Another tense thriller, this time set in the beautiful yet deadly Antarctic.
Our main character, Olivia, has been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join an Antarctica cruise as she is tasked with supporting a brave new venture to sell exclusive artworks. Unfortunately, her boyfriend (the key organiser) gets called away at the last minute and with veiled talk of threats the cruise ship does not seem a safe place.
The classic locked-room mystery, with a finite number of suspects and a chillingly hostile environment. From the outset we sense the stifling atmosphere and McCulloch creates a suitably oppressive tone. Olivia’s nerves are understandably fraught and, like her, we sense danger in all manner of places.
There are hints as to the identity of the source of the danger, but there’s a pleasing number of potential suspects. We have a growing occurrence of incidents that contribute to the sense of unease and we build to a tense and dramatic finale.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this prior to publication.

I love a thriller, even better if it is set on a ship. This book is a roller coaster ride from the first chapter and the action doesn’t stop until the last. Plenty of suspects which will keep you guessing. Great book!

Having already read Breathless I knew that Any McCullough is masterful at scene setting due to her thorough research. I had high hopes of this for Midnight and it did not disappoint. I absolutely relished the Antarctic setting, especially upon a cruise boat - although it is a rather different type of cruise ship.
I enjoyed the plot, although I believe this was because of the excellent setting, which was very novel and fascinating. Spoiler alert - McCullough admits in the acknowledgements that she had taken an Antarctic cruise / expedition, hence the excellent depictions. Some aspects of the denouement I did suspect quite early on but not all.
If Antarctic expeditions, the Art World and thrillers are your bag, then this is the book for you!

The second novel I have read by the author. I enjoyed Breathless but with Midnight I could not engage with the narrative or characters. However, I like thrillers set on cruise shops or anaritime maritime and the setting was glorious.

I thoroughly enjoyed Breathless and Midnight lived up to my high expectations. Amy is shaping up to be the queen of the icy thriller. A really gripping read set on a cruise around the Antarctic with equal parts twisty thrills and spectacular scenery.

A locked room mystery however instead of a room it's ship travelling to Antarctica. I love locked room novels; the claustrophobic feel, the suspicion of all characters as there are finite suspects and with this novel on the journey with amazing descriptions of the Antarctica I was gripped. A really engaging thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing; 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks must go to the publisher, Netgalley and Amy McCulloch for the ARC of ‘Midnight’.

Another smash hit for Amy following on from the success of Breathless. I was so excited to get approved for this ARC as I tore through Breathless and this one did not disappoint. Set on a cruise ship, in desolate Artic the mystery builds with underlying woven threads and small reveals.

The pace is fast, without being rushed and the twist at the end is something that cannot be predicted. Once you start this book, prepare to finish it in one sitting!

Amy McCulloch really knows how to set a book and engage the reader as if you are really in the setting of the book, her description of the scenes, atmosphere and events throughout the book were so beautifully and uniquely written. I already knew Midnight was going to be amazing after previously being wowed by Breathless.

Midnight is about Olivia who is given the once in a lifetime opportunity to be aboard an Antarctic cruise with her boyfriend Aaron who is an art dealer and is going to be meeting with a famous client on board the ship to deal with an exhibition but whilst on this cruise Aaron disappears and that is when the claustrophobic aspect kicks in as we feel Olivia is being watched. She knows nobody else on board, passengers start turning up dead onboard and there is no possible way to escape as you are far from land and far from safety.

Fast paced thriller that has you feeling every emotion, the setting is tense and vast that makes you feel paranoid just reading. A good few twists and turns which in some i guessed. The characters were an interesting bunch that kept you wondering which one was or is responsible.

I did enjoy the ending, the overall feel of the book was amazingly done and i did enjoy the themes of the suspense and who did it and overall a very excellent book that i am very sure many readers will really enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me the ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

5*

I really enjoyed this book . I had previously read Breathless and loved it so had high hopes for another addictive read and I was not disappointed. It was a tense, thrilling read with lots of twists and turns and I found I couldn’t put it down. The plot was very clever and I really didn’t know what was going to happen. Antarctica was such an interesting setting and it just added to the chilling , scary atmosphere as well as being very up to date environmentally. An excellent read!

I really enjoy thrillers set on cruise ships, so immediately I was excited about reading this.

My favourite thing about it was the research that went into it - a lot of authors write about things they have never experienced themselves and in my opinion, it shows. You could really tell in the writing that Amy McCulloch had been on an Antarctic cruise herself. I thought the pacing was very good, and most of the main characters were developed well.

My only drawbacks were that I think there were too many background characters, I could never remember who they all were, and that even with a very large cast of characters I still think it was very obvious who the 'baddie' would turn out to be.

Even though I guessed the ending pretty early on, I really enjoyed the journey of getting there and would recommend the book.

A very atmospheric and pacey thriller. Nice sense of tension and lots of interesting detail. I read quite a lot of thrillers and I worked out who was the baddie before the dénouement but I enjoyed it anyway.

