I have loved every single book I have read by the amazingly talented C.J. Cooke, and A Haunting in the Arctic is definitely this author at her best. We have 2 different viewpoints in this story, Nicky on a whaling ship called the Ormen in 1901, and Dominique an explorer in 2023 who has set out to see the wreck of the Orman before it is destroyed on a coast in Iceland. This book gives new meaning to the word trauma, and it is not for the faint of heart. Nicky's story is brutal and heartbreaking, and her entire POV was incredibly tough to read, while Dominique's POV is indescribably creepy as well as the most mysterious of the two storylines.

The audiobook is narrated by Lucy Goldie, and I am still uncertain about how I feel about it. On one hand, she was the perfect narrator with her thick Scottish brogue (Nicky is from Scotland), but on the other, this made her extremely hard to understand at times and even slowing the audiobook down didn't completely help me. Unless you are good with accents, I think reading might be the way to go here though I do not regret my time with the audio.

Revenge is a large part of A Haunting in the Arctic, and at times it gave me Into the Drowning Deep vibes. The climax completely shocked me, and I was NOT expecting how these two characters would become connected. I thought the way the book ended was completely beautiful after so much pain, and if you enjoy horror, gothic stories, and books that will make you think, this is definitely worth picking up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC. I didn't love this book. I wanted to but as the story continued and I began to predict the ending, I knew the resolution wasn't going to be to my taste. It really wasn't. I wasn't the target audience here and that's okay. Great atmosphere, though! Three stars.

A Haunting in the Arctic tells the story of a twice destroyed wreck, two women and their time aboard the Ormen, and the ghost town it has claimed. This is a hauntingly beautiful tragedy told in three points, across multiple POV's and two main timelines. Nicky and Dominique are both victims of circumstances beyond their control, and I loved how Cooke managed write such a compelling and heart-rending story. I will say, while I figured out the ending, it was still a little unclear as to actually HOW things played out how they did. Still, a good haunting story that will stay with you long after you close its pages.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

My timing was off with this one – I thought my blog tour day was later than it was. BUT I’m almost done and my initial thoughts are that this is MUCH darker than I originally anticipated it being. That’s definitely not a bad thing, if anything I’m liking it more because of it. It’s atmospheric and almost claustrophobic because of the setting and the weather. It’s really immersive and I’m anxious to see how it ends. I’ve seen mixed reviews on the ending so far, so I’m curious where I’ll land!

Wow, this book is creepy and haunting, like the title implies 🫣 Within a few chapters, I was like, “Yup, this is going to be a good one.” The story was gripping, and I could not put it down.

The female rage in this one is so good, and you can’t help but feel angry for our FMC, Nicky. I did not see the plot twist coming and thought it was so well done!

It is atmospheric, gruesome, and has paranormal elements. I enjoyed the past and present timelines and multiple POVs.

Thanks so much @berkleypub & @netgalley for the eArc & thank you so much @prhaudio for the ALC.

This is a story about one hundred years of ghosting.

I struggled with this one for the first 30%- it just felt hard to get into! Then, it suddenly hooked me by getting very creepy. I would say if you don’t enjoy historical fiction (I do not!) this book may still work for you, because the dual timeline is done in a way that moves the story along quickly.

Few books have left me as disturbed and creeped out as A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke. This novel delves into the depths of psychological terror and trauma, weaving a narrative that is both addictive and profoundly unsettling.

The story is told in two timelines, first opening in Dundee, Scotland in 1901 with Nicky, a young woman whose father owns the whaling ship Ormen. Times have been hard for her–following a devastating loss, her husband has gone off to war, leaving her alone. After receiving some unnerving news about her father’s business, Nicky heads to the park and is suddenly attacked and abducted. When she wakes, she finds herself inexplicably aboard the Ormen, beginning its months-long voyage to Icelandic waters. As the ship carries her further away from home, Nicky realizes with horror what the crew intends for her.

Meanwhile, the second timeline unfolds in the present day. The wreck of a whaling ship, determined to be the Ormen, has washed ashore in the arctic. A young explorer named Dominique is determined to make her way to the site to document the wreck and find out what happened to it in its last days before it is scheduled to be destroyed. Initially traveling alone, her plans hit a snag when she encounters a trio of adventurers heading to Iceland to do exactly the same thing. Ultimately deciding to team up, the group makes it to the shipwreck only to find themselves stalked by an eerie presence on the ice while trapped in a storm.

