Cecily Wong, needs one good break for her career as a journalist take off. Charles McVeigh (a world renowned mountain climber) is going to make his last climb. He invites Cecily and promises her an exclusive interview. There is only one small requirement... Cecily must make it to the top of Manaslu with Charles before he will give her the interview.. Now this being a suspense novel, you know there is more to his offer. Why would he choose Cecily - who is not an experienced climber?

Cecily takes Charles up on his offer of course. But then people start dying. Is this really because of the mountain or is more going on? Is there a killer in the group, or is the altitiude getting to Cecily?

I really enjoyed this book. But I love man versus nature. And this was man versus man versus nature.

I have never climbed, but I read a few books on it, and saw a few documentaries and these people always seemd a little crazy to me...lol But I was really engrossed in the details on climbing - just what is involved in each step. Why it can take weeks. Little details on what can go wrong. Then add in the mystery .. what mroe can you need?

Now all that being said, I do have to say there were a few times I was thrown out of the story thinking "come on". It almost felt like a little too much at times.

Overall, this was worth a read. Is it great literature? No. But is it a good solid mystery that will prpvide you with a few hours of mindless entertainment? Yes.

This is 3.5 stars - rounded to 4. due to the times I literally FELT cold while reading this.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and to #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

A harrowing, whiplashed paced novel which delivers wonderfully crafted characters, a superb sense of place and a mounting (no pun intended) arc of intense suspense, Amy McCulloch's BREATHLESS is one of those special reads which give you vertigo--even as you can't stop turning pages. Highly recommended--I look forward to reading this talented author's work in the future.

I really liked this book, even though parts of it seemed a little out there. I love thrillers and I love mountain climbing and I thought this book was a perfect combination of the two. I thought all the characters were interesting and it took me a few chapters longer than normal to predict the twist. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to people looking for a good thriller.

An engrossing thriller that combines woman-against-nature and woman-against-deranged killer premises, Breathless is a page-turner with authentic characters who pull the reader into the story quickly. Cecily is a struggling journalist who has one big chance to save her job at an outdoor adventure magazine and make her name--she's been chosen to climb an 8000-foot mountain in the Himalayas with a charismatic celebrity mountaineer and his team. Cecily is battling her shame and guilt over the death of a young woman killed while coming to her rescue on a previous climb. To make this climb, Cecily has staked everything: all her money, her relationship with her boyfriend (a fellow journalist), and her career hopes. She soon realizes that something isn't right with the team--there's a killer on the loose, but no one believes her. This novel has great pacing, a spectacular setting, and memorable characters, and satisfyingly builds suspense. The "whodunnit" part may not be hard to guess, but the tension surrounding Cecily's survival against incredible odds posed by man and nature, and some last-minute plot twists as the novel races to its conclusion, keep the reader engaged all the way. The realistic depiction of high-risk mountaineering and the amazing skill of the Sherpa guides is informed by the author's real-life climbing experience and makes for an authentic and fascinating story.

This was stunning. Absolutely loved it! I've never read anything about mountain climbing, let alone a mystery, so I was instantly interested when I read the blurb for this. It did not disappoint! Cecily is so relatable. Like anyone else, she doubts herself and questions things. I was cheering for her the whole book! Her struggle is palpable and realistic--her entire career depends on this climb that may be haunted by a killer. Very suspenseful, the plot development and twists had me second-guessing every character. A perfect balance between technical mountaineering and layman's terms. A truly excellent novel.

Breathless by Amy mcco Ulloch released may 2022
There is a killer on the mountain with a world renowned climber and the novices he has taken with him. This was to be a can’t be put down book. But I could never get into I just could not get interested in. Good luck if you decide to read

Cecily Wong is given the opportunity of a lifetime: to climb the 8th tallest mountain in the world and get an exclusive interview with world renowned alpinist, Charles McVeigh. However, Cecily must summit the mountain to get the interview and she has a history of failing to summit. Once she gets to the mountain, she soon discovers that Manaslu, the notorious “Killer Mountain”, has more dangers and obstacles than she could have anticipated and she learns just how well the mountain lives up to its nickname.

I absolutely loved this book. My favorite read of 2022 so far.
It has everything I look for in a thriller: so many twists and turns, a believable and likable protagonist (it’s refreshing to read a book where you don’t dislike the characters or read through an unreliable narrator), the killer’s identity is unknown until the very end —you’ll think you know but then things will keep coming up, making you doubt it or suspect someone else, and it was so atmospheric! I’m such a sucker for a good atmospheric read.
Plus all the information about mountaineering and alpinism was fascinating to me. I couldn’t get enough of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and Amy McCulloch for this wonderful eARC.

