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A review by rebbyreads
Breathless by Amy McCulloch
4.0
Read this if...you’re interested in learning more about mountain climbing and like atmospheric thrillers.
Cecily has been offered the opportunity of her life-the chance at an exclusive interview with Charles McVeigh, the famous mountain climber. The only catch? Cecily will be granted the interview if she completes the climb with Charles’s team and makes it to the peak of Manaslu, one of the world’s tallest mountains. Despite the extreme challenge, Cecily is determined to get to the top and make a name for herself as a journalist. But no amount of training could have prepared her for the dangerous climbing conditions AND the fact that there appears to be a killer on the mountain with them. After all, what better place to get away with murder than in the “death zone”?
I am so torn on my feelings for this book. Reading this felt a lot like Cecily’s experience climbing Manaslu-mostly slow and arduous, but with a climax that was everything I was hoping for and more. On one hand, the last third of the book was amazing! I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end. It was full of suspense and twists that kept me glued to the book. But…I’m just not sure it was enough to make up for the rest of the read, which seemed like it dragged on forever. I knew nothing about the sport before reading this, so all of the mountain climbing terminology was new for me. I did learn a lot about the sport. The suspense was very slow to build and I found myself wanting to not finish a few times. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but I wish it had been faster paced.
(Kudos to the author for actually climbing this mountain IRL!)
A big thanks to the author and Anchor Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
My rating: 3.5, but I’ll round up to 4
Cecily has been offered the opportunity of her life-the chance at an exclusive interview with Charles McVeigh, the famous mountain climber. The only catch? Cecily will be granted the interview if she completes the climb with Charles’s team and makes it to the peak of Manaslu, one of the world’s tallest mountains. Despite the extreme challenge, Cecily is determined to get to the top and make a name for herself as a journalist. But no amount of training could have prepared her for the dangerous climbing conditions AND the fact that there appears to be a killer on the mountain with them. After all, what better place to get away with murder than in the “death zone”?
I am so torn on my feelings for this book. Reading this felt a lot like Cecily’s experience climbing Manaslu-mostly slow and arduous, but with a climax that was everything I was hoping for and more. On one hand, the last third of the book was amazing! I couldn’t stop reading until I got to the end. It was full of suspense and twists that kept me glued to the book. But…I’m just not sure it was enough to make up for the rest of the read, which seemed like it dragged on forever. I knew nothing about the sport before reading this, so all of the mountain climbing terminology was new for me. I did learn a lot about the sport. The suspense was very slow to build and I found myself wanting to not finish a few times. Overall, I’m glad I read it, but I wish it had been faster paced.
(Kudos to the author for actually climbing this mountain IRL!)
A big thanks to the author and Anchor Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
My rating: 3.5, but I’ll round up to 4