Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Midnight by Amy McCullogh Published by Doubleday on January 2, 2024
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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THE SUN NEVER SETS AND THIS KILLER NEVER SLEEPS
Olivia Campbell has always dreamed of spending a sunlit night on the frigid Antarctic continent. But as an actuary who assesses risk for a living, she never imagined she would have the chance. So when her career takes an unexpected detour, and her boyfriend—a high-powered art dealer with a taste for the finer things in life—decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction on a luxury liner to Antarctica, Olivia is thrilled. That is, until things start to feel a bit strange. In addition to the scores of wealthy patrons and potential buyers, they'll also be traveling alongside a small group of beleaguered employees of Pioneer Adventures—the company responsible for managing the ship—and their charismatic, divisive CEO.
When the first bodies are discovered, it's easy enough for Olivia to write it off as a terrible accident. But as the situation heats up and the temperatures continue to plummet, she begins to wonder whether she might have booked a one-way ticket to her own demise.
After reading Amy McCulloch’s debut adult thriller, Breathless, in the extreme geographic setting of climbing one of the world’s highest summits where survival is not guaranteed particularly when a murderer is part of the climbing party, I was primed and ready for her next standalone, Midnight, set against the frontier of Antarctica.
Like any good thriller, the main character and those surrounding her are as much of a curious enigma as the action part of the plot, which yes, involves multiple murders. I appreciated how this was another situation where a group is isolated and trapped with a murderer while on the fortified icebreaker/cruise ship and on Antarctica, itself.
Speaking of Antarctica… the setting is a vital element in the story beginning with the intriguing town that is the jumping off point for Antarctic explorers and visitors, to the region of sea known for storms to flare up, and the details about the warming threat to Antarctica, the glaciers, the wildlife, and even the special ship that has been outfitted with luxurious accommodations and the adventures of kayaking around glaciers and the Antarctic shore and camping on the shore. The attention to gear and precautions makes the reader feel the adventure suspense of the location.
The art element about the dead artist who painted and drew Antarctica as his muse and the way the cruise was as much about his exquisite work that wealthy bidders were there to get the original and see the other prints on display while cruising the settings.
The thriller part was interesting. The main character has a water phobia and has recently experienced total burnout from all the stresses in her life she was ignoring. She’s as shaky as it gets so one is meant to wonder if she’s an unreliable narrator or is someone toying with her as their next victim. Olivia is the sole narrator except for one brief scene in the beginning from the murderer’s POV. She’s not strong or particularly brilliant, but she does have long-buried survival skills her dad taught her that she recalls as the ship carries them further from civilization.
I could appreciate the build of suspense and the way all the characters and their activities made for potential suspects, but I latched onto the correct villain nearly from the start and picked up on the motive as soon as I was given enough facts to piece it together. This didn’t diminish my suspense because then I was muttering at my device when Olivia was making the wrong assumptions and putting herself into worse danger. One of her wrong assumptions was rather dumb. She didn’t even try to find out if someone she suspected could be telling her the truth even when they offered her a way to verify. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that between her great fears, isolation, and mounting panic that she wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Plus, it did make it more exciting.
All in all, this was a solid good thriller and a fabulous setting for one I can heartily recommend for a chilling winter read.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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Excellent review, Sophia💜 I gave this a pass when it first showed up at the library. Now I’m in a crazy long queue for the audiobook!
I find it is so hard deciding what I can fit into my reading schedule and what will have to wait until later. Hopefully, you get through the waiting list quickly. 🙂
This sounds so good, I may have to try to fit this into my schedule😁
I hope it works out, Tammy. It was a fun thriller.
I’m really interested in this one. Great review!
Yeah, the locations are so great and the thriller part isn’t half bad either. 🙂
This does sound like an exciting thriller/mystery. I like it when the outdoor setting is almost like another character. One that you have to factor in for survival.
You put your finger on exactly my favorite part of it, Rachel. 🙂
I really love that Antarctica setting, so I will definitely be checking this thriller out. Great review! 😀
That piqued my interest, too. And, it was well repped. 🙂
This looks good. As I read your review, I kept wondering how I could fit it into my schedule.
Hehe, glad to tempt you to shuffle your reading schedule. 🙂
This sounds great! I love the Antarctica setting and I don’t think that I have read anything else set there. I will have to check this one out.
It was really cool to read it as the setting, Carole. 🙂
OooOOooo adding to my TBR list
Hehe, glad to tempt you, Carole!
Trapped on a ship with a killer would be bad. Can’t get away and even the area outside the ship would be dangerous.
Oh yeah, Mary, it had all the good sort of chills and thrills. 🙂
Another really interesting sounding setting!
It sure was, Lisa. 🙂
Adding this to my massive list of thrillers that I really must read. I absolutely love the setting and the fact that the main character isn’t brilliant or perfect is also a selling point.
LOL, we all seem to have those monster size piles. 🙂 This was well worth it for the setting and see her work through her struggles and get to the bottom of things.