The most recommended books on claustrophobia

While many turn to Lovecraft’s Cthulu writings as his best work, it was this short story of Houdini’s fictional encounter with an unspeakable beast beneath the Great Sphinx of Giza that had the most impact on me. Told from the perspective of Harry Houdini, the tale masterfully captures the mounting dread and claustrophobia of the famous escape artist as he unwittingly delves further underground, to say nothing of the fantastical horrors that await him. Forced to witness strange mummified creatures, under the direction of the malevolent Nitokris, give offerings to one of Lovecraft’s trademark many-tentacled monstrosities, Houdini may dismiss his encounter as a mere flight of fancy but the implication that some gruesome Old One was responsible for the creation of some of the world’s most awe-inspiring structures hits just a little differently.

A once-elegant Victorian mansion in London has been chopped up into individual “bed-sit” apartments occupied by a quirky assortment of tenants, each with his or her own secrets. The enjoyment of this book lies in the claustrophobic atmosphere of the house and the unbearable tension of wondering how each tenant will escape the killer in their midst.  

I love a good chilling tale where the reader can never be certain the supernatural is real or just an interpretation of the protagonist's state of mind. And this is exactly what Toon gives us with this tale of hidden secrets and unhealed trauma set in the isolated forests of the Scottish Highlands. 

Lauren is too young to remember a mother who disappeared over a decade ago. Her father drinks to forget, and her neighbours know more than they let on. But then two things happen. Lauren and her father pick up a strange woman from the side of the road who disappears the following morning, and a local teenage girl goes missing, and Lauren finds herself in the middle of a village forced to remember the past.

Shalini Boland is one of the authors who got me hooked on psychological thrillers and when she releases a new book, it’s an automatic buy for me. The Couple Upstairs is set in Bournemouth (on the south coast) and features Nina and Zac who move into a new apartment. They quickly befriend their neighbours and soon all sorts of things start to go wrong. There’s a wonderfully claustrophobic feel to this book, plenty of twists and turns and a shocker twist at the end.

The story is set in the Warhammer 40’000 universe, but anyone can read it without feeling lost. I love the way the author subverts the reader’s expectation from a story of “military squad Vs. monster” to “military squad Vs. everything-on-the-planet.”

A fantastic blend of (John Carpenter’s) The Thing and Predator. An enjoyable and easy-to-read tale of claustrophobic, slow-burning tension and Hollywood 80s action hero. I loved the ever-increasing sense of paranoia they endure by gradually discovering that absolutely everything wants to kill them.

The Institution is a secure unit for the criminally insane, unnerving enough but when the two main characters enter its walls under cover, one as a therapist, the other posing as a patient, the stakes are high.

A horrific crime has taken place and the remote location means the perpetrator was either a patient or a    member of staff. The two lead characters have to find the killer while keeping their real identities a secret.

Add to this a race against time to find a newborn baby and the tension is unbearable.

I wrote about an abducted baby in my second book and keeping the race against time uppermost in the reader’s mind was the most difficult part of the process.

This is one of my go-to re-reads. I love the quiet and isolation of it: just a small crew trapped beneath the ocean, weathering something heretofore unknown. That’s what I like first and foremost: the mood of it all. 

But atop that is how believable it is for me. I always feel like I learn something when I read Michael Crichton. He had a knack for using real science and then twisting it just enough to create wonderful fictional situations. I’m not joyless enough to require learning to like a book, but I’ll put it this way: The less often an author asks me to suspend disbelief, the more willing I am to go for the ride when they finally do. 

As someone who has explored the tombs of Egypt in real life, this story dug its claws right into me.

As well as all the claustrophobia, the darkness, and the sense there’s no way out, Moreland confronts you with ancient gods and monsters so terrifying you’ll be testing the walls for a secret passage out of there every step of the way.

One of the most daring and original voices I have read in recent years. 

I admire Kirsty Logan’s boldness in imagining and describing personal viewpoints and her unique interpretation of possible alternate realities. She shows the courage to commit to ideas and storylines that are original, innovative, and beyond the imagination of most people.

The two darkest stories are "Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by", a menacing tale of abuse, kidnapping, and violence, and "Half Sick of Shadows". The latter is profoundly moving and disturbing and almost unbelievable in its callousness.

A writer whose progress I will follow with interest.

In this excellently researched DI Ben Kitto series the author does not shy away from the fact that bad things happen in beautiful places.

I particularly love this first book because it sympathetically captures the essence of living in a small, remote island community, where drugs, violence, and alcohol are not far beneath the surface and the economic hardships these places endure are a daily concern.

The islands in this book are a far cry from the summer Isles of Scilly that many of us know and love and it is a realistic reminder that life anywhere is not always as idyllic and simple as it appears from the outside.