Breathless was a good read with a strong protagonist in Cecily and will a great cast of characters. (I could certainly see it being a fun movie.) I know nothing about mountain climbing which added to the stories excitement. Honestly just a story about that would have been compelling but add a murder lose of the mountain and I was all in.

Breathless
by Amy McCulloch
Pub Date: 03 May 2022
4.5/5 Stars

Cecily Wong is an adventure travel journalist with some experience in mountaineering. Definitely not enough to tackle Manaslu in Nepal, over 8,000 meters high. Even so, she is invited to be a member of the team assembled by alpinist Charles McVeigh. McVeigh has promised her an exclusive interview if she reaches the summit of Manaslu, the last of 14 mountains over 8,000 meters that he aims to climb in a year.

This story fascinated me! I have never had a desire to climb anything or push myself in the way these climbers do. I hate the cold! Cecily’s anxiety over the climb and the mounting body toll created tension and suspense throughout the book. I found myself gasping for air at times. Great suspenseful story!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing and to Amy McCulloch.

While I am not a winter fan I LOVE winter storm thrillers! This book is sooo creepy and cold and so well written that I finished it in one night.!

Cecily Wong is a outdoor action journalist. She is has scored the hardest and most difficult interview in her field - an interview Alpinist Charles McVeigh, a famous climber who is scaling 7 peaks without ropes and assistance. Charles has hand picked Cecily to be a part of his team that is climbing Manaslu Peak, the eighth-highest peak in the world and the last of their planned "clean climbing " goal. The deal is, if Cecily makes it to the top she gets his time.

Except this climb might be a little too much for Cecily, and their might be people on themountainn sabotaging other climbers. There are quite a few rumors about Charles and the team leader. What should Cecily do?

If you love thrillers, want to learn more about mountain climbing (even more than Into Thin Air), appreciate a female voice in a male dominated sport than #Breathless is for you! #KNOPF #Doubleday #NetGalley

*Thank you to Knopf Doubleday, Amy McCulloch, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Previously published at https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/breathless/

“Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end.”

–Edward Whymper (from Scrambles Amongst The Alps)

This roller coaster ride of a novel kept me breathless, with a full book hangover after reading the last page. The pacing, the details of climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world, and the addition of a serial killer tracking you on the mountain, had this reader begging for more.

Charles McVeigh has the extinction of being known as the world’s greatest alpinist. He is a legend because of his ability to climb 14 mountains without oxygen or using ropes. He is also a hero, having rescued climbers in danger. Charles will soon enter the record books as the first to climb 14 mountains over 8000 meters (approximately 5 miles up a mountain) without supplementary oxygen and the ropes attached to each mountain. He has accomplished this all within a year. Cecily Wong is a journalist writing for Wild Outdoors magazine. Charles has chosen her to accompany him on this last journey up Manaslu, the eighth tallest mountain in the world. If she makes it to the summit with him, she will get the interview of a lifetime. If she cannot make it to the summit, Charles will not grant her the interview. Cecily has seven climbers on her team, all of whom have climbed before. Breathless is told from Cecily‘s point of view and alternated with a blog she is writing for her editor.

While it seems like an impossibility for a new climber, Cecily believes she can make it to the summit. After the small team ascends the mountain, strange things start to happen. Their Wi-Fi is jammed everywhere on the mountain. She keeps hearing whistling outside her tent. There are also teams that have conflicts with each other. When Cecily does finally reach her editor, she finds her job is on the line, and her bitter ex-boyfriend has offered to take her place on the mountain.

There is obviously a lot of research about high level mountaineering gone into this book. In the Author’s note at the end, she talks about her preparation to climb Mount Toubkal in Morocco. In my opinion, the book would have been fantastic without the mysterious element. For someone who is severely acrophobic, the idea of walking up a mountain that is 5 miles high is unfathomable. The sheer grit of having to go on when you are struggling with breath, climbing ice walls on the edge of mountains, and the fear of falling into crevices, hidden by snow, is thrilling enough without the stalker element.

What I loved most about the book is the atmospheric descriptions of places we will never go. I was consistently putting down the book to google what these places looked like. Amy McCulloch did a fantastic job with her descriptions of the weather, the bitter cold, and the feeling of not being able to move another foot. It truly felt like we were climbing Mansalu with Cecily Wong. In Breathless, she combines creepiness, claustrophobia and the thrill of being on top of an 8,000 meter mountain. The characters surrounding her definitely feel secondary to her journey up the mountain. You can feel a sense of dread as they move farther up, and it is intense and horrifying. Without spoiling the ending, the journey to the summit eclipses the ending. Breathless is a gripping thriller.