Rating: 2.2/5

As with her previous adult thriller, Amy McCulloch has once again drawn on personal experience to inspire her latest novel. Whereas, "Breathless" took place in the world of mountain climbing, "Midnight" has a luxury cruise ship in the Antarctic as its setting.

The use of a ship as the scene for a "locked room" style mystery is nothing new and it has served up some enticing whodunnits over the years. Using the Antarctic as the backdrop does help to inject something fresh into the scenario though and the author should be applauded for that. However, I don't think Amy McCulloch really takes full advantage of the potential. The pacing is good and the narrative flows smoothly enough, but there should have been plenty of opportunity for a sense of claustrophobic tension and brooding menace to develop that was generally lacking.

I commented in my review of "Breathless" that the author's background in writing for a younger audience seemed evident at times, and the same observation applies in "Midnight". There are plot developments that are either too predictable or simply don't bear the levels of scrutiny that they should in a mystery aimed at an adult audience.

Overall, this certainly isn't awful and there are far worse ways of spending your time - but I don't think it is a good as "Breathless" and it certainly isn't up there with the best in the genre.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Before the ship has left port we know there's someone up to no good, which means you are already invested before the anchor is hauled up.
This is a great adventure story, mixed with the harsh truth of mental health stuggles and an adorable penguin.
There's people you feel you should trust but when money and art are involved the twists and turns that the story takes are just perfect to keep you turning the pages

This is an average thriller. The characters were interesting and the plot was engaging but a little predictable. It was definitely atmospheric and refreshing but not unique.

A chilly thriller that is beautifully done, descriptively putting you right into the Arctic action with an unpredictable mystery and some engaging characters.

The bleak but gorgeous setting really is intriguing and the isolated nature makes the story utterly compelling, there's nowhere to hide and a killer on the loose.

Overall a terrific thriller and I look forward to many more from this author.

I was underwhelmed by McCulloch's debut thriller, Breathless, but I can't resist thrillers with icy settings - especially when that setting is Antarctica - and I also love a good cruise ship novel, so I had to read Midnight. And actually I would say that this is a notch up from Breathless, if still a bit forgettable and very predictable. Olivia boards an Antarctic cruise with her art dealer boyfriend, Aaron, who has negotiated an exhibition for his most famous client on board the ship. But then Aaron disappears, and Olivia starts to feel as if someone is stalking her. When other passengers turn up dead, Olivia has cause to think her life might be in danger - but with no access to the outside world, and no way to get off the ship, how can she escape?

This thriller rattles along nicely enough, and I found Olivia a more convincing protagonist than Breathless's Cecily, if still a bit dim. And while I didn't feel McCulloch fully exploited the atmospheric potential of her setting, it was enough to keep me going. Still, most of Midnight feels like a series of isolated, if concerning, incidents - for some reason, the tension never really ratchets up as it should. I also guessed the twist at the end easily - not a huge problem for me as a reader, but a bit disappointing. Maybe worth a try, but I'd recommend Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 more warmly. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Midnights is a clever, engaging read from start to end. I would recommend to any crime fans. The characters are intriguing and well developed.

This is the one trip of a lifetime you don’t want to embark on! The atmosphere in this fascinating novel was so eerie and perfect for the plot that I could not tear myself away! Perfection of a book!

McCulloch definitely knows how to set a scene, and quite a beautiful one it was, beautiful and deadly.
There's nowhere to run.
A decent paced thriller, where anyone or everyone could be making our main characters life a nightmare.
I didnt warm to Olivia at all, and wasn't too bothered if she got bumped off 🤣
An interesting cast of characters, and an ending that didn't seem overly surprising, if a bit ott.
But to be honest, that's what we're after really.

To be honest, I wasn't too sure about this when it started as it is quite a slow burn. You get introduced to the main characters and a wee bit of background and then all of a sudden, it all ramps up and jist doesn't stop throughout the rest of the book

The setting is so unique and males the perfect backdrop for building that tense, eerie atmosphere. Everyone is a suspect and you have no idea who the next victim will be. The writing style is so descriptive that you can feel the cold of the Arctic winds and see the peaks of the rough waves as the boat makes it journey. But as descriptive as it is, the plot os constantly moving forward and there are no pages of dialogue just about the surrounds.... its vividly described in a really clever way without the need for screeds and screeds or descriptive fluff.

The characters are well aritten and realistic. I wasn't terribly keen on our main character but she did grown on me. There's plenty of suspect characters on board but they're also written to be human and not over the top suspicious like characters. It's all very subtle and they're really no more weird than anyone you'd meet in your day to day life so it makes it so hard to predict who's behind what.

The plot itsself is cleverly written with so many threads that converge beautifully at the end, no rushing, no plot holes. It all just comes to a very natural conclusion which is so satisfying. There are also little things that you didn't think twice about back at the start that suddenly make perfect sense and so many things turn out to be more than you'd ever have expected.

A true work of art for the thriller genre