I was really looking forward to this one and I wasn’t disappointed! A spooky read, written so well that I felt I was there! I liked the dual timeline but I did have to concentrate a bit harder at first. Creepy and spooky, perfect for the coming season!

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an ARC of this book, which is due to be published in October 2023.
I’ve never read anything by C J Cooke before, but I have read ghost stories set in the frozen North. For example, Michelle Paver’s Dark Matter, which was a good yarn; and I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, which shares a similar setting to A Haunting in the Arctic: an abandoned village in Iceland. And then there was Dan Simmons’ scary pairing of The Abominable and The Terror, both of which were lengthy page turners with supernatural horror.
So to A Haunting in the Arctic, with my expectations set for me by previous reading. In many ways, this book unfurled as expected. Two narratives: one set in the past (in the past tense, third person), the other set in the present day (ish, in the present tense, first person). Clearly the two time-lines are going to be related, with the events of the past playing into the present, with an open question as to how.
As an attentive reader, I started to spot anomalies straight away — especially in the present day, which is narrated by Dominique, who has set off for an abandoned village in Iceland in order to explore the wreck of an old whaling ship before it is towed out to sea to be sunk and form a reef. Dominique appears to be on foot, yet seems to be carrying too much equipment for one person. She has a satellite array, solar chargers, batteries, sensors, cameras, a laptop, a tent, a sleeping bag—it’s a lot.
But the present tense 2023 sections are quite well told, with intriguing passages, odd details, and the mysterious arrival of three strangers who seem by turns friendly and hostile towards Dominique.
It’s with the past tense narrative that I have problems. The focus character is a married woman, husband away fighting the Boers, whose father is the owner of a whaling ship, the Ormen, based in Dundee. What befalls this woman, Nicky, when she is kidnapped and dragged on board this ship, is disturbing and horrific. Or it ought to be. The problem is, this narrative is all tell with very little show. I don’t need prurient up-close detail, but I do need to feel as if there are stakes and to be able to suspend my disbelief enough to care about the character and what is happening to her.
But while it is pacy, the narrative style is also very distant, and there just isn’t the visceral sense of body (and other) horrors happening.
Somewhere in here is a third time-line, with the ship being used as a research vessel in the early 1970s, but the events of that narrative are even more distant and vague.
In the end, I was a little disappointed in this, although it is bound to appeal to fans of C J Cooke.

I took it for granted that I would love this book before I had even read the synopsis, because I think CJ Cooke is the most incredible writer. But it usually takes me a couple of chapters to get a feel for a novel, to get into the rhythm of it. With "A Haunting In The Arctic", I was there from the first sentence. It's everything I love in a novel. Gorgeous writing, beautifully developed characters, and a plot that kept me hooked.

I loved the multiple timelines. And I LOVED the setting. CJ Cooke is one of the few authors I've found who can make a place feel like a whole character in itself, and this was no exception. I loved, I loved, I loved. My only complaint is that it had to end. I could've stayed in this novel forever.

I will be gifting this to everyone I know once it's out in hardback. The perfect read, not just for spooky season, but for any season. A beautiful book - ten out of five.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for granting me a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A few pages in , I did think you'd have to be nuts to go on a ship called the Omen... when I realised it was actually The Ormen, I still thought you'd have to be nuts.
The present day stuff is packed with atmosphere, I could almost smell the seaweed and hear the creaking of the old ship.
The pages set in the past took a dark turn very quickly.
I guessed at the big plot lines, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment, because this book was still the right level of creepy.
I read it in one sitting, and it's my favourite Cooke book to date.