DNF @ 29%.

I love the premise behind this story, and fully expected a "breathless" and wild ride, but unfortunately this was a slowly plodding tale. The atmospheric descriptions and author's detailed, researched inclusions are absolutely stunning, but I think that style of writing would have been better served for a genre outside of thriller/suspense. If you are looking for a slow paced, chilly tale, give it a try for yourself, as it may work better for you than it did for me.

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.

This book just kept you intrigued. It wasn't just a mystery but was also a learning experience. Kudos to this author. I need to read more from her.

Whoa! What a ride. It was very fast-paced. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and how real the story felt. The author did a great job painting the setting, so it was easy for me to visualize the scene played out before me. I recommend giving this one a chance!

I love cold climate stories and this ticked all the boxes! A wonderful read that will leave you breathless. I went and bought a copy just so I could read it again and again

I found this to be a fascinating. As someone who has not done any mountain climbing, I found the setting amazing. A definite “locked room” type of mystery, set on a high peak in Nepal.

I liked Cecily, the main protagonist, who is a struggling journalist a little out of her element within this group of experts. I wasn’t sold on some of the other characters, but I think that was the point. Overall, the book was a great descriptive, fast-paced thriller.

Breathless had a fascinating cast of characters, a truly unique setting, and a lot of fascinating details about how you go about climbing one of the world’s highest peaks (if one is so inclined.)

Having Cecily be a bit of an outsider to this world worked really well. She’s a journalist who wrote a viral article about her own failed attempt at climbing, an attempt that ended in tragedy. So Cecily has a lot to prove, both on the mountain and off.

The book’s cast of characters included influencers and rich people trying to check off a bucket list, but also experienced mountain climbers and, of course, the Sherpas. A Nepalese ethnic group known for guiding mountain climbers since the 1920s, Sherpas are an essential part of most climbs, offering expertise with the terrain, familiarity with life at high altitude, and general logistical support, all at great risk to themselves.

I won’t be climbing any mountain peaks anytime soon, but I will see what Amy McCullouch writes next.

will be reviewing and posting a review to my social after I receive a physical copy of the book. I look forward to pulsing my review and sharing the link to the post.

Setting a fairly traditional thriller in such an untraditional environment is actually kind of genius and McCulloch pulls it off. This story is believable and engaging, very well paced and plotted. The author's familiarity with alpine climbing is obvious. I might wish the writing was a little stronger, particularly the dialogue, but I will definitely stay abreast of McCulloch's next project.

Ebook/Thriller: I really, really want to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. It was a thrilling wild ride up a mountain.
While two questions were not answered at the end, this book was fulfilling.
I knew that climbing high mountains were done in stages. This book really gives you the feel that you're waiting around trying to acclamate for a long period of time. The novel also give details about what it is like to be scaling on the fixed ropes, falling, and freezing. Yes, there is a lots of details about the cold that really bring you in the writer's world and as a reader, I could feel the cold and terror.
Why terror? Well there's a murderer on the mountain, of course.

I was hoping to read an adventure that was exciting and put me on the edge of my seat. I didn't get it unfortunately. I loved that the main female character was a POC and was excited to read her adventure in being able to summit the mountain. That was probably the only exciting part. At least for me. It took me a lot of time to read this. Maybe if I re-read this it will be better.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and the publisher for an ARC of this story for my unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed the story of this book, but it was drawn out and boring for periods of time, I was not eager to pick up the book to finish it, until about 85% in. In addition, this is probably small to some readers, but it bothered me. Early on the author discussed the timeline and how they had to go up and down to acclimate properly. In the end they only went up once and were miraculously acclimated! Now that being said, the book did not need to be longer, but the author should have just jumped ahead after a few up and downs.

This is the story of a struggling journalist, Cecily, who managed to get a spot on an exclusive expedition. If she summits, she is guaranteed an exclusive interview with the prodigious Charles, who is set to achieve his goal of climbing the largest peaks alpine style. This is the chance of a lifetime for Cecily to prove herself, as a journalist and a climber.

When a climber dies shortly after Cecily saw him alive and well, before the first push to base camp, Cecily’s journalistic instincts tell here there is more to the “accidental” death. The story has many twists and turns, but it did not instill excitement even though they were there. You will question - is this just normal or is there a murderer throughout the story. When you believe there is a murderer you will go back and forth as to who it may be, which there are a lot of characters, so you will have lots to choose from. The ending ties most things up.

I would recommend waiting for the audiobook, as I find a book with a lot of extraneous information is easier to listen to, then to read.

