An absolutely brilliant taut thriller that had me on the edge of my seat all the way through with the added bonus of the frigid setting of Antarctica. What more could you want? A must read. Highly recommended.

A lot of people say this is an “edge of your seat thriller” but I'm not sure about that. The thrills dissipate as the main character weeds through who-done-it at a mind numbingly slow crawl. Her inner voice is constantly self-doubting, bordering on neurotic. She has the same conversations about who may have done it over and over, let alone whether there really is an “it.”

But there is real character development which kind of saves this one for me. Things also really heat up around 3/4 of the way in. So I might recommend this one, but only if you can stick it out for the first 300 pages.

Very atmospheric, closed circle whodunnit mystery which was a lot of fun to read. I especially love mysteries when the weather is creepy as well. It's character-driven as there are 12 people and one is the murderer. Gripping and well written!

I received this book from the publishers via Netgalley for a review. An atmospheric thriller well paced with well rounded characters. A read in one sitting.

Thank you to Author, Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 rounded to 3

What I loved about this book is the setting. It is a locked-room mystery set in Antarctica. The claustrophobic atmosphere and isolation were beautifully captured. I loved reading about how research stations function in those conditions.

The plot had potential! It started off slow but picked up the pace in the second half. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. Kate, the main protagonist was annoying and irritating. I couldn't stand reading about her. I might have loved this book more without Kate. There is only so much I can read about the lead character popping pills and taking all the wrong decisions.

OMG talk about creepy vibes! I absolutely adored the claustrophobic, trapped feeling that just seeped out of the pages of The Dark. This thriller is set in remote Antarctica where members of the research team are dropped off and there's no way out of there for the 6 months of deep winter. With 24 hours of darkness gradually approaching the tensions within the team start to build. Kate is an A&E Doctor who has been given the job as the on-site Doctor to care for the staff and to do regular monitoring of their health. She hasn't worked anywhere like Antarctica and is both nervous and excited for what lies ahead in this daunting environment. What makes matters worse is that Kate discovers the previous crew Doctor that she is replacing died in what some say is an accident but some say was murder! And as she goes snooping and uncovers things about each of the crew members things begin to look more and more suspicious. Now, Kate isn't miss perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Right from the start we know that she comes with issues and as the story progresses she becomes more and more of an unreliable narrator, which I really liked. Having a main character with flaws just made the whole thing more believable and realistic. In fact, every member of the crew had flaws which meant that I suspected each one of them of being a murderer at some point.
I had super high hopes for this book and was not disappointed in the slightest! I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

Really enjoyed this book
Liked the different setting
It is a very easy read which you quickly get into then find you, cant put it down to
plenty of twists and turns out
Which keep you guessing to the very end

Did I guess correctly - no I did not

Thank you netgalley, Emma Haughton and Hodder and Stoughton

I think I have a bit of a penchant for thrillers set in a very cold, harsh, isolated places and of course, there are very few places as cold, harsh, isolated as Antarctica. So, I was delighted when I was accepted for this chilling read.

Kate is the replacement doctor at a UN research station in Antarctica. Her predecessor died in tragic circumstances but Kate is eager to throw herself into her new job. She is running from a recent trauma in her personal life and out here in the remotest part of the world, no one is checking on her. As she settles into life at the research station and gets to know the eclectic group of people she is with, Kate begins to suspect that perhaps the previous doctor’s death wasn’t an accident at all.

Emma Haughton does an amazing job at depicting the sheer emptiness and silence of Antarctica. The landscape features in the book a lot and by the time I finished it, I felt like I’d been there. Although I read it in August, the cold began to seep into me and I wanted to pull a blanket over my shoulders. The isolation makes it the ideal environment for a gritty, pulse-racing murder spree and from the very beginning, I knew the members of the team were going to be slowly picked off.

Kate has a lot of problems but she seems to have taken them all on as her personal pitfalls. She genuinely doesn’t believe that she deserves to have good things and this is why she seems to behave quite recklessly. Her self-esteem is at rock bottom but she is still an attractive, smart and successful doctor. I wanted her to eventually see that she was worth so much more than she thought she was but I was under no illusion that she’d find it amongst her research teammates, many of whom were quite hostile towards her.

