I enjoyed this thriller with many twists and turns. A social media influencer is stuck on an Antarctic cruise where people keep turning up dead and she can't escape the fact that she may be the intended target. I loved the atmosphere of the Antarctic as I have not read many books with this backdrop. I would definitely read more by this author, Amy McCulloch again! I gave this book 4 stars because I felt there was predictability to some circumstances.

Olivia and her boyfriend Aaron are booked on a voyage to the Antarctic to experience the midnight sun. Aaron is an art dealer and is planning a gallery auction onboard for a recently deceased artist, but the day they're ready to depart he leaves the ship to handle a work emergency and misses the departure. Olivia hasn't been on the water since a tragic boating accident in her teens, so the absence of Aaron onboard coupled with her work burnout, PTSD, and insomnia make her even more anxious and unstable. So the strange incidents that start to happen she at first chalks up to coincidence or her mind playing tricks on her. But she soon realizes there's a killer on board... and she his target!
This is an excellent locked room type thriller with a unique ship setting and the Antarctic location is described beautifully--cold and stark-- adding to the tension of the story. There were so many twists and turns and the final one that I never saw coming. Although I enjoyed her previous book Breathless a bit more, this was a really great book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Want to cruise the Lost Continent? See the Midnight Sun? I was intrigued by the plot of this book and decided to request the ARC. The author, Amy McCulloch, writes from firsthand experience. She has actually been on an expedition to Antarctica. The book is written as a locked room thriller. Here is what I liked:

🚢The descriptions of the scenery and activities like kayaking, whale-watching and the Midnight Sun. And the penguins! 🐧

🚢The art component with a gallery on the ship featuring the work of a Lithuanian artist with a bit of a Bansky vibe. 🎨

🚢Olivia, our MC, has some baggage that she needs to deal with. I liked the ending Amy McCulloch chooses for Olivia. 💼

What I didn't like was how long it took for the book to really get to the point where we realized there was a locked room situation. It also seemed like the glacier descriptions could have used some editing. Lots of repetition in that area.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Midnight is an utterly addictive novel by Amy McCulloch, which takes place in one of the remotest parts of the world, Antarctica, on the maiden voyage of a recently refurbished luxury cruise liner. You couldn’t get a better location for a thriller, where the characters really are cut off from the rest of civilisation, and Amy McCulloch brilliantly raises the stakes in her book, especially when it becomes clear that there is a killer on board.

When Olivia boards the cruise liner destined for Antarctica, she has no idea the horrors that await her on board. This should have been the trip of a lifetime, but things begin to take a dark turn when Olivia’s boyfriend, Aaron, fails to make it to the cruise ship in time before it departs. Olivia is enraged that her boyfriend went unaccounted for when the ship left port, especially as she can’t contact him to find out where he is. Amy McCulloch drives the uncertainty here, as we have no real idea if Aaron is alright or not.

The danger and the tension intensify in the novel as the voyage gets underway, and soon, some shocking events that take place on board, leave Olivia in turmoil. She begins to realise that her life might be in danger. She’s even more worried about her boyfriend, who she is still unable to reach, and fears that something terrible has happened to him.

I was really rooting for Olivia to get answers and to find out who the person behind these events was. I was glad she was able to make some friends while on board, as this did seem to give her some comfort. I could feel her frustration when she was told to just try and have fun, when she was clearly worrying about what’s happened to her boyfriend.

If you enjoy intense thrillers set in remote locations then this is the novel for you. Amy McCulloch definitely made me feel as though I was there on the cruise ship, especially through her descriptions, when she is describing how the ship has recently been refurbished, and she brilliantly makes you feel the danger closing in.

Couldn’t put this book down. Excellent writing and great characters. Don’t miss this well done disaster novel.

I loved the setting for this mystery. An adventure cruise to Antarctica! The author depicts a wondrous and beautiful space ruled by nature and the elements while intruded upon. A once in a lifetime trip but a missing art dealer throws a wrench in the high profile inclusion of a famous artist's onboard auction. The auction aspect was interesting while the mystery seemed secondary. Some twists but a pretty easy whodunit. The author was inspired by her own trip to Antarctica and it shows.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