Breathless was the perfect title for this book because that's how you felt right along with Cecily. There were times I was on the edge of my seat. The author described every detail so well that I wanted to try alpinism and I hate snow & cold. There are a number of unexplained deaths in this season of mountain climbing throughout the world, but people die every year in the death zone, the area above 7000 meters when oxygen is needed by most climbers. But Cecily is getting suspicious especially when someone she just met and left behind dies in a freak accident, or was it? One of the problems is it's almost impossible to investigate deaths at this level and the other? Paranoia. Which happens to be one of the symptoms of hypoxia. And Cecily has very few climbs under her belt and none at this level. Practically being a newbie doesn't warm her to other serious climbers, but Charles McVeigh wanted her on this climb, if she wants to interview him. This would be a major coup for the outdoors journalist, but she has to make it to the summit before he will allow the interview. This book gives you a front seat look at mountain climbing while leaving you to wonder, are people being murdered or is Cecily paranoid. The author does a good job of presenting a number of suspects, including Cecily's mind to try and figure out what's happening. There was one character that was left dangling that I think was supposed to be a red herring, but it didn't work. And while I understand why the character was in the book, either they should have been just mentioned or fleshed out more. It wasn't a problem for me, just a slight annoyance. Just a side note, the Eiger was mentioned a couple of times and it made me want to watch The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood (from the 70s) again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Anchor for providing a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

Cecily is a lowly journalist for Wild Outdoors Magazine. When she gets the opportunity of a lifetime to interview the illusive alpinist, Charles McVeigh, she jumps at the chance, but there are strings attached. Will she be able to jump through the necessary hoops to seal the deal? Soon Cecily senses that all is not kosher on Manaslu. As the body count rises, so do her suspicions. Is there a killer on the mountain, after all who investigates deaths in the death zone, or with the lack of oxygen in higher elevations is she experiencing hypoxia? Cecily must use every ounce of strength and courage to reach her goal and make it off the mountain alive, but with her lack of experience does she even have a chance? McCulloch uses her first hand knowledge to take the reader on a nail biting adventure. One that everyone won’t survive.

Cecily is a journalist with a nose for the story of the year.  Famed mountaineer Charles McVeigh is attempting to summit all of the peaks measuring 8,000 meters or higher...without the assistance of oxygen or ropes.  Cecily, and several others, have been invited along to the final summit to document the final peak.  But when you're above 8,000 meters with this crew, the mountain isn't the only thing that can kill you.  People are dying all around Cecily.  Freak accidents...or something more sinister?  Who can you trust on top of the world?

I really loved this story and the authenticity.  I had recently read and watched Nims Purja's story of attemping (and completing) a similar feat and was pleased to see that not only had Amy McCullouch actually summited Manaslu herself, but she had done so under the guidance of Nims Purja.  This was a wild story and, although I thought that Cecily was a bit too much of a ninny for this adventure, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

While the topic — remote excursion to the mountains gone wrong (in the vein of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley), has been done a lot lately, Breathless was such a fresh take! Although the concept was far-fetched — inexperienced journalist takes on one of the most difficult mountain climbs in the world, I found myself unable to put the book down. I was desperate to discover the high-altitude killer’s identity!

The thriller portion of the story moved a little slow at times but the atmosphere of the mountain kept the tension going.

I definitely enjoyed the level of suspense both aspects of the story brought. I started to suspect the outcome along the way and loved that I was correct. I care more for an outcome that makes sense (it does) than one that comes out of nowhere (it doesn’t).

Lastly, I could never ever climb a mountain. Snuck respect to those who do.

I thoroughly enjoyed this thrilling tale about murder, intrigue, and mountain climbing. The author really did a good job with descriptions and obviously was quite knowledgeable about climbing. We are introduced to a cast of characters who have many secrets will are all exposed by the end of the book. I found this book to be quite suspenseful and hard to put down!

3.5 Stars, rounded up.

While reading Breathless I assumed that McCulloch must be a mountain climber because her details and descriptions about what it feels like to be on a mountain were intense. In reading the Afterwards she talks about climbing Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world. Ihave always thought it takes a person very different from myself to take on these mountains, this book reinforced that and makes me think they are a little crazy!

Cecily Wong is a struggling journalist who has done very little climbing but became well-known in the culture because of a failure she had had. She is given the chance of a lifetime to join an expedition with a famous mountaineer and get an exclusive interview with him after their summit. It is the chance she needs to write an article that will get her name out there and probably a permanent job at a magazine. So, she trains and prepares herself for Manaslu. The catch, she must make it to the summit or no interview.

Mountaineers know that death is a possibility when at high altitudes but when bodies start piling up, Cecily thinks there may be a murderer on the mountain. But, high altitudes can bring on paranoia so when she brings up her concern she is threatened with being kicked off the expedition due to hallucinations. She wants to find out why people have died but she keeps most of her concerns to herself so that she can make it to the summit.

The tension builds as we get further into the book and my heart was racing along with Cecily's during the climax. I learned a lot about mountain climbing and what it would be like to go without oxygen during a snow storm. Do NOT sign me up. McCulloch does a great job with bringing the mountaineering to life for us. I was less thrilled with some of the secondary characters.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for this honest review.

4 star
Very good mountain climbing murder mystery. It starts out a bit slow describing all the characters, the equipment and the mountain. This is interesting but took about half the book. But once the climb started the adventure and the mystery began. The action scenes were very descriptive, exciting and scary. The mystery was very shocking. By 80% you will be flying through the pages not knowing how it will end. And even the ending will surprise you.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review