Breathless
Amy McCulloch
Anchor
SYNOPSIS:
Journalist Cecily Wong is in over her head. She’s come to Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world, to interview internationally famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh on the last leg of a record-breaking series of summits. She’s given up everything for this story—her boyfriend, her life savings, the peace she’s made with her climbing failures in the past—but it’s a career-making opportunity. It could finally put her life back on track.
But when one climber dies in what everyone else assumes is a freak accident, she fears their expedition is in danger. And by the time a second climber dies, it’s too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote regions of the world, she’ll have to battle more than the elements in a harrowing fight for survival against a killer who is picking them off one by one.
REVIEW:
No, I was not surprised to read in the Acknowledgments of Breathless, that first-time thriller author Amy McCulloch is an experienced mountain climber. There are lived-in details in the novel about the ascent of Manaslu that give away the author’s hands-on knowledge of scaling the dizzying and, literally, breathless summits of the world’s tallest mountains. Toss in an unknown murderer and it’s a heady mixture for an effective thriller.
The setting for Breathless—which involves a series of mysterious deaths and a potential serial killer lurking among the climbers—is certainly unique, extreme heights, where few ever venture and those who do risk serious harm, everything from hypoxia, where your body is starved for oxygen, to frostbite and accidental death. When severe environments are an integral part of the story, the author needs to make the reader feel as if they are there for the setting to work as intended. While reading Breathless, I experienced many moments where little and often unexpected details made me feel the bone-chilling cold of the mountain, certainly increasing my enjoyment of the thriller aspects of the novel, and a testament to McCulluch’s personal experience. When the murderer is unmasked during a frantic descent of the mountain, those telling details bring the story to life.
I had a few nits to pick along the way. When the climb stalled, the story lost a bit of momentum, and some of the motivations of… omission, let’s say, are a little hard to forgive, even factoring in the effects of extreme emotion and even hypoxia on the characters. Despite those quibbles, Breathless is a perfect beach read. And reading something this chilling when you’re baking in the sun will provide some unexpected shivers. Think of that as a welcome side-effect.
Note: I received a free eGalley of Breathless in consideration of an unbiased review.
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