworthy), the night supervisor (less well liked), and the medic who sends down medications that never revive them after they pass out. None have an obvious motive, but neither do the other divers. After all, they’ve each saved the lives of the others repeatedly.

At the same time, Dean suggests that extreme environments (particularly the deep-sea confinement that causes “bubble brain”) might lead to extreme behaviors. The Chamber earns its status as a horror novel by making me contemplate a month in a bubble with five other people, one of whom might be a crazed killer.

Tension builds as divers die while their co-workers, both inside the bell and on the ship, are unable to protect or save them. Dean creates a solid mystery by delaying the reveal until after the action seems to have ended. The mystery’s resolution takes some effort to unravel. Dean plants suggestions that point in opposite directions until the reader thinks them through, yet enough ambiguity remains to encourage second-guessing. For the clever way in which Dean stretches an old plot into new dimensions and his masterful creation of characters and atmosphere, I give The Chamber a strong recommendation.

RECOMMENDED

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a really claustrophobic, fast-paced thriller. Given the setting, I'd say it really was one of the most claustrophobic books I've read.

Unfortunately, it wasn't one of the most interesting ones. I found all the technical parts hard to get through, even though they were explained well. The story does move along quickly though with short chapters. It kept me guessing until and even after the end. It was one of those books that left me wondering what just happened. In a good way.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Wow, I felt like I was down there in that pressurized chamber along with the characters in The Chamber by Will Dean. This story just gets worse and worse, and what’s more intense than being locked in a small chamber deep under the sea?

I liked the plot, I get tired of the same tired plots being recycled. I have never read a novel like this one. The increased tension keeps the plot moving forward although a few parts of the book were a little boring for me, the characters reminiscing slowed the pace at times, but I am very impatient and my ADHD gets the best of me sometimes.

I found myself googling images so I could get a clear picture of what a chamber looks like and all I can say is NO THANKS.

The extreme research that went into this novel needs to be applauded. There were so many tiny details about the saturation diving experience that I imagine took months of research. Well done!

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?

The Chamber by Will Dean is a fun take on a locked room thriller/mystery. The Sat dive setting is very unique and I learned a lot about the profession by reading this book. You can tell the author put in a lot of effort into research about how to write accurately. The writing style did a great job conveying the tight living quarters and the anxiety of the situation. As far as the overall plot goes, I’d say while the build up was tense, it does get repetitive after a while, and the resolution kind of fizzled out. However, the ending really left me questioning what the real truth was and in the end I still don’t know who to believe. I felt there could’ve been more character development because I didn’t real care about the characters themselves, I just wanted to know what was going on in the vessel. Overall, I enjoyed this novel and ended up finishing it in less than a day. I’d recommend to those who enjoyed a locked in thriller with a unique setting. (4/5)
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Ellen is a SAT diver. She goes out on ships to rigs and then stays in a decompression chamber for weeks at a time to work on oil riggings deep in the ocean.

This dive is no different. She is the only woman diver with five men. On the first day, while she is down doing her work, she has a mishap that she is able to correct. It leaves her shaken but when she and her monitor come up to the chamber, they discover one of the bunk mates dead. This sets off a whole story of what happened and then more bunk mates meet with disaster. Is this someone within their chamber or is it from outside?

This is not the book for anyone that is claustrophobic. I enjoyed it, and read it very quickly as I needed to know what happened.

Thank you to @netgalley for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!!

I have not read any of this author's books before, but I appreciate the writing style! While this was not like my usual heart-pounding, seat-gripping thriller, I did get invested by the end. The author was helpful in including tid bits for specific diving terms prior to the beginning of the novel, and that was very handy. I felt fully enveloped with the crew and also taking each minute and hour in the chamber with them. The ending may or may not have me slightly confused still, but overall a good read.

This book has a super intriguing premise and I loved a lot about the setup: creepy and atmospheric deep-sea chamber housing saturation divers on a mission that goes wrong. Similar to why I love space books, I loved the detailed descriptions of the technology and equipment and how the main character had to meticulously solve each little (big) problem that came up. After a while we kind of deviated from those things that I love in a sciency thriller and moved into a mystery that became repetitive and way more focused on the other characters’ pasts than I was interested in. While I do appreciate that Will Dean likes his twists, this one (or two) didn’t surprise or hit me as much as I would have wanted in order to make the entire book feel worth the read. I’m sure I’ll keep picking up this author’s books in the future, because his unique settings and initial plots are intriguing enough to give a try, but this one definitely was not as much of a favorite as The Last One was.

I thought this book was okay. The beginning dragged for me with all of the technical information being shared. Towards the middle things got better, although time dragged for me much like it did for the characters. The ambiguous ending left me feeling unsatisfied.

THE CHAMBER by Will Dean is a psychological crime thriller/mystery with the ultimate locked room. Six experienced saturation divers begin to die, one-by-one, in their place of work, a hyperbaric chamber. If you are claustrophobic, this may not be the book for you, but you will be missing out on an amazing who-dun-it thriller that leaves you questioning your assumptions all the way to the last page.

