Breathless

Atmospheric Tale Of Survival When There Is Little Atmosphere To Be Had. “What better place for a killer to hide than in the death zone” indeed. This is a book both for fans of survival thrillers and for nonfiction high altitude survival tales ala Krakaur's Into Thin Air. McCulloch, inspired by her own real-world ascent of the very mountain she bases this tale on, crafts a story that shows the breadth of who goes up these mountains and why, and what they encounter when they get there. The physical dangers are ever present, the psychological challenges are daunting, and when it begins to leak that the resident legend may not be so legendary after all - and that there may be a killer on the mountain to boot - the tension ratchets up as high and tight as it can get. Excellent tale excellently told, and very much recommended.

2.75

This book felt so slow, I was never really excited to pick it up and continue reading it. Almost DNF'ed it. The misdirections for “ who dun it” just seemed so obviously like red herrings. Most of the characters that died didn't really matter because you never really got the chance to know them enough to care. When the action picked up toward the end it become more enjoyable, but by then I was already mentally done. I think the story would have benefited being a novella or even a short story.