First and foremost, reading Breathless convinced me that even if someone were to offer me $10 million to climb a mountain in the Himilayas, I would turn it down in a heartbeat. Seriously, I can't believe people climb mountains like Mt. Everest for FUN!!! What author Amy McCulloch did best in Breathless was bring the reader into the sport (?) of extreme mountain climbing. I felt like I was struggling for every breath and was cold to the bone.

Breathless is the story of Cecily Wong, a journalist for an outdoor magazine. She's done some climbing with her boyfriend, but despite being an amateur, she's invited on an expedition by a world-acclaimed mountaineer, Charles McVeigh. McVeigh's claim to fame is his ability to climb without oxygen and climb "clean," i.e. without ropes and ladders that sherpas usually set up in advance of a climb. His latest feat is climbing eight mountains over 8,000 meters (about 26,000 feet) in one year to establish a new world record. He's invited Cecily to join him on the last of the mountains, Manaslu, the world's eighth highest mountain. In contrast, Cecily's claim to fame is her "Failure to Rise" blog, a viral blog about her inability to reach the summit of mountains she's attempted. Taking on McVeigh's challenge could make her name as a journalist so even though she's over her head, she's risking it all to get an exclusive interview with McVeigh. She's spent her last dime on this expedition and even lost her boyfriend, who is so jealous of her opportunity that he ends their relationship.

The thrills of Breathless include the physical aspects of climbing, as well as the fact that there are two suspicious deaths early in the venture. What's more, the guide of the climb, Doug, seems to be endlessly angry at Cecily and there are rumors spreading that McVeigh may not be the hero he claims to be, that he may actually be cheating.

The strength of Breathless is that McCulloch does a brilliant job taking the reader to the summit; it was incredibly atmospheric, tinged with terror. The weakness is that, for a non-climber, there are so many terms that are unfamiliar that it took me out of the story looking up definitions of things like seracs. My other issue was that despite the fantastic ratcheting up of suspense, the ending felt really rushed to me.

My thanks to NetGalley and Anchor Books for providing me an eGalley in exchange for posting an honest review. I give this 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

As a long time acrophobiac (is that a word?) . . . person suffering from acrophobia, I have a very unusual penchant for being absolutely fascinated by mountaineers, the Himalayas, and books about both. Knowing that I would never undertake such an expedition does not stop me from being in awe of those who do.

Author Amy McCulloch has actually climbed Manaslu, the mountain she writes about in Breathless, the thrilling page-turner that kept me up all night late last week, giving the novel a level of authenticity.

Cecily Wong wrote a blog post that went viral about her two unsuccessful mountain climbing attempts. Little did she know that it would land her the incredible opportunity of being on the team of the famous Charles McVeigh who is on the last mountain of what will be a record breaking number of summits. After her boyfriend dumps her out of jealousy believing that he should be the journalist scoring an interview/climb with McVeigh, Cecily begins training like she never has before so that this attempt will be a success on her part. The last thing she expects when she arrives in Nepal is murder.

McCulloch did such an excellent job of making me feel like I was there. Her description of the land drew me in as did her descriptions of the physicality of the climb, the harshness of the weather on the mountain, and the suddenness at which the weather could change.

She created an interesting cast of characters from a young Canadian woman who loves climbing more than anything else, an American entrepreneur attempting to get his latest inventions used by his fellow climbers, an arrogant British filmmaker who believes all women should fall at his feet, and the no-nonsense leader of their team who’s trying to keep them all focused.

Although Cecily sometimes initially annoyed me, I grew to like her character and root for her as the situation became grave.

While the experienced thriller reader will probably guess the whodunit part midway through, McCulloch does throw a very solid, unexpected wrench in the works in the climax that adds a whole other layer to the story.