Before I proceed with my review, it must first be noted that A Haunting in the Arctic is not for the faint of heart. It is one of the darkest books I’ve read in a while, unapologetic in its portrayal of human suffering. There are sensitive and distressing themes aplenty, most of them dealing with sexual assault and violence. Although these are woven into the very bones of the novel, integral to its premise and progression, the detailed depiction of such scenes may prove distressing to some. Therefore, reader discretion is strongly advised.

That said, this is my third book by C.J. Cooke, and it might be my favorite yet. The author’s strength has always been her remarkable talent for crafting immersive atmospheres, which she displayed even in her earlier novels, The Nesting and The Lighthouse Witches. In A Haunting in the Arctic, Cooke’s prose again brings the setting to life, evoking a palpable sense of isolation and dread.

For all its bleakness though, the novel also contains moments of deep and powerful emotion, exploring themes of loss and resilience. Nicky and Dominique emerge as intricately written characters, both living through their own private hells, yet the subtle connections between them, spanning across time, won’t be fully revealed until much later at the end. The mystery kept the tensions high and added an additional layer of intrigue, keeping me hooked as answers were gradually revealed.

Again, A Haunting in the Arctic was not an easy book to read, nor would it be suitable for all readers. However, I do believe horror fans brave enough to venture into its icy depths will find a haunting narrative that offers gut-wrenching and chilling resonance.

The wreck of an old whaling ship washes up on the Icelandic coast. The Ormen was lost in 1901 and the fate of its crew was never known. There are plans to destroy the wreck, so an urban explorer heads to the coast to explore the Ormen before it's too late.

Dominique is going to film her exploration of the long lost ship so she can share the videos on social media. She plans a solo expedition, but meets up with 3 other people, also intent upon seeing the wreck.

This story switches back and forth between the ship in 1901 and Dominique's investigation.There's a lot of darkness to take in....and at times I had to put the book down and walk off for awhile. Abuse, murder, sexual assault, and brutality -- it's all there. The story is dark, cold, and haunting, but it kept my attention from start to finish.

I'm not going to elaborate on the plot to avoid spoilers. But -- this story does involve violence, sexual assault and murder. If those plot points are triggers, I'd pass on this one. It's a dark suspenseful tale for those who choose to read.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

In A Haunting in the Artic, C. J. Cooke has presented a dark and haunting story that will chill you to the bones as you read. Both Nicky and Dominique are incredibly compelling, their narratives rich and complex, with voices that will resonate with readers. I love how C.J. Cooke creates such a complex, suspenseful narrative that slowly peels apart the layers of each timeline as well as the characters. The mystery and suspense will keep you guessing until the very end.

I think one of the reasons the story is so dark and haunting is that C.J. Cooke doesn’t flinch from the terrible events Nicky experiences, the reality of her time. What makes it even more complex is that nothing is what she expects, not even the reason for her being on board the Ormen. With Dominique, what is intriguing is her background, the mysteries that surround her and those who join her on the ship. Those mysteries are well developed and masterfully crafted. 

If you like dark and suspenseful horror, then this chilling novel is right for you. If you’ve read anything else by C.J. Cooke, you will want to read this masterful story. The characters and narrative are dark and haunting. I loved every minute as I delved into the complex novel.

The nitty-gritty: Harrowing and addictive, A Haunting in the Arctic is a frozen, Gothic treat for horror lovers who appreciate a well told tale.

C.J. Cooke has just catapulted onto my favorite authors list, and I will be making every effort to read her backlist as soon as I can. A Haunting in the Arctic is a masterfully written and plotted story, full of emotion, heartache, terrible circumstances, revenge and terror, and if those descriptors don’t catch your attention, this might not be the right book for you. Word of warning, parts of the story take place in 1901 on a whaling ship, and Cooke captures the harsh life at sea perfectly, including scenes where whales are captured and gutted. In addition, be aware of triggers like rape, death of a child, cutting, and more, but also trust me when I say if you can get past those elements, you’re in for a top notch reading experience.

Cooke’s story revolves around a whaling ship called the Ormen and follows its history in three different time periods. In 1901 Scotland we meet Nicky Duthie, a young wife whose husband has gone off to war. Nicky’s father George Abney owns a whaling company, but times are tough and his business is about to go under, although his ship the Ormen is about to set sail on its last journey. Just before the ship leaves, Nicky is attacked near the docks and wakes up in a cramped cabin—on board the Ormen.