Kate’s addiction to presciption drugs makes her a pretty unreliable narrator. Thrillers that are told through the eyes of someone who isn’t completely compus mentis are always a crazy ride because you don’t really know whether what you’re seeing is the truth. This was very much the impression that I had throughout the book. I had some suspicions about who was behind the killings but like Kate, things weren’t adding up. I was almost in the same mind fog that she was and that’s pretty clever writing.

The Dark is a heart-racing thriller that keeps you guessing right until the end. There are very few warm, likeable characters, so it’s very easy to suspect pretty much everyone. The setting is both claustrophobic and wide open, which lends itself perfectly to breathtaking cinematic visuals and a haunting, relentless chill winds its way through every single page.

I found this book to be very enjoyable. It was very different, both from the locations described and the personnel stationed in the sub-zero temperatures of the Antarctic.
This was definitely one of those "I can't wait to get back to reading it books"
Wonderful stuff.

Wow! This book really could have gone either way, either falling into predictable stories that have been written a million times or something a bit different that really does capture your attention and this definitely falls into the 2nd category. The location itsself makes it a completely unique story but its also really well written and keeps you engaged and interested all the way through. The pace never let's up and it really gets under your skin until you've got it all worked out. Def recommended, especially for a dark winters night

ONE DEAD BODY. TWELVE SUSPECTS. TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR DARKNESS.

Dr. Kate North is looking to escape after a personal tragedy which absolutely turned her life upside down. She jumps at the chance to apply for the position of the emergency replacement doctor at the UN research station in Antarctica. Kate thinks that moving as far away as possible from home and plunging herself into a job set on one of the most remote parts of the planet will help her to forget about everything else. The former doctor, Jean-Luc, dies in tragic circumstances and as Kate settles in, she comes to realise that all is not well on the station. When the darkness descends, will she make it out alive?

The dark, claustrophobic world of Antarctica in the middle of the freezing winter is one of the best settings for an equally dark thriller. Haughton has created a modern-day ‘whodunnit’ mystery with a small number of protagonists stuck in close quarters with no access to the outside world. Each of the deeply unsettling characters in this book have their own personal demons, including the doctor and I love how Haughton brings them to life on the pages. It is up to Dr. North to figure out who is responsible for the events in the station and to try to survive not only the threat of the environment she finds herself in, but also the even more immediate threat from one of the crew in the station.

My anxiety levels were at an all-time high reading this book. I am not a fan of the dark so to put yourself in the characters’ shoes and to think what it must be like to not only have to survive there, but to have to deal with the added threats of attack and ‘accidents’, is beautifully portrayed by Haughton. I like the way in which Dr. North is brought to life as a woman who has her own secrets and issues whilst also acting as the station’s very own self-appointed Miss Marple figure, trying to put the pieces together to work out who is the threat.

The Dark is a gripping read and I didn’t want to put it down. Loved the concept and loved this book! It made me think of John Carpenter’s movie The Thing (but without the alien!) and the television series Fortitude in terms of the portrayal of the dark atmosphere, tension and feeling of claustrophobia of being stuck in a small place with others. If you like The Hunting Party or The Sanatorium, The Dark needs to be added to your tbr list!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Dark is out now in all good bookshops!

I have a little confession to make. Although I have some of Emma’s books on my ever expanding ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually got around to reading one…..until now that is. I read the synopsis for ‘The Dark’ and it certainly sounded intriguing. So without further ado, I settled down to read ‘The Dark’. I really enjoyed reading ‘The Dark’ but more about that in a bit.
It took me a little while to get into ‘The Dark’ because I was tired and finding it hard to concentrate when I started reading. However, once I got into the book that was it and I was away. I found that reading ‘The Dark’ became addictive. I would become so wrapped up in the story that I would lose all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the book. Rather than read this in one long reading binge, I read it over the space of a few days- in effect treating it a bit like watching a television series. I soon got to the end of the book. I found ‘The Dark’ to be a gripping and atmospheric read, which certainly kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.
‘The Dark’ is well written. Emma certainly has the knack of grabbing the reader’s attention and drawing them into what proves to be a compelling read. For me the story hits the ground running and maintains a fairly gently pace. That said, the pace of the story suited the plot in that it allowed tension to gradually build before leading to a tense and dramatic conclusion. I loved the very vivid and realistic way in which Emma described where the story is set and the fact that it is a rather bleak sounding place. I got a real sense of the claustrophobia that living in such conditions must create. I felt as though I was part of the story myself and at the heart of the action. In fact I felt myself going through the emotions that the characters went through.
In short, I did enjoy reading ‘The Dark’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Emma’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

