I was given an ARC of this book as a result of attending the Harrogate Crime Festival and being tempted by free ice cream! It’s taken me until now to read it but it’s not published until 17th February so I’m not too late to give my opinion!
I wasn’t sure if this would be ‘my thing’ as I’m scared of heights and I couldn’t see how a whole novel could be written about relating to climbing Mt Everest with a killer on the loose. I’m very glad to say that I couldn’t have been more wrong, this was a thriller where I was willing on the narrator and as anxious about the location as the nefarious villain.
I feel it helped that we had another intrepid climber and novelist, Matt Dickinson, come to my school to talk about his experience of Everest as I could picture the crevasses, ravines and awe-inspiring scenery. In the end, I read the book over the space of two days as it was well-paced.
The book is about a young woman climber and journalist who has pledged to climb Mt Everest in order to gain an interview with world renowned, heroic climber Charles McVeigh. She has had bad experiences in the past and is climbing the Summit both in order to get her scoop from Charles but also to redeem herself.
Meanwhile, various folk are dying on the Mountain but it is difficult to know whether it is as a result of the treacherous terrain or something/one else….
I’ve discovered the author also writes YA books, so I’ll be looking this her up! To be honest, I’d be quite happy for my 14 year to read this and will be pushing it their way and towards older fans of Matt Dickinson!
Unchained school librarian 