In the present day, 2023, the story shifts to an abandoned town in Iceland called Skúmaskot, where urban explorer Dominique has trekked in order to document the last days of the Ormen, which became a research vessel in the 1950s but was shipwrecked near Skúmaskot in 1973. What’s left of the ship tells a grim tale: Dominique finds bloodstains covering the floors of the cabins, and rumors say the ship is haunted. When she is unexpectedly joined by three other explorers, the four decide to team up to uncover the Ormen’s secrets and post their experiences live on Tik Tok.

Finally, through letters and other artifacts found on the shipwrecked Ormen, the author fills in some of the blanks about what happened to the research crew in 1973 and why there was only one body found aboard the ship when it ran aground at Skúmaskot. All three stories eventually converge as Nicky’s fate is revealed and how her experiences echo through the years and affect the present.

I don’t want to give away any more of the plot, because C.J. Cooke has plenty of shocking reveals that work better if the reader is surprised. This is a slow burn mystery that becomes more and more intense as you read. The story shifts back and forth from 1901 to 2023 with plenty of connecting threads to pull readers along. While both storylines are riveting, I loved following Nicky’s story the most, although her sections are often very hard to read. Imagine a lone woman aboard a ship of twenty rough whalers and let your imagination take you to some dark places, and you have an inkling of the trauma Nicky went through. This trauma is the catalyst for the rest of the story, as Nicky goes through a transformation of sorts, and here is where Cooke brings in her speculative elements. Tales of the selkie wife, a Nordic folktale, are woven throughout the story, and this mythical creature makes an appearance in each timeline. In 1973, there are accounts of men on the research ship being lured away by a mysterious, beautiful woman, and Dominique sees her as well in 2023. Cooke does an excellent job of describing a traumatic event that seems to be imprinted on the Ormen and continues to echo over the decades.

Dominique and her three “friends” are a puzzle from the very beginning. First of all, I thought it was strange that a woman would journey over frozen terrain by herself—on foot—just to explore a shipwreck. And when she’s joined by Jens, Samara and Leo, things get even weirder. The other three clearly know something that Dominique doesn’t know, and the reader is kept in the dark until nearly the end. Dominique keeps seeing a woman in strange clothing on the shore, but no one else can see her. The combination of the creepy, shipwrecked Ormen (where the four explorers have set up camp), the nearby abandoned town of Skúmaskot, and the freezing Icelandic setting make these scenes even more unsettling, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

I had no idea where the story was going, and I couldn’t imagine how Cooke was going to tie everything together, but she did so brilliantly. There are so many little details throughout that seem insignificant at the time, but often come into play later in the story. When the final shocking twist was revealed, I have to admit I didn’t see it coming—at all! The final scene was emotionally satisfying and the perfect ending to this story. A Haunting in the Arctic is one of my favorite books of the year so far, and it’s going to be hard to top.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

Synopsis: In 1901 in the northern Scottish isles, Nicky is attacked and wakes up aboard a whaling ship, The Ormen. Nicky is kept captive aboard the ship for nefarious reasons with no way to escape far out at sea. In present day, urban explorer Dominique feels compelled to travel to a remote corner of Iceland to document the shipwrecked Ormen before it is destroyed. Once aboard the ship, Dominique soon realizes she is not alone.

Thoughts: I want to start by saying - as someone who is not a horror reader, four stars is an amazing rating for me for a horror novel! This book was so well-written with a fantastically atmospheric setting and a meticulously paced and woven together storyline. The ominous tone and seriously spooky setting gives me chills just thinking about it. Cooke took the already creepy concept of a ghost ship wrecked off the coast of a deserted Icelandic whaling town and made it even creepier with her descriptions. Both storylines were compelling on their own, and the way they ended up tying together was mind blowing. I also enjoyed the way Norse folklore was included in this book. This was not an easy read, so please check out the trigger warnings before starting (feel free to reach out for more info!). If this one sounds at all interesting to you, even if it’s outside your comfort zone, I definitely recommend checking it out!

Read this if you like:
❄️ atmospheric setting
❄️ dual timelines
❄️ ghost stories
❄️ Scottish folklore (Selkies, mermaids)

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I've been on a horror kick lately, so when I saw this advertised, it looked like it was just up my alley. And it was, for the most part. The historical part was engaging and interesting (and heartbreaking), but the modern day stuff wasn't as creepy as I'd expected it to be. I also have issues with the ending and the big reveal. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. <spoiler>I liked the idea that Nicky was caught in an endless loop of revenge, but it didn't make sense of how she knew about all the technology things that she used as Dom - it wasn't explained really well. Like, <em>why</em> did she just keep respawning, and <em>why</em> did she only trap a few people in her vicious cycle instead of everyone who pissed her off, etc., etc. I don't think it was explained well enough to make sense.</spoiler>

Having read The Lighthouse Witches and loving it, I was excited to read A Haunting in the Arctic. Sadly, A Haunting didn’t meet my expectations. I did expect a slow paced novel. But A Haunting didn’t have the same impact as Lighthouse. A Haunting just wasn’t creepy enough. And the plot didn’t make much sense — was there possession involved?