I found this book to be incredibly gripping. I've read it at the most unlikely location: summery Samos (a Greek Island), but I could still envision myself in Antarctica together with the scientists.

Kate is a replacement doctor and she is shipped in to Antarctica to spend the winter there as a doctor has passed away due to a fall on the ice. An accident.

Or is it?

As the members of the party die in weird events, Kate is becoming more and more convinced someone in the cut off location is responsible. But who can she trust?

I don't usually like books with protagonists who take drugs and are second guessing everything. Luckily it wasn't too heavy in this novel. Kate had been through a traumatic event. She was in a car crash which has scarred her for life both physically and mentally. Her fiance passed away in the crash. The drugs are pain medication.

It's an interesting enough whodunit in a great location. I've rated this book 3.5 stars for that reason

Really enjoyed this locked room thriller. I loved the setting, a research station in Antarctica, and really got a sense of the isolation and claustrophobia that comes from the vast and unforgiving landscape. The author does a good job of creating tension and paranoia, through the disorientating twenty-four hour darkness as well as the unreliable narrator. I was gripped and would certainly recommend to others.

This début thriller by Emma Haughton is set in the vast, hostile, desolate landscape of the Antarctic. Dr Kate North suffers a personal tragedy, so when she is offered the chance of becoming a relief medic on an Antarctic research station looking after a 12 member team, she jumps at the chance, becoming the 13th team member. Pill-popping, troubled Kate is replacing Jean-Luc, who met with an accident in an icy ravine, but was it really happenstance?

The Dark is rife with suspicion, hostility, and paranoia and tensions run wild at the station. Kate believes the group is in the midst of a killer so she embarks on a dangerous, chilling and twisted investigation, at the same time as the reader learns about her past. This locked room style mystery is abundant in atmospheric descriptions of the frozen Antarctic locale. The characters were a motley bunch and overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this claustrophobic, dark, engaging and immensely alarming read. Don't overlook The Dark as you'll be missing a treat.

I read The Dark in staves with other Pigeonholers as part of a group. A special thank you to Hodder & Stoughton, Emma Haughton, NetGalley and The Pigeonhole for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.

The Dark by Emma Haughton was a WoW of a roller coaster psychological thriller I agree its an electrifying debut thriller of 2021 that had me hooked. An A & E Doctor Kate North has been knocked out of orbit by a personal tragedy. Kate is offered the chance to be an emergency replacement at the Antarctic at a research centre, This is her chance to get on with her life.......However, the previous Doctor Jean-Luc has died in an accident on the ice.

Once Kate is there all alone there and in darkness and she begins to suspect that Doctor Jean-Luc's death wasn't accidental at all.

WoW......Wow........what a book! I loved it!! and I was on the edge of my seat many times whilst reading this book!

I highly recommend this book!

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder and Staughton the publisher for an advance copy.

A&E doctor Kate North thought that accepting the position of doctor in a research station in the Antarctica would mean a fresh start, a way to forget about her problems and the past few months of her life. However, imagine finding yourself in one of the coldest places on the planet, living together with a group of strangers, a place where your daily and familiar comforts are missing, with little communications to the outside world, and, when winter comes, complete darkness 24/7. It’s certainly not an easy living situation. Tempers run high, paranoia starts spreading, trust is tested, and Kate starts to suspect that the death of the former doctor of the base was not an accident.

The story is told from Kate North’s perspective. This character feels realistic and she is also flawed and unreliable. She took the job to leave her old life behind and try to forget the tragic accident that changed her life. However, she can’t control her addiction to painkillers and she can’t shake the feeling that something suspicious is going on at the base. Is there really a killer on the loose at the base? Who can she trust?

