diff --git a/internal/cslab/cslab.go b/internal/cslab/cslab.go
index e7c7016..a0e60d3 100644
--- a/internal/cslab/cslab.go
+++ b/internal/cslab/cslab.go
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ func (s *Slab[K, V]) retire(idx uint32) {
 	// than it has patience for, because readers had them pinned, the slab
 	// waits for some more to come in before it looks again.
 	if s.waiting > s.patience && s.waiting >= s.retryAt {
-		s.reclaim(false)
+		s.reclaim(forRoom)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ func (s *Slab[K, V]) Overdue() bool { return s.overdue.Load() }
 
 // Reclaim releases the keys and the values of the entries that have left and
 // that no reader is looking at. It is for writers.
-func (s *Slab[K, V]) Reclaim() { s.reclaim(true) }
+func (s *Slab[K, V]) Reclaim() { s.reclaim(forSure) }
 
 // Released does what Reclaim does and reports whether the slab has let go of
 // every entry that had left it by the time of mark, which is what
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ func (s *Slab[K, V]) Reclaim() { s.reclaim(true) }
 // on to what was removed is not acceptable: calling it until it says so waits
 // for the readers that are in the way.
 func (s *Slab[K, V]) Released(mark uint64) bool {
-	s.reclaim(true)
+	s.reclaim(forSure)
 	return s.limbo == 0 || s.Links[s.limbo].left() > mark
 }
 
@@ -509,13 +509,23 @@ func (s *Slab[K, V]) alloc() uint32 {
 		// entries, so some are waiting. If readers have every one of those
 		// pinned, enough of them are held up to use up the spare nodes,
 		// and the slab has to let them get on.
-		if !s.reclaim(true) {
+		if !s.reclaim(forOne) {
 			s.waits++
 			runtime.Gosched()
 		}
 	}
 }
 
+// What a slab reclaims its waiting nodes for.
+const (
+	// forRoom: more nodes are waiting than the slab has patience for.
+	forRoom = iota
+	// forOne: a node is needed and none is free.
+	forOne
+	// forSure: whatever no reader is looking at right now has to go.
+	forSure
+)
+
 // reclaim releases the key and the value of the waiting nodes that no reader
 // is looking at and makes those nodes available again. It reports whether
 // there were any.
@@ -523,19 +533,17 @@ func (s *Slab[K, V]) alloc() uint32 {
 // Finding out what the readers are looking at means going through all of
 // their slots, which takes the longer the more CPUs there are. But what one
 // slab has found out holds for all the slabs that share the slots, for the
-// nodes that had left by then. So unless it is told to look for itself, a
-// slab first makes do with the latest look that another one has taken.
-func (s *Slab[K, V]) reclaim(look bool) bool {
+// nodes that had left by then. So unless it is to be sure, a slab first makes
+// do with the latest look that another one has taken, and looks for itself
+// only if that did not get it what it came for: a node, if it needs one, and
+// in any case no more nodes waiting than it has patience for.
+func (s *Slab[K, V]) reclaim(what int) bool {
 	if s.limbo == 0 {
 		return false
 	}
 
-	released := false
-	if !look {
-		released = s.borrow()
-		look = s.waiting > s.patience
-	}
-	if look {
+	released := what != forSure && s.borrow()
+	if what == forSure || what == forOne && !released || s.waiting > s.patience {
 		released = s.look() || released
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/cslab/cslab_test.go b/internal/cslab/cslab_test.go
index 92a90cb..e8ee550 100644
--- a/internal/cslab/cslab_test.go
+++ b/internal/cslab/cslab_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package cslab
 import (
 	"math/bits"
 	"math/rand/v2"
+	"runtime"
 	"slices"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
@@ -489,11 +490,25 @@ func TestWriterWaitsForSpareNode(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("%d nodes are waiting, want all %d spare ones", s.waiting, spare)
 	}
 
+	looks := readers.time.Load()
 	done := make(chan struct{})
 	go func() {
 		defer close(done)
 		s.Replace(s.Find(1, 1), 1, "new") // Needs a node, and has to wait for one.
 	}()
+	// The writer looks for a node again and again. By its second look it
+	// has come away with nothing at least once; until then it may not even
+	// have begun, on a machine that is busy.
+	for deadline := time.Now().Add(10 * time.Second); readers.time.Load() < looks+2; runtime.Gosched() {
+		select {
+		case <-done:
+			t.Fatal("Replace found a node to use while readers were looking at all the spare ones")
+		default:
+		}
+		if time.Now().After(deadline) {
+			t.Fatal("the writer is not looking for a node")
+		}
+	}
 	select {
 	case <-done:
 		t.Fatal("Replace found a node to use while readers were looking at all the spare ones")
@@ -857,6 +872,211 @@ func TestReleasedMark(t *testing.T) {
 	check(t, &s, map[int]int{})
 }
 