The story unfolds through multiple points of view over multiple timelines. It got to be confusing at times as I kept wondering how the two different timelines and characters would connect. And in the end, I didn’t get how some of the characters were even included in the narrative. I’m still pondering the novel as there were so many unanswered questions.

There were quite a number of characters. And with so many characters, only a handful were fully developed. For the most part, all of the characters were so unlikeable. They were dark and somewhat sinister. It was fairly depressing to read about them.

With such a confusing story and a convoluted conclusion, I’m surprised that I managed to finish the novel. But that won’t stop me from attempting another go at Cooke’s other endeavors. Two stars.

I received a DRC from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

The Ormen, a whaling ship from 1901 later outfitted as a research vessel in the 1970's and has since been washed up on the shores of Skumaskot's lonely Icelandic shore. Now, the Ormen is scheduled to be destroyed, hauled out to sea and sunk. Dominique is determined to find the Ormen and document it's last days for social media while living on the vessel and researching it's history. However, Dominique is not alone; Samara, Jens and Leo are explorers who also want to look into the history of the Ormen. Reluctantly, Dom teams up with them. Samara and Leo dig into the Ormen's history as a whaling vessel while Dom and Jen's look into the research period. In 1901, the daughter of the Ormen's owner, Nicky Duthie is attacked and brought aboard the Ormen to serve as collateral and as folklore tells, a selkie wife. Nicky's outrage at the situation knows no bounds and what is happening to her aboard the Ormen is even stranger. In the 1970's Diego Almeyda found himself not in his right mind, cutting his feet in half. When the Ormen washed up on shore, Diego's remains were the only ones found on the Ormen. The rest of the research team has disappeared. With so much mystery and tragedy surrounding the Ormen, Dom soon finds that there may be something sinister aboard the Ormen, something looking for revenge.

A Haunting in the Arctic is an absolutely immersive, atmospheric, historic, gothic mystery. I was hooked from the very beginning with Diego's experience aboard the Ormen. From there, the story focuses on the points of view of Dom, Jens, Leo and Samara exploring the wreck in present day and Nicky's experience aboard the Ormen in 1901 with snippets of the research crew in the 1970's creating suspense not knowing if the events are linked. Nicky's story drew me in with the immense trauma she underwent and how she dealt with her everyday realities of her situation and how she managed her interactions with the crew. In the present, the team is focused on getting to know one another and their separate research challenges, but there is a deeper knowledge of the Ormen between Jens, Leo and Samara. As the team stays with the Ormen longer, strange occurrences happen, dreams, sounds, and sightings that connect to their research. A Haunting in the Arctic is a surprising and haunting tale weaving folklore with the power that trauma holds over us as well as the fact that revenge doesn't always solve our problems or help us forgive and move on.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

The premise to this novel sounded excellent and spooky, but the pacing felt off and the characters didn't feel like real people.

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

A Haunting in the Arctic is very much a horror story and as such it’s difficult to read at times. There’s violence of all sorts, death and suffering, bewilderment and loss. It’s very much a story of grief. If you are in search of a book to deeply unsettle you, this is it.

I know I have to DNF a book when I dread having to re-open it. This book should have been right up my alley, but I can't get past all the rape. It's not even graphic, there's just a hopelessness about it, which I suppose is a compliment to the author. But I just don't want to read any more of it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group and the author for my gifted physical copy and eARC to read and review!

Well now, that was intense!! I don’t want to oversimplify my little review blurby … but the best words I can think of right now is … that was one good story! I was glued to the pages from the very start! So many times throughout the book I had to stop a take a break because my heart was racing, my mouth was dry and I was feeling all the feels. The writing is so captivating … I felt like this book held me in it’s grasp the entire time! And the ending? Mind blown. Historical fiction meets gothic thriller equals all the stars for this one! Go read it now … but maybe not alone, at night. Just sayin’.

This book was fine.

What could’ve been better?
I wish there was better timeline switching, there could’ve been a lot more done with one of the past povs.

There needed to be more suspense.

The diverse characters were just thrown in and you could tell by how they were introduced.

I wanted to be more immersed.