A very satisfying, tension-packed thriller!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever had the passion and drive to push yourself to the limit? To go beyond what your body should be able to endure. To want to climb the peaks in the dead zone. Where your body cannot function properly and will begin to shut down without the proper amount of oxygen. Some people are made for this environment, they thrive off it. They are literal kings of the mountain. When Cecily Wong is invited by famed mountaineer Charles McVeigh to climb the final mountain on his Fourteen Clean trek. Where he will attempt to do the tallest 14 peaks without oxygen or ropes in a single year. Even though Cecily has limited climbing skills she jumps at the chance. Putting her savings, her job, and her life on the line for the story of the lifetime. The chance to tell the truth about Charles, all she must do for the story is to summit. Easy right?

From the first day with the team Cecily is in awe of this man, this superhero of sorts. Not only does he climb without the aid of oxygen. He will turn back and save people in trouble. Cecily wants to know what makes him tick, to really get to know this man of mystery. Amy McCulloch does a superb job of bring the characters to life. You will either love or detest them from the start. The atmospheric details that McCulloch pens brings the mountain to your home. You can fill the icy cold wind, the snow landing on your eyelashes, your mind swirling as your brain tries to acclimatize to less oxygen. As accidents begin to happen and mysterious occurrences leave Cecily feeling off and frightened, you will wonder if it is just the mountain or if the mountain is the perfect spot for a killer to hunt.

This book held my attention, as I flew through the pages causing my own white out conditions. You can tell by her details and descriptions that Amy McCulloch had brought her own insight of climbing this mountain to her book. It added depth to the story and made it that much more astounding that she had climbed this majestic peak. Thank you to Amy McCulloch, Anchor Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this action packed, thrill a minute read.

This is a thrilling story. A killer hides in plain site where he stalks his victims. Climbing mountains is deadly enough without the added pressure of a killer. The story starts out seemingly benign as just a group of people out to break a record. Each character is on their own quest which makes them an equal suspect. The author manages to surprise me with who the killer is and the reasons why.

The challenge was to climb fourteen peaks over 8000 meters in one year and Charles McVeigh has only one peak left. Manaslu has been called Killer Mountain and journalist Cecily Wang has been chosen for his team to cover the climb to the summit. Her interview with McVeigh could make her career. She is a relatively inexperienced climber, but her interview will only take place after reaching the summit. McVeigh has been called a savior after rescuing several climbers on previous climbs. One of the climbers that he failed to rescue was a seasoned climber and a friend to Alain, a member of the group. He feels the death was suspicious and is determined to ask questions. Before even leaving for Base Camp, Alain is found dead. Cecily was the last to see him. At the time she heard someone whistling nearby. It is a sound that she will hear in the night on the mountain, causing her to suspect that there is a murderer among them. Her suspicions are verified as communications are sabotaged and more deaths follow.

Breathless is a story that not only takes you to the Death Zone, where oxygen levels are extremely low, but also leaves you breathless as the suspense builds on the mountain. The rigorous training and treacherous conditions that the climbers face are even more difficult as the air thins at higher levels. Cecily has her doubts about her abilities, but finds support from Elise, an experienced climber, and Galden, the Sherpa who calls her little sister. He explains to her that they are all one family on the mountain. Amy McCulloch makes the reader a part of that family as you experience the journey through Cecily, who posts her impressions and experiences on her blog. Every slip on the ice or whistle in the night provides chills and a reading experience that is guaranteed to thrill. I would like to thank NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for providing this book for my review.

Cecily, a young journalist for Wild Outdoors gets the opportunity of a lifetime, the ability to interview famous alpinist Charles McVeigh. All Cecily has to do is summit an 8,000 meter mountain in Nepal. This interview would be life changing for her career but her last experience climbing with her ex boyfriend caused some unresolved trauma. Joining her in the attempt to summit is 6 other team members and four sherpas.

While climbing you need to have your wits about you but Cecily becomes increasingly paranoid as rumors swirl and people are dying during the expedition. She finds it difficult to trust the people around her, even her own teammates. As Cecily continues her journey up the mountain she isn't certain she will make it back alive.

