Breathless started a little slow and there was some tedium with the explanations of climbing, but I understand the need for that.

It picked up the pace toward the middle and overall was an enjoyable read. 3.75 rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A wonderfully tense murder mystery that will keep you guessing til the last few chapters.

I know nothing about climbing mountains but learned so much from this story.

I had no idea how this whole process works and so while I was trying to figure out ‘who dunnit’ I was also really curious about how teams approach mountain climbing and why they do certain steps.

The biggest thing I learned? I will never, EVER, climb a mountain (even if I physically could).

And the second biggest knowledge drop is that the Sherpa’s are the unsung heroes! They are the hardest working people on the mountains, they put themselves at the greatest risks time and time again, and they get little to no publicity!

A few slow moments at the beginning of the story and a bit of a lag here and there in the middle waiting for action to kick back in but overall, I was really impressed with this debut work. I will definitely pick up this author’s next work.

Be sure to bring a blanket for this read as all the ice and snow talk made me chilly!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

This story kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t figure out who the “Bad guy” was and why until right before it was revealed.

This story is intriguing and will hold your attraction until you put it down. It also makes me question the sanity of these people climbing mountains. (I’ll keep my feet planted on level ground)

Recommended for those who like puzzles.

A solid debut. Mountain climbing made for a unique twist to this thriller! Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review

This is an A plus thriller! I loved Breathless, and I am so looking forward to Amy McCulloch's next book. Awesome suspense, setting, and characters. Great for discussing with others!

Growing up I loved moves like Vertical Limit, because I thought it was so daring to want to climb the worlds tallest peaks. Something I could never actually see myself doing. Having seen the depths people would go to on the mountain in Vertical Limit, coupled with Breathless by Amy McCulloch.....I now have no desire whatsoever to climb a mountain.

Breathless, is exactly that, a nonstop thrill ride that will in fact leave you breathless. Cecily Wong is a journalist, with past climbing experience. She gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to join an internationally famous mountaineer, Charles McVeigh on his record-breaking series of summits. Despite her past climbing failures, Wong knows this story could be huge for her career. A freak accident leaves one climber dead. Or so they thought until the second climber turns up dead. The terrifying reality is there is a killer on the mountain. Wong must now battle the mountain and try to avoid a killer. This one was packed with so many twist and turns I read it in one sitting and immediately recommended to all my thriller loving friends. Would definitely read more by this author in the future.

Very good book with edge of your seat suspense. It’s a spellbinding story of a woman who basically gives it all up for the one chance to make her name known. It land a job that she wants if you will.

As the bodies start stacking up Cecily suspects things are not what they seem. Not an accident at all. Is it murder. If she can survive this and get the story then she might possibly be set. The setting is perfect for this. The descriptions are realistic. The tensions were in just the right places.

Great book. A first from this author for me and I will look for more.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

The suspense!!! This book was so suspenseful. I found myself holding my breath as I read, flying through the pages to get to the end. Loved it!

Cecily is a journalist who has been given the chance of a lifetime: accompany world-renowned mountaineer Charles McVeigh on a record-breaking climb and get the interview of a lifetime–if she can reach the summit. After some traumatizing climbs in the past, she’s hesitant, but her career needs the boost. As the team prepares for their summit push up Manaslu, several tragedies at lower elevations have her wondering: is the mountain the only killer, or is there one among them as well?

The inherent danger and remoteness of the highest peaks in the world could be the perfect cover for a killer, and McCulloch explores this idea while building the tension. Both the mystery AND the motivation of these extreme climbers (still a mystery to me) kept me hooked; while I suspected a few of the outcomes, the details were still a surprise. I wish a few loose ends had been wrapped up, but overall an excellent wilderness thriller.

Fantastic read perfect setting for winter!! Throughly enjoyed it this will definitely be a reread for me.

Thank you to Anchor Books and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest opinion.

Set on one of the highest mountains in the world (certainly somewhere I will never see), I really enjoyed the vast sweeping location descriptions of this novel. What drives people to want to climb these mountains under such harsh conditions. We learn through journalist Cecily wong's 1st person narrative and also her writing about all the players on the mountain and why they are there.

"Breathless" is a slow burn that really ramps up the thrills and drama in the last 1/4 of the book.

Highly recommend for an armchair thrill seeker looking for their next good read!

A taut and page turning thriller. Highly reccomend for fans of the genre, regardless of how you might feel about climbing.

