Uneven terrain, low levels of oxygen, avalanches, and frigid weather are just some of the things to worry about on a Himalayan mountain more than 8000 meters high. When murder is added to the mix, it can be downright terrifying. Children’s author Amy McCulloch turns to adult fiction with her new mystery, Breathless, set on Manaslu in the Himalayas, the world’s eighth highest mountain peak and a convenient place to stage murders. Explore examples where the strength and determination of the human spirit survive against all odds. Charles promises Cecily an interview to establish her as an adventure writer, but only after she reaches the summit as part of his team. Cecily is the least experienced of his team members, consisting of 6 people he has invited plus four Sherpa guides. She is haunted by an alarming failure on a previous climb, and very few know what happened. She knows that interviewing Charles is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and consents to join his team. Is she courageous or being foolhardy? The author evokes the freezing ice and snow, deadly crevasses, unexpected storms, and the exhilaration felt by Cecily as she manages to struggle with some help and advice in this hazardous setting. Essential supplies are damaged or stolen, also tips for the guides. It is clear that someone does not want Charles's team to succeed in its efforts. Another nearby team also finds obstacles placed in its path to the top. Then members of the group start dying, and murder is suspected. As Cecily attempts each painful step up the mountain, she feels her effort will bring her greater journalism awards if she can discover the motive behind the deaths and the killer's identity. Will she survive difficulty breathing, exhaustion, fear, painful injuries, inexperience and keep going? Is the killer stalking her? Will she be the next victim? Facts : Manaslu is the eighth highest mountain in the world at 8163 m above sea level. Manaslu means ‘mountain of the spirit’ and I believe the author has climbed it.

Breathless - Penguin Books UK

Standing on a kitchen chair can bring bouts of vertigo. Imagine these amazing elevations. But McCulloch doesn't leave everything to the climb. She's building upon it and inserting a horror here that is indescribable. Cecily knows that the ending of lives has not been cast by accidents. There's someone among them who is the most rigid of evil. And as the team rises to the heights of Manaslu, Cecily realizes that Manaslu may well be her final resting place if she doesn't hold her own.

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The fact that McCulloch has actually climbed Manaslu allows her to ground her zippy thriller in first-hand experience. McCulloch knows what it’s like to be on a commercially guided ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. She knows what it’s like to be a relative novice in that context—surrounded by guides and Sherpas and other climbers who’ve got far more experience in the mountains. She knows what it’s like to be plopped down in a community of ambitious and sometimes disagreeable strangers in a setting that requires mutual trust. And she knows what it’s like to feel, as one of the few women on the mountain, like you’re ‘a target’ for misogyny and unwanted sexual advances. And so, in between the deaths and cliffhangers through which the plot hurtles, McCulloch puts her firsthand knowledge on display—in the process winning our trust as readers and shedding an uncomfortable amount of light on some of mountaineering’s less admirable aspects.” that being said, i loved the way mcculloch wove specific nuances and details into her story, elevating it to new heights (pun intended). she highlights gender discrimination in extreme sports communities, describes the culture and customs of the sherpa people, and provides a breathtakingly immersive experience of the book’s geography (including manaslu, samagaun, and birendra taal). mcculloch also delves into the psyche of mountaineers, what motivates people to risk their lives and livelihoods to summit peaks that push humans past our most extreme of physical and emotional boundaries.

Breathless by Amy McCulloch | Goodreads Breathless by Amy McCulloch | Goodreads

Ademloos had ik al een tijdje zien passeren en trok al snel mijn aandacht omdat het me sterk deed denken aan Huiver van Allie Reynolds. Gezien dat verhaal me uitstekend bevallen was en dit boek me ook aansprak, kwam het op het lijstje te staan. Mooie bonus was dat het beschikbaar was in Kobo Plus. We maken hier kennis met Cecily die, om haar carrière te redden, een interview wil versieren met Charles McVeigh. Charles is een zeer bekende bergbeklimmer die alles onderneemt zonder touwen of extra zuurstof. Dat is een zeer straffe prestatie en niet aan iedereen besteed. Cecily krijgt van hem echter een voorstel: ze krijgt het interview als ze zelf ook deelneemt aan de beklimming én de top behaalt. Wat volgt is een boek vol avonturen van de beklimming en van de mensen die eraan deelnemen. Cecily Wong, a young journalist, has been invited by acclaimed Mountaineer, Charles McVeigh, to accompany him on his ascent to the summit of Manaslu. He is famous for breaking mountaineering records and performing heroic rescues. This will be his final climb of eight mountains over 8,000 metres within a year to establish a world record. What's more, he intends to climb without using oxygen or ropes. I enjoyed the descriptions of the beauty and grandeur of the mountain but the plot was disappointing and the ending felt forced and didn’t give me the feeling of a proper closure. If you know me, you know that I love me an atmospheric location thriller. In fact, usually the colder location, the better. Last year, one of my favorite thrillers, if not my very favorite, was Allie Reynolds' Shiver. When I saw the synopsis for Breathless, I was giddy and hoping that this one would read similar. I'm so freakin' happy to say, this definitely met and even exceeded all of my expectations! It was so tense, the air in my bedroom felt as thin as in the mountains. A total triumph' Gillian McAllister, bestselling author of THAT NIGHTi will admit that i wasn’t particularly enamoured with the mystery. i was able to predict the murderer very early on, as my spidey-senses were tripped 1) by charles sounding way too good to be true, and 2) the minute i heard charles survived a summit while the rest of his teammates did not. moreover, some of the plot points felt overwrought and required suspension of my disbelief. for instance, i found it absurd that charles went to all the trouble of inviting cecily onto his team just so that he could have a way to thwart doug. this did not feel very occam's-razor to me: surely there were more efficient, straightforward ways of distracting or disposing of doug that did not leave so many uncontrollable variables at play - not the least of which includes the (realized) possibility that cecily, a journalist, would investigate the rumours and death swirling around charles. An addictive, tightly plotted thriller that will leave you chilled to the bone' Lucy Clarke, bestselling author of THE CASTAWAYS cecily wong is a british-chinese adventure journalist who has gambled her entire career - her life’s savings, even - on one story that will captivate the world: she will climb mt. manaslu in nepal alongside charles mcveigh, a luminary in the mountaineering community. their ascent marks the last before charles clinches his record-breaking title as the only person to have climbed all 14 peaks over 8,000 metres - in the span of one year, and without supplementary oxygen or external aid.