I finished Breathless in one sitting because I was dying to know what the ending was and if there was a killer on the mountain. As for someone who doesn't know much about mountain climbing, I was able to picture some aspects of climbing but other descriptions like the hanging place fell flat and I wasn't sure how to picture it at all. I felt the danger and fear throughout the challenges that the characters had to overcome during the summit which attests to Amy McCulloch's writing.

Overall suspenseful and fast read! Thanks Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Anchor for the ARC.

Full disclosure: my idea of conquering a scary height is making it up the glass staircase to the second floor of the Apple Store. I absolutely can’t comprehend how anyone would willingly do the 8,000-meter climb described in this book. In spite of this--or perhaps because of this--I found this novel's setting completely fascinating. There’s an abundance of rich detail about mountain climbing, with its unique culture, traditions, equipment, and vocabulary, but all of this information is interwoven with the central closed-circle mystery in a way that is compelling in its own right and never seems excessive. The pivotal role of the Sherpa guides, as well as the camaraderie and trust among climbers, are conveyed to great effect. The suspense of whether and how the team will reach the summit continues in parallel with the suspense and danger of the crimes.

Protagonist Cecily Wong risks her life to embark on this dangerous adventure with the promise of a career-making interview with the team’s star climber if—and only if—she reaches the summit. I applaud Cecily’s go-for-it spirit and independence, while questioning the wisdom (not to mention plausibility) of her attempting this climb with so little experience. Is a Himalayan climb where your teammates' lives literally depend on you really the right place to fake it till you make it? Probably not, but even a critical reader isn’t going to quibble about such details when glued to the adventure story of the summit attempt. The solution to the mystery is not hugely surprising, but that is not a big problem, given the bonus riveting survival drama of the climb.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf Doubleday for a digital advance review copy.

This engrossing and atmospheric thriller ticks so many boxes for me! Snowy whodunit, high-stakes setting, journalist MC, biracial representation, feminist elements, solid cast, highlighting of lesser-known issues — these are all things I love in a novel so little wonder that Breathless had me hooked from start to end.

I've never enjoyed a slow burn more. Reading this book and accompanying the characters on their journey to Manaslu made me relive my own memories of Everest Base Camp. It wasn't hard to picture the setting because the author has painted a lush and vivid portrait of it. She also perfectly captured what it's like being on a mountain, from the perilous terrain and unpredictable dangers to feeling like everything is heightened.

The core mystery was compelling enough to keep me turning the pages, but I didn't find it exceptional. Interestingly, it was everything else that I found outstanding. For instance: How the book acknowledges the often thankless job of climbing sherpas, who are often taken for granted. The (over?) commercialisation of mountaineering. How there's diversity and also the "readily accepted version" of it.

Breathless might be marketed as a thriller, but stands out for being so much more and was such a treat to read. I'll definitely be checking out more of the author's work!

Breathless by Amy McCulloch left me just that -- breathless! I absolutely devoured this book. Couldn't stop reading, even late into the night. I had to cancel a morning appointment I had because of this book.

Cecily Wong is a bright, young woman with a great future in adventure writing ahead of her; if she can but get that one interview that no one else has managed to get. She needs to get the famous and heroic mountaineer Charles McVeigh to give her an insider interview. And shockingly, he chooses her after all, even though she's only a slightly known commodity in adventure writing after writing up a disastrous climb she was on for her blog. Cecily's boyfriend, a much more experienced climber and journalist is so upset that he pitches a man tantrum and dumps her. But off she goes, to climb one of the world's seven highest peaks with McVeigh. After all, the condition that McVeigh has set is that she must not only go on the expedition with him and his team, but that she must succeed in summiting. But nothing is quite as it seems and before the team even hits base camp, bodies are falling like snow in the Himalayans.