+// fullWithOnePinned returns two slabs that share readers. Both are full; in b
+// a reader looks at the node that key 0 was in, and b has replaced as many
+// values as it has spare nodes, so its next write finds no node free. Nobody
+// has looked at the slots yet.
+func fullWithOnePinned(t *testing.T) (readers *Readers, a, b *Slab[int, int], pinned uint32, held *Slot) {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	const capacity = 256 // Patience for 32 nodes, and as many to spare.
+
+	readers = newReaders(64)
+	a, b = new(Slab[int, int]), new(Slab[int, int])
+	a.Init(capacity, 1, readers)
+	b.Init(capacity, 1, readers)
+	for key := range capacity {
+		a.PushFront(0, a.Insert(uint32(key), key, 1000+key))
+		b.PushFront(0, b.Insert(uint32(key), key, 1000+key))
+	}
+
+	pinned = b.Find(0, 0)
+	held = pin(t, b, pinned)
+	for key := range 32 {
+		b.Replace(b.Find(uint32(key), key), key, 2000+key)
+	}
+	if b.waiting != 32 || b.free != 0 || int(b.fresh) != len(b.Nodes) {
+		t.Fatalf("b has %d nodes waiting, free list at %d, fresh at %d of %d", b.waiting, b.free, b.fresh, len(b.Nodes))
+	}
+	if got := readers.time.Load(); got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("time is %d before anyone had a reason to look", got)
+	}
+	return readers, a, b, pinned, held
+}
+
+// TestAllocBorrowsAroundPin checks that a slab which needs a node makes do with
+// the look of another slab, that it leaves alone the node which that look
+// found a reader at, and that it looks for itself once the borrowed look is
+// of no more use.
+func TestAllocBorrowsAroundPin(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	readers, a, b, pinned, held := fullWithOnePinned(t)
+	intact := func(when string) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if n := &b.Nodes[pinned]; n.Key != 0 || n.Value != 1000 {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: the node that a reader looks at holds %d=%d", when, n.Key, n.Value)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// a looks, and sees the reader of b's node.
+	idx := a.Find(7, 7)
+	a.Unlink(idx)
+	a.Remove(idx)
+	a.Reclaim()
+	looked := readers.time.Load()
+	if looked != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("time is %d after one look", looked)
+	}
+
+	// b needs a node: it goes by the look of a, and leaves the pinned one.
+	b.Replace(b.Find(40, 40), 40, 2040)
+	intact("after a borrowed look")
+	if got := readers.time.Load(); got != looked {
+		t.Errorf("b looked for itself (time %d -> %d)", looked, got)
+	}
+	if b.waiting != 2 || b.Overdue() || b.Waits() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("b: %d waiting, overdue %t, waits %d; want 2, false, 0", b.waiting, b.Overdue(), b.Waits())
+	}
+
+	// The same look is of no further use: b looks, and still leaves the node.
+	for key := 41; key < 41+31; key++ {
+		b.Replace(b.Find(uint32(key), key), key, 2000+key)
+		intact("in the second round")
+	}
+	if got := readers.time.Load(); got != looked+1 {
+		t.Errorf("time is %d, want one look by b on top of %d", got, looked)
+	}
+	if b.waiting != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("b: %d waiting after its own look, want 2", b.waiting)
+	}
+
+	// The reader leaves. The look that b goes by next still names the node,
+	// which gets b nothing, so it looks again and the node is released.
+	held.Unpin()
+	for key := 80; key < 80+31; key++ {
+		b.Replace(b.Find(uint32(key), key), key, 2000+key)
+	}
+	if got := readers.time.Load(); got != looked+2 {
+		t.Errorf("time is %d, want two looks by b on top of %d", got, looked)
+	}
+	if n := &b.Nodes[pinned]; n.Value == 1000 {
+		t.Errorf("the node is still held on to after the reader left: %d=%d, %d waiting", n.Key, n.Value, b.waiting)
+	}
+	if b.Waits() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("b waited %d times", b.Waits())
+	}
+}
+
+// TestAllocAndTooManyPins checks that a slab which needs a node does not go by
+// a look that found more readers than it could write down.