I will preface this by saying I have never read a mountaineering book before because , basically, it doesn’t interest me. But, after reading an excerpt , I was intrigued.

Cecily is a journalist and blogger that has just been given the story of a lifetime. The opportunity to climb and then interview a well know alpinist, Charles Mcveigh, on his last climb on his journey to complete his Fourteen Clean adventure. Manaslu is his last mountain, and he has invited Cecile on his journey. Being a novice climber, Cecily is a little apprehensive from the get go, but can’t turn down the chance to further her career.

From the beginning, things seem off to Cecily, but every one seems to keep reassuring her that that is just how things go on the mountain. The story follows her journey up the mountain and her journey to stay alive as more and more suspicious activity happens. Is someone after her? Is it just the mountain life? Or is something more sinister going on in one of the most unpredictable environments on Earth?

After reading a different climbing book this year, I was pretty excited to get the opportunity from Netgalley to read this one.

Journalist Cecily Wong is offered the chance of a lifetime when a famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh offers her an exclusive interview at the end of his last "alpine climb" on one of the highest peak in the world. However, he requires her to also make the summit. Although Cecily has climbed before, she is a novice.

That would be enough to make an exciting story, but then people start to die, and it becomes a fight for survival.

I enjoyed this book, and I'll be looking for more by this author, as well as more in this type of setting.

I loved this story. I have enjoyed reading mountaineering stories before, but have never read one like this. The female perspective was fascinating, bringing the reality of always being a little scared that you will be killed to an even higher stakes situation. I would be interested in hearing more about the logistics of the mountain from the author's perspective if they wrote another book about the peaks. Such as, how on earth do you go to the bathroom in the freezing tundra when you have to be covered up?! The twists and turns and elevation kept me glued in and hungry for more

Breathless is Amy McCulloch's adult fiction debut and is most certainly a vibe. It is very atmospheric thanks to being set almost entirely on Manaslu, and McCulloch clearly used all her knowledge from climbing the mountain to write this book. The story is really heavy with mountaineering terms which is honestly why it lost me, but I have been recommending it to people I know who love mountaineering. Even though it is supposed to be a thriller, it just didn't have enough of these elements for me thanks to getting bogged down with all of the terms and it is also a really slow burn. I think it will be best for someone who enjoys climbing and mountains and wants to read about these things through a murder mystery.

For anyone interested, I would also recommend listening to the audiobook since it was quite good and definitely helped keep me going to the finish. Katie Leung was a brilliant choice to narrate, and she brought the desolation of the mountain and Cecily's panic to life. Depending on what McCulloch writes next, I may or may not read it. My not being outdoorsy at all is what really got me with this one, and I just wanted more from the mystery itself. Other than that, I really enjoyed her writing and if her next book isn’t so heavy on her experience mountaineering, I will definitely check it out.

I love books that are atmospheric and immerse the reader into the environment. Reading Breathless made me feel like I was right beside Cecily on Mansalu, breathing the thin air and shivering from the frigid temperatures. I not only enjoyed the "murder mystery" aspect of the plot but found the facts surrounding Mansalu and the process of climbing a mountain extremely interesting. Several times while reading this, I ran to Google and looked up pictures of the places and facts about the events featured in the book.

The mystery was good but I felt that the ending was a bit rushed. Overall, this was the perfect winter reading story and a ton of fun.

I received this book from the publisher/NetGalley to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you're into mountaineering, this book is definitely for you. If you're interested in learning about mountain climbing, this is for you. If you're into a protagonist that makes really poor choices, then, alas, this is also for you.

it is capably written but there are pacing problems which are due to bogging down in mountaineering exposition but also because the author was clearly trying to slow-burn the tension. i'm not sure why that didn't work for me in this case.

The tag line of "There's a murderer on the mountain, and at this altitude, there isn't enough oxygen to breathe, let alone scream" had me intrigued and let me tell you, it kept me turning pages well into the night. It is so atmospheric, with the mountains, the isolation and the abundance of snow. The author did a fantastic job of building the suspense, and the fear in the main character Cecily. I was scared for her and kept telling her to go back, leave the mountain. Things going wrong and bodies building up whilst climbing a mountain at minus degrees and snow storms is not my idea of fun. And all for an interview!! She is one gutsy character and I really did admire her, even if I wanted to grab her an pull her to safety.