This is a really great book. Imagine being on a mountain cut off from everyone except someone who wants to kill you. Incredibly creepy and scary. However the thing that makes this book the best is that it really has a good story.

I cannot even find the words to describe what a good book Breathless was. It had me hooked from the start and I read the book in one day over a 12 hour period.

Breathless was such a thrilling read. The author’s descriptions of climbing and camping in extreme temperatures made me feel as though I were there. This book had such a great plot with so many twists and turns. I can't wait to see what Amy McColloch writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Good story; enjoyed learning about the mountaineering life beyond Everest. Bad guy was a little obvious throughout.

People filled with fear aren't living life. They are held prisoner by their own limiting mindset.

Cecily Wong breathes in the weight of that every day. She's an adventure travel journalist for Wild Outdoors. Her last expedition on Broad Peak with her ex-boyfriend, James, was a mindnumbing experience. She was caught in an unfortunate impasse on the mountain. Stunned. No way up. No way down. Fearfully, she motioned to James to reach the summit while Cecily retreated back down.

And as fate elbows its way in, Cecily has had a new assignment. She's to follow Charles McVeigh, a renowned alpinist, who is undertaking a series of 14 mountains standing taller than 8,000 meters. Charles promises Cecily an exclusive interview if Cecily reaches the summit of Manaslu in Nepal with him. Cecily knows that she has to turn things around in her career. This assignment can resurrect her dwindling position. But she must prepare and she must settle things within herself to succeed.

Amy McCulloch creates a panoramic view of the feats of bravery and prowess involved in mountaineering. And she does it with such finesse that she even grabs the attention of the timid. We find ourselves toe-to-toe with Cecily as she lays the groundwork through her blog and short interviews with the team members. And we will come to know the proficiencies of the local Sherpas who climb alongside the team adjusting ropes and setting up camps.

Standing on a kitchen chair can bring bouts of vertigo. Imagine these amazing elevations. But McCulloch doesn't leave everything to the climb. She's building upon it and inserting a horror here that is indescribable. Cecily knows that the ending of lives has not been cast by accidents. There's someone among them who is the most rigid of evil. And as the team rises to the heights of Manaslu, Cecily realizes that Manaslu may well be her final resting place if she doesn't hold her own.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Knopf Doubleday Publishing and to Amy McCulloch for the opportunity.

I was immediately swept up into this exciting mystery set amongst the highest mountains on earth and the idiosyncratic people who risk death to climb them. Combined with a tight, well-constructed murder mystery, the author’s command of the terms and psychology of climbing will keep readers turning pages.

Cecily Wong, journalist for a popular outdoor magazine, has seen a boost in popularity with her blog "Failure to Rise," about her failure to reach mountain summits. But she might finally have her chance to shine when world famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh grants her the interview of a lifetime--but only once they've made it to the top of Manaslu, one of the highest peaks in the world. Cecily's not sure she's up to the task, but her job depends on it.

But when a climber dies in a freak accident, Cecily fears that the whole expedition is in danger--her career as well. And when the second dies, Cecily begins to fear that these haven't been "accidents," and that a deadly killer is stalking them in one of the most isolated a deadly regions in the world.

Amy McColloch's Breathless was a completely satisfying read. The writing is quite good and while the pace is a little slower than I expected, the author sets a very convincing atmosphere--you'll feel as though you're on the mountain right alongside the characters. I also appreciated that McColloch brought her experience of mountaineering to the table, but she wove it seamlessly into the narrative. I've read books with specialized topics as the focus of the action and it can become tedious and distracting, but this was a pleasure. I don't often think about mountain climbing, and I always appreciate books that give me a new perspective. I'll be looking forward to more books by this author.

Special thanks to the publisher, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Anchor for making this ARC available to review through NetGalley.

3.5 rounded up
Nice twist. Enjoyed that author gave information about mountain climbng and techniques throughput story without boring me. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I just loved this book. I read it in two days. I am an avid hiker myself, no where near this group, but thoroughly enjoyed all of the details of the climb the writer included in the book. Even if yo have never hiked a day in your life you will find this book enthralling. Great plot with so many twists and turns. I constantly kept guessing who the killer was and never guessed it was who it was! I loved Cecily's character and was rooting for her till the very end. I wish there was a part two to the book to see what happens next!