+func TestAllocAndTooManyPins(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	readers, a, b, pinned, held := fullWithOnePinned(t)
+	defer held.Unpin()
+
+	// a looks while more slots are taken than a look writes down.
+	release := readers.Occupy(0)
+	defer release()
+	idx := a.Find(7, 7)
+	a.Unlink(idx)
+	a.Remove(idx)
+	a.Reclaim()
+	looked := readers.time.Load()
+	if got := readers.sharedFound.Load(); got != -1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the look wrote down %d pins, want -1 for too many", got)
+	}
+
+	b.Replace(b.Find(40, 40), 40, 2040)
+	if n := &b.Nodes[pinned]; n.Key != 0 || n.Value != 1000 {
+		t.Fatalf("the node that a reader looks at holds %d=%d", n.Key, n.Value)
+	}
+	if got := readers.time.Load(); got != looked+1 {
+		t.Errorf("time went from %d to %d, want b to look for itself", looked, got)
+	}
+	if b.waiting != 2 || b.Waits() != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("b: %d waiting, %d waits; want 2, 0", b.waiting, b.Waits())
+	}
+}
+
+// TestReviewStress has several full slabs that share readers do nothing but
+// replace values, which is the path that now borrows looks in alloc, while
+// readers look entries up and other goroutines hold nodes pinned for a while
+// and watch them.
+// TestSharedLooks checks that the slabs of a cache make do with each other's
+// looks at the readers' slots, whichever kind of write it is that uses up
+// their spare nodes. A look goes through every slot there is, and a slab that
+// takes one whenever it runs out of nodes makes every write pay for the
+// number of CPUs.
+func TestSharedLooks(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	const (
+		slabs    = 16
+		capacity = 256 // Patience for 32 nodes, and as many to spare.
+		writes   = 200_000
+	)
+	type contents = map[int]int
+	kinds := map[string]func(s *Slab[int, int], has contents, rng *rand.Rand, fresh int){
+		// The value of an entry is replaced, which moves it to another node.
+		"replacing": func(s *Slab[int, int], _ contents, rng *rand.Rand, _ int) {
+			idx := s.Links[0].Prev
+			for range rng.IntN(8) {
+				idx = s.Links[idx].Prev
+				if idx == 0 {
+					idx = s.Links[0].Prev
+				}
+			}
+			s.Replace(idx, s.Nodes[idx].Key, 0)
+		},
+		// The oldest entry goes and a new one comes.
+		"evicting": func(s *Slab[int, int], has contents, _ *rand.Rand, fresh int) {
+			idx := s.Links[0].Prev
+			delete(has, s.Nodes[idx].Key)
+			s.Unlink(idx)
+			s.Remove(idx)
+			s.PushFront(0, s.Insert(uint32(fresh), fresh, 0))
+			has[fresh] = 0
+		},
+	}
+	for name, write := range kinds {
+		readers := newReaders(64)
+		all := make([]Slab[int, int], slabs)
+		has := make([]contents, slabs)
+		for i := range all {
+			all[i].Init(capacity, 1, readers)
+			has[i] = contents{}
+			for key := range capacity {
+				all[i].PushFront(0, all[i].Insert(uint32(key), key, 0))
+				has[i][key] = 0
+			}
+		}
+
+		rng := rand.New(rand.NewPCG(1, 2))
+		before := readers.time.Load()
+		for i := range writes {
+			at := rng.IntN(slabs)
+			write(&all[at], has[at], rng, capacity+i)
+		}
+		looks := int(readers.time.Load() - before)
+
+		// A slab that looks for itself every time does so once for as many
+		// writes as it has spare nodes. With sixteen slabs to share with,
+		// a quarter of that is nothing to be proud of.
+		if alone := writes / int(all[0].patience); looks > alone/4 {
+			t.Errorf("%d %s writes to %d slabs took %d looks at the readers; each slab on its own would take %d",
+				writes, name, slabs, looks, alone)
+		} else {
+			t.Logf("%d %s writes to %d slabs took %d looks at the readers; each slab on its own would take %d",
+				writes, name, slabs, looks, alone)
+		}
+		for i := range all {
+			check(t, &all[i], has[i])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // TestBorrowedLook checks that a slab makes do with what another slab of the
 // same cache has found out about the readers, where that is enough.
 func TestBorrowedLook(t *testing.T) {