A twisty thriller with a surprise or two at the end. Olivia has an issue with boats and water- an issue that's critical, as it turns out to the plot- but she agrees to go to Antarctica with her boyfriend Aaron, a art dealer who has arranged a special on board auction. And then Aaron hops off the ship just before debarkation and doesn't come back, leaving Olivia alone and mystified. She's even more mystified when it becomes clear that there's a killer on board. And a mysterious man who appears quite threatening. There are some deeply implausible aspects of this (a bunk room- with bunk beds- on a luxury voyage? excitement but no caution about encountering a leopard seal while in a kayak) but then there are the atmospherics of Antarctica (the cold, the ice, the leopard seal). This goes on a bit long and one of the twists is a bit of a stretch (as is the surprise awaiting Olivia at the end). That said, I liked that Olivia is an actuary (not seen that in a novel recently, if ever). Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Although terrified of the water, Olivia has been persuaded by her boyfriend to join him for a once in a lifetime cruise to Antarctica to help their new business. But when her boyfriend misses the ship and suspicious things start to happen to people on board, it seems like the water might be the least of Olivia's worries ...

This is a tense, gripping thriller in an unusual but fascinating setting. Some of the twists were better than others, but it was undoubtedly a brilliant book and I devoured it!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

After reading Breathless I was so excited to start another novel by McCulloch.
She did an amazing job once again!
Midnight by Amy McCulloch is absolutely chilling. It was a great book! It was really well written. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest.
I enjoyed the character development and the plot had me guessing the whole time.
I really enjoyed the atmospheric setting of Antarctica. The detail and descriptions were so vivid and detailed.
An incredible atmospheric and tense thriller with complex characters.

Thank You NetGalley and Doubleday for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

The first chapter did a good job of drawing me in and the few chapters after added to the intrigue while simultaneously confusing me. Lol

The setting of an Antarctic cruise with the descriptions of the landscape and wildlife actually made this a unique mix of suspenseful moments and serene nature which I liked. However, I figured out who the killer was very early on and that combined with the large amount of characters to keep track of made me like this just a little less than I’d hoped.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this early. Thank you Vintage Anchor

Prepared to be swept away into a suspenseful thriller!

Olivia has spent the last year in a downward spiral, almost succumbing to her extreme anxieties and despair. Her lifelines have been her best friend, Tricia, and her boyfriend, Aaron.

In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Aaron arranges to host a high-end, luxury art auction aboard an Antarctic cruise ship. Aaron, an art agent, has secured the exclusive contract for representing a talented artist who tragically passed away in a car accident, making his artwork priceless.

As they prepare to board, Aaron is called back to the hotel, so Olivia boards and plans to meet up with him later. However, he never makes it onboard. As Olivia scrambles to contact Aaron, through storms and spotty cell and Internet service, it becomes clear that someone on board wishes her harm.

I did struggle to get into the book at first, but once Olivia boarded the ship, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the ship, the characters, and the awe-inspiring Antarctic landscape are so vivid that you find yourself immersed in the story. The ending was amazing! Highly recommended for fans of Amy McCullough, suspenseful reads, and mysteries.

Thank you to Amy McCulloch, NetGalley, and Vintage Anchor, Doubleday Publishing for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, and Covid for the weeklong book binge!

This has a similar feel to McCulloch’s previous book Breathless (which, ironically, I’m pretty sure I read when I had Covid in February!) - a semi-adventurous, but mostly play-it-safe girl with a tragic backstory, on a once in a lifetime expedition without her partner, who ends up being hunted by a killer. Here our protagonist is Olivia. She used to be an actuary, but ever since meeting her boyfriend Aaron (this is yet another book featuring a whirlwind serious relationship), she’s been swept up in the world of high art. Aaron represents a painter named Kostas Yennin. Yennin painted gorgeous landscapes of Antarctica (and it seems like most of the pieces had a multimedia element as well). He was hugely talented, but wasn’t really breaking into the art world…until he tragically died in a car accident. Now Aaron has commissioned this Antarctic cruise to exclusively debut and sell Yennin’s artwork, which is all the more priceless (oxymoron?) now that he can’t make any more of it.

Olivia sort of works with Aaron, but she’s basically just along for the ride, until the ship leaves port without him on it. He’d been acting strange in the days before they left, and Olivia kept thinking she saw someone in Argentina following them. A few hours before the ship was due to leave, Aaron got some kind of message that spooked him and left the ship, telling Olivia he’d be back before they left. There’s a lot of back and forth about what could have happened to him, but it’s pretty clear that he ain’t coming back.

So Olivia is flying solo, and has to run this art auction on her own. She gives up her fancy suite to a honeymooning couple and bunks with a trio of women who all seem friendly enough. Annaliese and Patty are both travel agents, and Janine is some kind of travel blogger. All three of them are alternately friendly and shady, depending on the chapter. Olivia is still convinced that she’s being watched on board, and she has several scary incidents and close calls, but she’s never sure who’s behind it (and literally every character she comes into contact with may as well have a twirling mustache and a Russian accent. It gets to the point where it’s almost silly – if *everyone* is a suspect, then it’s not fun). Much like Breathless, there’s a fleeing from a killer in an extreme environment moment during the final “wild camping” excursion (which is pegged as this item only for big spenders but honestly sounds like my worst nightmare).