There were a lot of things I enjoyed. The inexperience of the main character in terms of climbing professionally. Her naivete, rather than being an annoyance, was done just enough to show her youth, her inexperience in the wider world, and to allow her better show her growth. And I enjoyed her determination too. She doesn't let her boyfriend's backstabbing dissuade her. She doesn't give in to the gas lighting she is subject to from several people on the team. She just won't stop questioning what is going on and who is behind the deaths. Which could seem to be accidents to some. And even when it becomes clear that someone is targeting Cecily, she still continues forward. Cecily does grow up quite a bit on her excursion, and I won't say any more so I don't give it all away. But this book, kept me thoroughly enthralled and the descriptions of the characters as well as the scenery is wonderfully handled. I found myself getting tense on every difficult part of the ascent.

The only part of the novel that I didn't quite like was the solution to the mystery. It felt split somehow, and not quite as satisfying as it should have been. But it did make sense. So it's a small quibble.

Overall it was nice to read a book written about a younger person who is still growing up (Cecily is just a bit sheltered and in her early adulthood) where the person written about is not some annoying, whiny idea of what a teen or 20 something is like, and that the growth she goes through feels natural. It makes sense that McCulloch has in the past written YA fiction. This is her first adult outing. I will definitely look forward to seeing more from her in this vein. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in mountaineering/climbing, mystery lovers, those who like seeing other cultures depicted. It's a very fun read! Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for the free eBook in return for my honest review.

Holy cow! 5 stars for the "me on a mountain climbing adventure" atmosphere alone! This is as close to actually climbing a mountain as I will ever get, but the details were amazing! LOVED it! The story was also good and kept me flipping pages. It did start off a bit slow, but quickly picked up. Journalist Cecily agrees to climb an 8,000-meter mountain with a renowned climber in exchange for an interview. Along the way, people start dying. There's a killer among them. I enjoyed Cecily. She is the most inexperienced of the climbers, but definitely proves herself once the doo-doo hits the fan. She also has a secret to hide and will do anything to protect that. I did get the feel that the author was used to writing for YA, as this is her first adult novel. but still highly recommend.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Amy McCullough and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC!

Well written thriller/murder mysteries set amidst a high altitude climbing expedition.

Even if you have no interest in mountain climbing, the atmosphere of this book makes the cold thin atmosphere tangible as you read.

Five people on an ambitious climb - no obvious reason to commit murder, again, again and again.

I recommend this tense, exhilarating and descriptive story as your next wee,end read.

5 well-deserved teeth-chattering, bone-chilling stars for this fantastic murder mystery!

I have never understood the passion for climbing summits, I’ve never aimed for it or found it wise and always thought it was against every instinct we humans have. This novel made me realize how right and wrong I was at the same time. I could feel the resilience, fear and awe; all intermingled at suffocating altitudes. The protagonist is a young aspiring journalist writing the story of her lifetime, putting her life in the line. The legend mountaineer Charles McVeigh’s final challenge of climbing fourteen highest peaks without any additional help brings together a discordant group of people to witness this huge achievement. Cecily questions her decision and her strength as they gain height and as she gets to know the people surrounding her and the dangers of the mountain. When people start to die, nobody questions the why. I mean what could be worse than an icy cold mountain full of blizzards, avalanches, lack of oxygen? However, Cecily gets suspicious as climbers she know drop dead one by one and starts to wonder maybe there’s a murderer amongst them. What better environment to cover crime than a deadly mountain?
I absolutely loved this fast-paced mountain murder mystery, I felt the chilling rush of blood and adrenaline in my bones. Definitely recommended.

This was a bit slow to get started, but once it got going, it was a page turner. This book also has a lot going for it beyond the thriller aspect. The author does a very good job drawing the reader into the struggles climbers experience physically and emotionally as they tackle scaling the world’s highest mountains. Learning about mountain climbing as the story unfolded was also a bonus. As for the murder mystery itself, the buildup to the final reveal keeps you on the edge of your seat flipping pages as fast as you can. The conclusion will leave you ‘breathless’!

