The plot was moving along rather slowly to show all the incidents throughout Maude's childhood that ultimately led to the end we already know about from the beginning of the book. Finding out the true horror was great, however.

Paver is the mistress of suspense, and the strangeness that humans can suffer from when exposed to the Arctic wilderness is brilliantly exploited in this period piece -- Amanda Craig * THE TIMES * When the summer is over and darkness sets in, you can truly visualise the derelict trappers hut, the ice, the snow and harsh landscape.In 1935 Dr. Stephen Pearce and his brother Kits are part of a five-man mission to climb the most dangerous mountain in the Himalayas, Kangchenjunga. Thirty years before, Sir Edmund Lyell led an ill-fated expedition up the same mountain: more than one man did not return, and the rest lost limbs to frostbite. “I don’t want to know what happened to them. It’s in the past. It has nothing to do with us,” Dr. Pearce tells himself, but from the start it feels like a bad omen that they, like Lyell’s party, are attempting the southwest approach; even the native porters are nervous. And as they climb, they fall prey to various medical and mental crises; hallucinations of ghostly figures on the crags are just as much of a danger as snow blindness. She manages to create a claustrophobic atmosphere in one of the greatest great outdoors there is. And it is not by blood and guts and grossness but by the gradual ratchetting up of tension as the hero, left alone, suddenly discovers that he is neither. He is not a hero, nor is he alone. And it is the uncovering of these horrifiying truths which gradually chills and frightens you as the reader. Compelling… direct… relentless” writes Helen Rumbelow in The Times. “Dark Matter is terrific. It is a ghost story, but it is also a metaphysical meditation on what lies beneath our little lives.”

In the first part of the novel, Paver sets up some brilliant foreshadowing for what is to come, and even whilst our characters are in the comfort of company, there is a sense of foreboding building up in the shadows. ⁠ Thin Air is an interesting book about a group that decides to climb Kangchenjunga in India. I was quite fascinated with the books premise. Horror stories that take place in isolated places are great and I was quite looking forward to being swept off my feet. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. There were interesting moments, but I just felt that I never really connected with either Stephen Pearce or his fellow travelers. I liked the idea that one of the men from the previous expedition was left behind and that Stephen Pearce felt haunted. But, it just never got really interesting.Enter Dark Matter, by the very talented Michelle Paver. Holy haunted bear post, Batman. This book is everything I have been looking for, and then some.

The Sherpas are wrong. This mountain has no spirit, no sentience and no intent. It’s not trying to kill us. It simply is.” [famous last words…] Paver has written a similar book to this one called Thin Air, cold snowy horror, ghosts & isolation etc, so I was worried this one would feel too samey for me to really appreciate it, but boy was I wrong! ⁠ Thin Air: A Ghost Story fitted the bill perfectly for me, this is more the the sort of story that is eerie and chilling and unsettling as opposed to scary.

Harvey's second novel is a gritty police procedural set in a near-future New York. Pete Shah is a 70-year-old lapsed Muslim NYPD detective who, after being told he must serve another five years before retirement, is framed for the murder of a prostitute. In this world, citizens can record their memories and post them on the net, and Shah is an expert at reading and decoding these posted memories as an aid to solving crimes – but someone wants Shah and his skill out of the way. The strength of the novel lies not only in the depiction of a detailed future of hardship and privation, but in the expert characterisation of Shah: a lone figure whose origins leave him open to prejudice within the police department, and whose problematic relationship with an intersexual courtesan reveals his own deep-seated prejudices. What we know from the beginning of the book is that one day, when Maude is 16 years old, her mother dead and gone, her father kills someone horribly, never denies having committed the murder either (but saying that he had to do it) and ending up in a well screaming himself half to death. Once the depleted team are truly on their own, the realisation that they are in such an isolated and desolate location really hits home . Having enjoyed, “Dark Matter,” and “Thin Air,” I was delighted to receive Michelle Paver’s new novel, to review. This novel felt a little bit slow to get off the ground and I was worried that it wasn’t really going to build up to any sort of crescendo. The beginning of the book focuses heavily on building the characters, all of who are great to get to know. Our narrator Stephen is a likeable guy from the get-go, he’s a little bit clumsy and his self-deprecating humour adds a lighter tone to the novel. We also meet the team with which he’s trekking the mountain, which includes his brother Kits. Kit’s is everything that Stephen is not – he’s successful, well-loved, and confident. It was really interesting to see the sibling dynamic throughout the book. Paver makes it an interesting relationship where they have love for each other, but only due to the fact they’re related, otherwise, they readily admit they wouldn’t get along at all.