Be bothered…this is the mantra that our main character has taken to heart. Be bothered to check your equipment. Be bothered to take note of your surroundings. This mantra could well save her life.
Cecily Wong is known in the press as the Snowdon hero. The woman who stayed with a climber who fell, who guided emergency services to the site. But sometimes what happens on the mountains isn’t clear-cut and Cecily knows that better than anyone.
When Cecily is promised an exclusive interview with mountaineer Charles McVeigh it’s on the understanding that she makes the summit of one of the world’s highest mountains-his final climb in his quest to climb the fourteen highest mountains without oxygen or fixed lines.
To anyone with climbing experience this man would seem pretty incredible. To anyone without climbing experience you might think this man is slightly mad. Is either response justified?
Cecily is determined to overcome her own fears in order to get this interview. Once on the mountain she is struck by some unusual circumstances and is convinced someone might be out to cause harm.
This is a thriller that you cannot fail to get caught up in. Twists and turns aplenty, some breathtaking mountain descriptions and some utterly terrifying scenarios that had me desperate to see how things would resolve. The talk of the thriller of 2022 might well be justified, and I’m so grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this early.

Amy McCulloch’s debut adult thriller is absolutely worthy of the hype that surrounds it. I was transported to Mt Manaslu and experienced every chill, horror and moment of beauty along with journalist Cecily on her bid for the summit. I loved how McCulloch encapsulates the thrill and fascination that encompasses what it is truly like to climb to the summit of one of the highest mountains in the world. It is fast-paced and gripping which leaves you finding it incredibly difficult to put it down! What a triumph.

Breathless is a tense, chilling thriller about one woman's quest to reach the summit of a treacherous mountain - but there's a murderer amongst the climbers. As journalist Cecily Wong faces her own personal fears in order to secure a career-changing interview with a renowned explorer, a lack of oxygen plays havoc with her mind and when suspicious events occur, Cecily is left wondering if it's paranoia or something worse putting her life in danger.

Being a experienced mountain climber herself. Amy McCulloch weaves her expert knowledge into this page-turning thriller, making the cold and the peril a claustrophobic and visceral experience, even for a reader who has never even set foot on a mountain! As the situation becomes more desperate for Cecily, where the terror is both human and environmental, McCulloch's vivid scene setting puts you right there beside Cecily, clinging to the edge.

Breathless by Amy McCulloch was such a good read. The atmosphere from where the book is taking place was interesting to read and the book always kept you engaged with everything going on. The characters were interesting in their own ways which I liked. Overall I really liked this book, it always kept me wanting to find out what is going on and I would recommend this book, very excellent book!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book

Excellent story keeping you gripped in. You are both hooked on the adventure of the mountain climb plus what else is going on in the background.

Breathless is definitely the work of an author who knows about mountains and climbing them. The descriptions of setting were evocative and lend very well to the tension. I certainly learned a lot about mountaineering from reading this novel.

I liked the premise of there being a killer on a mountain, knowing evidence is hard to come by - the perfect kills. In part, that was one of my issues with the plot. The ending doesn't feel feasible. I won't give spoilers. It just felt too convenient and, to me, has too many holes. I don't think this evidence alone is enough to convict a person for the one murder it points to, let alone a series of them.

There were lots of characters which sometimes made it hard to keep up with who was who, but I could see how there had to be teams of people. The main character, Cecily, felt a little flat to me. I understood her motivations but I didn't feel I knew her well enough to keep rooting for her.

The setting is what makes this a good book. The author has a talent for making the mountain come to the reader.

It was an interesting concept: mountaineering and very atmospheric but found the characters let it down for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

Interesting and unusual.
I found the start of this book full of technical detail about mountaineering. As I progressed through the story the action took over and it became more gripping. I have no way of knowing how accurate the technical descriptions are but I was slightly surprised by the change in the main character, who changed from the least experienced to the survivor who saved others!
In spite of this I enjoyed a fast exciting read.

I half-expected not to enjoy this book too much, simply because I have no interest in mountaineering, but I really enjoyed it. So well written that I felt as if I was there. Such vivid and dramatic descriptions of the ice and snow, and how Cecily was feeling at any given time. Absolutely wonderful. What let it down for me was the plot. Intriguing, different and gripping to start with, but as the story unfolded I thought it became far too unbelievable to the point of being silly, especially the ending which I found very disappointing. So, a definite 5 for the way it was written, and a sad 2 for the plot.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read the novel in return for an honest review.

An excellent read that held my interest throughout. Well written with good characters, a bit different to my usual type of book but a very good read which I can thoroughly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Books (Michael Joseph) for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Cecily Wong is a journalist who is invited to climb Mt Manaslu in Nepal, the world's eighth highest mountain, as part of a small expedition. She's hoping to revive her struggling career by snagging an exclusive interview with mountain climber Charles, who plans to make his name by going for 'Fourteen Clear' - climbing the world's fourteen mountains that are over eight thousand feet 'alpine-style', without fixed lines to aid his ascent. However, before the expedition even starts up the mountain, a man is found dead, and as they continue onwards, Cecily becomes increasingly uneasy. Is there a murderer in their midst?

Amy McCulloch is an experienced climber herself, and the depth of her knowledge is evident in Breathless. I loved the details about mountaineering and the realistic depictions of the weather conditions. I always seek out thrillers set in the ice and snow, so this delivered in that respect. Unfortunately, Breathless didn't really convince me as a novel otherwise. I find it's essential in this kind of thriller to have a protagonist who you feel you can trust to act as sensibly and rationally as possible, and I never quite bought into Cecily - she seemed much too focused on getting her interview even after her life was clearly under threat. The reveal of the villain at the end also felt rather cartoonish and silly - not to mention the fact that their identity was obvious from the start. Great setting, but fell down on plot and character.

I will post this review to Goodreads and to my blog nearer the publication date.

One of the most addictive novels I've read so far this year, Amy McCulloch's Breathless is a rollercoaster ride of a read, a chilly thriller written descriptively and with a flair for scene setting that really digs into the readers consciousness.

A summit attempt, chasing an interview with the world's most famous mountain man, a killer lurking in the icy darkness plus a hugely engaging main protagonist and a truly unpredictable plot makes Breathless a must read for anyone chasing psychological thrills and spills in their reading.

Excellent writing, never losing sight of character in the pursuit of the twist, a real feel for the dangerous beauty of these peaks climbers chase and a classic murder mystery makes for a fantastic read from first page to last.

Should be a massive hit in 2022. Highly Recommended.

#Breathless #NetGalley
Haunting thriller of 2022.
Cecily Wong is invited to join an expedition to climb one of the world's tallest mountains, it seems like the chance of a lifetime. She doesn't realise how deadly the climb will be. As their small team starts to climb, things start to go wrong. There's a theft. Then an accident. Then a mysterious note, pinned to her tent: there's a murderer on the mountain. The higher they get, the more dangerous the climb becomes, and the more they need to trust one another.
And that's when Cecily finds the first body.
Fans of One by One and Shiver will definitely be going to love it just I loved it.
I was expecting it to be like that but it's more more haunting than those thrillers.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me an advance copy.