Breathless

My May Book of the Month selection was Breathless by Amy McCulloch (the other options were Yerba Buena by Amy LaCour, The Hacienda by Isabel Canas, Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez, and Darling Girl by Liz Michalski). I was hooked by this atmospheric and exciting thriller from the very first chapter and I read well into the early morning hours in order to finish it. Cecily Wong has just landed the interview of a lifetime with world-renowned alpinist Charles McVeigh as he attempts to climb Mt. Manaslu, the last in his quest to summit all fourteen peaks above 26,000 feet in one year. Even though she has limited climbing experience, McVeigh insists that she be a part of his expedition as a condition for granting the interview. Summiting at such a high elevations is extremely dangerous, even for experienced climbers, because of the freezing temperatures, harsh terrain, and lack of oxygen but it becomes even more menacing when two climbers die under mysterious circumstances. Cecily must not only face the elements, and her doubts about her abilities, but also a killer lurking on the mountain and it seems that everyone on her team is a potential suspect. I really enjoy murder mysteries with a closed circle of suspects and this novel takes that concept to new heights (pun intended) because everyone is trapped on the mountain due to the extreme conditions. The tension escalates the higher they climb and I was completely riveted. Cecily is an interesting narrator because she is a novice in the world of high altitude climbing and she is somewhat unreliable when she begins experiencing the effects of hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain). I actually started to question if the deaths were merely accidents or more sinister in nature myself which made the narrative even more suspenseful. It was also fascinating to learn about what it takes to summit a peak that high in elevation, particularly the need for acclimatization and how to scale sheer faces of rock and ice, and McCulloch's vivid descriptions (she actually summited Mt. Manaslu herself) made me feel like I was right there on the mountain with the characters. I even felt a little bit short of breath during several key moments. My only complaint is that the ending is a bit abrupt but, other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Breathless and I recommend it to fans of thrillers.

Note:  Fans of this novel might also enjoy One By One by Ruth Ware. It has a similar vibe because it is a murder mystery that takes place at a Swiss chalet that is cut off from civilization after an avalanche.