What I liked?
It was fast paced.

The concept of this ship haunting and folklore that surrounded it was cool.

It had dual pov and two steady timelines going (though I think there should’ve been 3).

The ending and story idea was something I liked too.

Overall, I didn’t hate it and enjoyed some aspects of the book, but I think that there are other books in this genre that I would recommend more.

Review
If you missed the recent, rocketing surges of AI stocks such as Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices, you might be a bit late for the party. But not so Mark Greaney. Greaney’s 13th Gray Man novel, “The Chaos Agent” (Berkley) dropped just as things were heating up on Wall Street in late February with a thriller that couldn’t be more prescient.

With the premise of a tech company and its mastermind billionaire building on artificial intelligence platforms to create lethal autonomous weapons — complete with rocket-launching cyber watchdogs, humanoids and other artifices of destruction — the denouement was always going to be a HAL 9000-esque brain threatening to gain sentience.

Like the dozen Gray Man novels before — Court Gentry is the Gray Man, a covert freelance operative once trained by the CIA whose modus operandi falls somewhere between shades of white and black — Greaney handles all of this masterfully, moving us around the underworld with a … love interest (check) … best friend (check) … master nemesis (check) and … national arch enemy (check), in a cinematic scope that feels all too real.

The author is known for getting the details just right — guns in hand are real-world guns, boots on the ground are real-world boots — so the wonder isn’t that the novel brings us to today’s near-precipice of man versus machine — but how quickly we’re actually getting there.

Roundup
Other new titles worth your time (and dollars) this month seem to adhere to a theme (and you won’t need ChatGPT to help figure out what it is).

“Almost Surely Dead” (Mindy’s Book Studio) by Amina Akhtar is part stalker, part ghost story and all psychological thriller. Akhtar is the author of the best-selling novel “Kismet,” and here offers a story about an extraordinary life that turns into a true crime podcast.

“The Lady in Glass and Other Stories” (Ace) by Anne Bishop collects shorter works set in the author’s most cherished, fantastical worlds, transporting us over a 25-year career of dark fantasy.

“A Haunting in the Arctic” (Berkley paperback) by C.J. Cooke is a dual timeline story with the main thread taking place after an early 20th century, haunting attack aboard the whaling ship Ormen. The wreck washes up a century later on the remote coast of Iceland, bringing to the present a dark past of cruelty and murder.



“Ghost Island” (Berkley) is Max Seeck’s fourth book in Ghosts of the Past, a series that has been building suspense and thrills since the author’s 2020 U.S. debut, “The Witch Hunter.” An atmospheric mystery, the novel is a driving Nordic procedural from the first Finnish author in seven decades to make the New York Times bestseller list.

Reveal
Some the titles I’ll be working on for next in "Review, roundup, reveal and rewind," with the books' scheduled publication dates, include:

“Hello, Alabama”(Arcadia) by Martha Day Zschock, March 4.

“The Unquiet Bones” (Montlake) by Loreth Anne White, March 5.

“I am Rome: A novel of Julius Caesar” (Ballantine Books) by Santiago Posteguillo, March 5.

“Murder Road” (Berkley) by Simone St. James, March 5.



“The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry” (Holiday House) by Anna Rose Johnson, March 5.

“The #1 Lawyer” (Little, Brown and Company) by James Patterson and Nancy Allen, March 18.

“Lilith” (Blackstone) by Eric Rickstad, March 19.

And, watch for a couple of interviews that are also scheduled for March, including “After Annie” (Random House) by Anna Quindlen and “Crocodile Tears Didn’t Cause the Flood” (Montag Press) by Bradley Sides.

Rewind
Finally, in case you missed a few notable titles from earlier in the year:

“Unbound” (Blackstone) by Christy Healy is a tale of betrayal and unrequited romance, with the author bringing Celtic myths into a gender-bent reimagining of “Beauty and the Beast.”



“The Devil’s Daughter” (Blackstone) by Gordon Greisman is solid PI noir and gets a screenwriter’s touch — the author earned an Emmy Award nomination for his NBC mini-series “The Drug Wars: In the Belly of the Beast." Tempering period characters (Thelonious Monk, Marlon Brando) with private investigator Jack Coffey’s search for the daughter of an uptown financier presents a dark story about redemption.

“Masters of the Air” (Blackstone) by Donald Miller isn’t a new book, but it gets a new audio treatment with the addition of narration by veteran raconteur Joe Barrett. Not just for the World War II aficionado, you can find a visual complement to the story with a recently launched Apple TV+ series by the same name.