We also learn Olivia’s tragic backstory - she used to sail all the time with her parents (her father worked on boats and used to sail yachts from one port to another for his rich clients). But one night, her father put her on watch and she fell asleep. Their boat collided with a speedboat and her father went overboard. Until the cruise, Olivia hadn’t been on another boat, and she’s understandably freaked out about it. Of course, it’s clear that there’s more to this story, especially after Olivia spots a yacht that looks suspiciously like the death boat.

It’s very fast-paced, and I flew through it with every twist, wanting to know how it was all going to play out. Even though I despise camping, I’m somehow a sucker for these kinds of outdoor survival stories.

3.5/5

Midnight was definitely a slow starter for me, it took a while to get into the storyline and actually feel engaged by it. But once it started delving deeper into the murders it was more intriguing. The setting is beautiful and I do like a locked room thriller, however, for me personally there was nothing extraordinary about it. That being said, it was good, it was fun and it's a nice quick read!

This one took me a bit longer to get into than Breathless by this author which was SO propulsive, but once the ship set sail I was hooked and could barely put the book down! Very satisfying twists and I enjoyed learning more about the art world.

The premise of this was intriguing and I loved the beginning set up, however I found it quite confusing and long-winded once all the characters and various story lines all rushed over one another.

I really wanted to love this but it fell quite flat. I expect a little more from the overall mystery.

This is an exciting cat and mouse novel in which the stark setting becomes yet another “character” in this thriller. The characters were fleshed out sufficiently if not particularly in-depth. The plot driven story really packs a punch and uses the events to maximize the excitement. A must read you will not be able to put down.

In Midnight, couple Olivia and Aaron are taking a luxury cruise to Antarctica where they will be selling artwork by Yennin, someone who took inspiration from the continent and who recently died. But this trip is even more special for Olivia as it is meant to be a fresh start in her life. All starts to go haywire when Aaron misses boarding and now Olivia is all alone. As one bad thing after another takes place, the reader starts to ask who can we actually trust.
There were some thought processes Olivia had that I thought were silly. Some people she thought were safe and others she thought were dangerous, and I more so thought the opposite. I wasn't very attached to the characters, and I felt like the book was a little repetitive.
I really liked the setting of the book. I love books that take place on cruise ships; not many thrillers do yet. It was a locked room situation, but with excursions! I also loved the location choice the author made - Antarctica. It's a continent known for freezing temperatures and unstable glaciers, which is perfect for a creepy story.
What also made this book special was that the author did the same cruise! She has seen the wonders of the continent, so she spoke from first hand experience.

I was excited to try this story as it has everything that I usually love in stories: isolation/forced proximity, wintery setting, and a mystery the main character has to figure out to survive. Unfortunately, the main characters didn't draw me in, and I didn't care all that much about them. Perhaps this is harsh, but it didn't grab me, so I will not be finishing this one. DNF'd around the 5% mark.

Olivia is prepared for the trip of a lifetime, to tour Antarctica with her boyfriend, Aaron. His is there as the representative of an artist whose work is being auctioned to an elite group of travelers. Everything has to go well! When Aaron doesn't make it back on the boat before it leaves, Olivia realizes she has to do this on her own. When people start to die and someone tries to strangle her, she begins to wonder if someone is after her and why.

This is a great psychological thriller set in the amazing backdrop of Antarctica. I personally would love to go, without the killer on the loose though! This kept me on the edge of my seat and I had no idea who the real killer was until the end.

I am a huge “Antarctica fan” and will read anything I can get my hands on about it whether that be fact or fiction.

This novel was very much a typical thriller, but with the added bonus of Antarctic ambiance. It’s well-written and the story moves quickly, and there enough subplots, threads, and suspects to not make the ending obvious from the start. Experienced thriller-readers, however, will likely guess the ending before getting there.

What really shines in this novel is Antarctica. I really loved the descriptions of the continent, the info on traveling there, and getting to feel as though I WAS there in the cold with the penguins and glaciers.

Most thrillers end up as 3 stars with me, which is basically “enjoyed it, no issues, but not really re-readable.” This one gets 4 stars for being well-plotted and allowing me to enjoy a continent I will likely never get to visit myself, all while getting a pretty decent mystery along with it!