I think that the author made a clever and original choice choosing Antarctica as the setting for this gripping and engrossing thriller. Antarctica is a dangerous and unforgiving place, the constant darkness, cold, and isolation can affect even the strongest minds.

The Dark is intense and suspenseful and very well-written. The darkness surrounding the base, the sense of dread and suspicion that increased as I turned each page gave me the chills despite the heat wave. A must-read thriller!!!

Dr Kate North has had a rough few months so the chance to be the doctor on an Antarctic base over their winter seems to be the ideal thing to reset her life. However as soon as she arrives she senses that things are not all they seem. The base commander does little to make her welcome & the discovery that her predecessor died out on the ice does not help her to settle in. She soon discovers that maybe this isn't the place for a person with a fear of the dark & a reliance on prescription drugs! However trying to find out more about her predecessor keeps her occupied, until her 'stash' disappears, people start dying & the lights go out!

I didn't find Kate particularly likeable or sensible! However the claustrophobic atmosphere & the question of 'whodunnit' kept me reading! I'm not great at guessing the culprit & when my suspects keep dying... Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book

‘White. Endless, featureless, mind-numbing white. A white so bright it hurts your eyes, at once beautiful and dreadful. I’ve arrived, finally, at the end of the earth – or rather its southernmost tip.’

My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Dark’ by Emma Haughton in exchange for an honest review.

The dark of the title refers to the months of total darkness during the long Antarctic winter.

British A&E doctor Kate North needs a change in her life following a personal tragedy. When Kate hears that the UN research station in Antarctica (UNA) is seeking an emergency replacement doctor, she applies and is appointed to a one-year contract. The previous doctor, Jean-Luc, had died in a tragic accident while out on the ice.

Kate starts to uncover clues that there might have been more to Jean-Luc’s accident. She starts asking questions and with this being a mystery, it’s clear that these enquiries are not welcome.

‘The Dark’ is in many ways a classic country house mystery, except it’s set on an isolated Antarctic base. There are plenty of suspects in the twelve other members of the winter team: a bit like ‘Then There We’re None’ on ice.

Kate certainly took more baggage to the station than her luggage! She was a mess. It might have seemed an ideal solution to escape her problems by going far, far away where no one knows about her past but that rarely works out. She was her own worse enemy.

Not disclosing to the UNA that she has a long-standing fear of the dark (among other things) was short-sighted. Given her other problems, their screening process clearly was a bit lax. Kate was the novel’s narrator though I found her quite an unsympathetic protagonist for most of the novel. Also, we only know the other team members through her perceptions.

In terms of pacing, Emma Haughton takes her time in establishing the setting including the daily routines of the team members as winter closes in. In this respect the novel is quite a slow burn until things start kicking off in the second half. Obviously, I don’t want to head into spoiler territory but wanted to make it clear that there is eventually plenty of action.

There’s no doubt that Emma Haughton effectively captured the claustrophobic atmosphere of the base. I did find it amusing that a midwinter base tradition was to watch John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’. A bit of dark humour there.

Overall, it was a good mystery despite Kate’s failings. The Antarctic setting saved it for me. I was glad that I read it during the summer as all those descriptions of ice and snow cooled me down.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was so good. Gripping, dark, intense and isolated - all the things I wanted from this book!

Synopsis:
A&E doctor Kate North has been knocked out of her orbit by a personal tragedy. So when she's offered the opportunity to be an emergency replacement at the UN research station in Antarctica, she jumps at the chance. The previous doctor, Jean-Luc, died in a tragic accident while out on the ice.

The move seems an ideal solution for Kate: no one knows about her past; no one is checking up on her. But as total darkness descends for the winter, she begins to suspect that Jean-Luc's death wasn't accidental at all.

Review:
I loved learning about the cast of characters and seeing the slow progression into the tension, coinciding with the slip into the winter months (and with that non-stop darkness).
Not knowing who to trust had me gritting my teeth through some of the character interactions!

Worth a read if you love isolated mysteries.