Lala
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ Claustrophobis by Evan Jameson ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
• 2.5/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The beginning of this book hooked me right away. The writing is sharp, the atmosphere is unsettling in the best way, and the setup feels like it’s building toward something dark and claustrophobic. I was fully in. The tension, the mystery, the strange little details, it all worked.
And everything slowed to a crawl.
The middle section slows things down considerably. Scenes start repeating themselves. The same ideas circle over and over. The pacing loses its edge, and the dread that felt so tight early on just… stalls. Some of the rules around the horror elements feel inconsistent too, which makes the stakes feel softer instead of sharper. It’s like the book keeps promising escalation but never quite delivers on it.
There are still flashes of what made the opening so strong. The writing stays solid. The atmosphere stays eerie. The premise is genuinely cool. But the momentum never fully recovers, and by the end I felt more tired than tense.
Overall, a strong start weighed down by a sluggish middle. Not a bad read, but not one that held me all the way through.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ stories with strong openings
✔️ slow creeping horror
✔️ atmospheric dread
✔️ unsettling creature lore
✔️ isolated settings
✔️ horror that takes its time
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: June 05, 2026 📚
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Witching Hole Publications. All opinions are my own.
✦•┈๑⋅⋯ Claustrophobis by Evan Jameson ⋯⋅๑┈•✦
• 2.5/5 ☆ •
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The beginning of this book hooked me right away. The writing is sharp, the atmosphere is unsettling in the best way, and the setup feels like it’s building toward something dark and claustrophobic. I was fully in. The tension, the mystery, the strange little details, it all worked.
And everything slowed to a crawl.
The middle section slows things down considerably. Scenes start repeating themselves. The same ideas circle over and over. The pacing loses its edge, and the dread that felt so tight early on just… stalls. Some of the rules around the horror elements feel inconsistent too, which makes the stakes feel softer instead of sharper. It’s like the book keeps promising escalation but never quite delivers on it.
There are still flashes of what made the opening so strong. The writing stays solid. The atmosphere stays eerie. The premise is genuinely cool. But the momentum never fully recovers, and by the end I felt more tired than tense.
Overall, a strong start weighed down by a sluggish middle. Not a bad read, but not one that held me all the way through.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
If you like:
✔️ stories with strong openings
✔️ slow creeping horror
✔️ atmospheric dread
✔️ unsettling creature lore
✔️ isolated settings
✔️ horror that takes its time
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
📅 Pub Day: June 05, 2026 📚
💌 ARC gifted via NetGalley from Witching Hole Publications. All opinions are my own.