Locked in a hyperbaric chamber is a tight and hot environment in which to live as six professional saturation divers work in shifts on deep sea oil rigs. They all depend on each other for their lives and know there is no exit until after decompression. After only one dive shift, one of the divers is discovered dead in his bunk and then it happens again. The divers can find no reason for these deaths and do not know who to trust. Now, as the company calls a halt to the month-long job, the divers must wait through four days of decompression as they continue to die one-by-one.

The story is told by Ellen Brooke, one of few female saturation divers, and she is in the chamber with five other experienced divers. Ellen is a wife and mother who does not know if she will return home. As the clock ticks down the time of decompression, the dead bodies increase and so does the level of suspicion and conspiracy theories. I always thought I was slightly claustrophobic until I read this book and now, I know I am much more claustrophobic than I believed. This is definitely not a job for the feint of heart.

I loved this book! I learned about a career I knew nothing about and would never attempt but found fascinating. I changed my mind so many times as to who or what was killing the divers. This mystery/thriller is fast paced, even with the explanations of sat diving and the countdown to the end builds to a heart pounding climax. No spoilers here, but make sure you read to the very last page.

I highly recommend this psychological crime thriller/mystery!

We love a book that opens with a diagram. I truly appreciated the combination of fiction with true science. It felt like everything was 100 percent plausible (a la, Michael Crichton or Andy Weir). It was very realistic in that sense. I truly did want to like this book, but it just lacked a level of charisma that made it uninteresting to me. Still, I think the tense and suspenseful scenes were very well done. Everything in between was a bit of a drag for me. The environmental setting of this book really helped adding to the sense of claustrophobia (again, quite well done). However, it was a bit of a double-edged sword, because there wasn’t much exploring going on. Turns out, there’s not really anything that interesting about being stuck in a metal chamber. I think this book has an audience out there. Those who enjoy the above-mentioned authors, or the more recently released Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes would probably enjoy this book.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC. I REALLY wanted to love this. The Last One is one of my favourite thrillers of all time so I was VERY excited! Sadly, this fell flat for me. I learned a lot about deep dea diving but unfortunately It isn't a topic I am interested in and I didn't have the claustrophobic feeling that I hoped to feel while reading this. I will continue to read Will Dean but this wasn't for me!

3.75

This book is phenomenal on audio. The narrator does such an amazing job at portraying the character slowly going a little stir crazy inside the Chamber as the book progresses. It was such a fun listen and if you’re a huge fan of audiobooks I highly recommend listening to this one. I was extremely excited to dive into this one (no pun intended) when I received the ARC copy a while ago. I have never read anything like this and it has since made me excited to read other suspense locked in/claustrophobic novels. It is not necessarily a thriller or horror alone but the suspense and the drawn out, weighed down feeling of the narrative really pulled the reader in to make you feel like you’re also stuck inside the Chamber with these divers. I think the writing style and the way the narrator is kind of telling us the story as it goes along is helpful for those who may not know much about the ocean, deep sea diving, etc. I really felt the tension of the Chamber and the suspense our main character was going through, like when will this be over, when will she escape? My only concern with this book is that with the drawn out story and the long time spent under the sea in the Chamber, the ending felt the exact opposite and rushed. I was left confused and agitated at the characters, the author, and the book as a whole because of the ending. Without the rushed ending and with maybe a bit more explanation this would’ve been super close to a 5 star read for me! Still an amazing narration I highly recommend the audio!

This starts off as a very intense read and a bit thrilling but an about halfway through. It does seem to plateau as a story wraps up. It does pick back up again, but I’m still left, wanting it to be more thrilling aspect.. I also did feel that the ending didn’t really explain enough and left me still wondering why so I wish you would have wrapped it up a little bit better but overall it still is a good read.

I am loving Will’s books in the summer time! The Chamber had me hooked from the very first page. It felt like such an intense and edge of your seat read. The writing was really descriptive and well researched - it felt like I was a part of this crew. It also kept me guessing until the very end. I think this would make a great book club pick as there is so much to speculate and talk about too. The only thing that bugged me is the unnecessary and prolonged character back stories that didn’t have much to do with the actual storyline. But, other than that I had a hard time putting this suspenseful book down!

Will Dean brings us a locked room thriller. Ellen Brooke is part of a team of divers working via hyperbaric chamber under the sea. After completing a dive, Ellen comes above into the chamber, and one of her coworkers has died. Shortly after that, another one succumbs to a mysterious fate. Slowly, one by one her coworkers are dying. However, they are stuck in this chamber for four days while they decompress. Can Ellen make it out alive?

This book is very technical, especially in the beginning, with a lot of terms most people will not be familiar with. It’s a pretty cluster phobic book, but I wasn’t really into it. I kept hoping for more clues or action, other than people just dying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

This was a very atmospheric, locked room thriller. Told from one POV, this was a very slow burn. I will say that this was an anxiety inducing read. Could you imagine the panic and fear of being stuck in a small room with no help of getting out 😦😦😦

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria for the arc of The Chamber. I was so excited to get this book. It’s been an anticipated summer read and it did not disappoint. So, let me start by saying that I do not like small spaces. I do not like the thought of being locked in anywhere so reading this made me feel tense and I found myself holding my breath in certain places. I’m not very familiar with saturation or diving so this was all new to me and some parts that described it in detail were not my favorite, but still interesting and I felt like I learned something new. This has definite claustrophobic vibes. Very cool! Enjoyed it.