A killer in the midst of a mountain expedition and not just any mountain but it is Manaslu, the eighth tallest mountain in the world. Manaslu is in located in the Himalayan ranges of Nepal. Breathless is a thriller which leaves the main character Cecily gasping for air physically and mentally.
The mountaineering world is all about glory and fame but it is also about the adrenaline rush and survival. Cecily, who is a struggling as a journalist embarks on an expedition to Manaslu with a team of some expert mountaineers and especially with Charles who is known world over as a hero. She is practically a novice and has her own secrets. What happens during the expedition and is everyone as they appear is a thrilling ride that shapes this novel.
Some of the story is a bit unbelievable especially where Cecily is concerned. A novice attempting to climb the summit of Manaslu is a bit farfetched. Lot of the things that happen in this novel happen behind the scenes and that kind of takes away from the plot. Having said that the atmosphere of the novel is just fantastic. The snowcapped Manaslu is as picturesque as it is dangerous. I enjoyed reading this novel. 3.5 Stars.

This book took a bit to get into but after it did, I was hooked.
I enjoyed learning some of what goes into mountain climbing and the different levels of experience of the characters.
I would be interested in reading more by this author

I knew from the description that I had to read Breathless by Amy McCulloch! I love books like this that lead the reader on a nail-biting adventure. Seven people set out for an incredible trip to climb one of the highest peaks in the world, one of them is journalist Cecily who has risked everything to go on this trip. What happens when the challenge takes a deadly turn? Is there any place worse to be than on a mountain climbing expedition when people start dying? YIKES.

Journalist Cecily Wong is in over her head. She’s come to Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world, to interview internationally famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh on the last leg of a record-breaking series of summits. She’s given up everything for this story–her boyfriend, her life savings, the peace she’s made with her climbing failures in the past–but it’s a career-making opportunity. It could finally put her life back on track.

But when one climber dies in what everyone else assumes is a freak accident, she fears their expedition is in danger. And by the time a second climber dies, it’s too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote regions of the world, she’ll have to battle more than the elements in a harrowing fight for survival against a killer who is picking them off one by one.

A thrilling, scary, tense, page-turning story that is NOT TO BE MISSED! Coming out on May 3!

This book was an icy adventure from beginning to end! I really enjoyed hearing the inner struggle of an ice climber and learned many things about the sport I'd never known before. It made me appreciate the endurance and strength it takes even more!

The book itself was fast-paced and a good thriller/mystery. I did see a lot of Amy McCulloch style writing and felt it had a little bit of a Young Adult vibe to it -- not a bad thing! Just wanted to put that out there, if you want a fast-paced icy adult novel, this book is for you!

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review.
Enjoyable chilling, atmospheric plot, just the thing to read over a weekend.

An isolated snowy mountain setting, climbing through the “Death Zone”, dangerous avalanche conditions, a survival story, and a killer on the loose?? Sign me up!

This book is basically a recipe for success- I was so excited to read this ARC and even more excited to see it’s one of the Book Of The Month picks for May becuase I know so many of you will be reading it! Also the cover is phenomenal!

I really loved the story, all the different characters and their personalities and the constant wonder of who was good and who was bad. While reading I also kept thinking what is real and what is not?! I really enjoyed that the suspense built up throughout the entire book (with a few twists along the way)- and the ending also had a couple surprises. The plot had so many different layers which really made this a page turner!

There were a lot of characters in this one, and it took me a minute to keep everyone straight and remember who was who. I quickly decided who my favorite characters were, which ones I didn’t like, and then there were some that honestly I was undecided about- again because I was always wondering who was the good guy and who was the bad guy of the story.

The amount of detail that went into describing the mountains, the weather conditions, and even just how to actually climb was amazing- but what else would you expect from Amy McCulloch, a real life mountain climber?? Her accomplishments are amazing!

This is a must-read!

I was excited to read this one - I enjoy mysteries especially if they’re in a new setting. This one was a bit slow to start but quickly drew me in & picked up fast. I highly recommend this one to mystery lovers & mountain climbers.