I loved the premise for this one, but felt it was pretty slow for a thriller. I was ready for it to be over long before it was.

Gripping page turner. Once you start, you won't want to put it down! Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book

I cannot believe how intense this book was! I stayed up way too late to finish this book because I couldn’t put it down! The nail biting suspense the characters were in while trapped with no help made me want to flip forward to see how, if at all, they escaped. My heart was pounding from the first moment of action until the very last page!

I read this one because I have a strange fascination with mountain climbing although it's something I'd never try. This was very intense - the thrill of mountain climbing combined with the mystery at the center of the book. The plot moved very quickly and I kept turning pages.

This book is fast-paced and suspenseful. Not only does the plot feature high-stakes, dangerous mountain climbing in extreme conditions, but there is also a murderer on the loose, picking off people one at a time. The atmospheric locale of this book is perfect for the chilling storyline. A great edge of your seat thriller!

This book took my breath away...literally at times! A harrowing whodunnit set atop one of the highest places on the planet, this gripping book has suspense, murder, and a touch of frostbite all wrapped up in an avalanche of tension. I gave it 4.75 stars out of 5. I'm even more impressed that that author, Amy McCulloch, is the youngest Canadian woman to summit Mt Manaslu--the eighth tallest mountain in the world. Her real-life alpinist background lends credibility to her writing, and the visuals she paints are so realistic you can almost reach out and touch those icy crags. A well-done adult novel debut from an author I can't wait to read more of.

Breathless is an incredibly atmospheric and tense thriller. The characters are complex and interesting with the mountain being the most mysterious and dangerous character found within this novel.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this thriller. During the first 30-40% of the book I found myself slightly bored. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, or feel that they were developed enough. I found myself mixing people up. Once the action started, closer to 60%, I was drawn in. The book became much more plot-driven and I was now enjoying the plot and the thrill and suspense of the mystery. The atmosphere was terrific and I learned a lot about the subject of mountain-climbing. If I had felt more attached to the characters I would have rated it higher.

No, I was not surprised to read in the Acknowledgments of Breathless, that first-time thriller author Amy McCulloch is an experienced mountain climber. There are lived-in details in the novel about the ascent of Manaslu that give away the author's hands-on knowledge of scaling the dizzying and, literally, breathless summits of the world's tallest mountains. Toss in an unknown murderer and it's a heady mixture for an effective thriller.

The setting for Breathless---which involves a series of mysterious deaths and a potential serial killer lurking among the climbers---is certainly unique, extreme heights, where few ever venture and those who do risk serious harm, everything from hypoxia, where your body is starved for oxygen, to frostbite and accidental death. When severe environments are an integral  part of the story, the author needs to make the reader feel as if they are there for the setting to work as intended. While reading Breathless, I experienced many moments where little and often unexpected details made me feel the bone-chilling cold of the mountain, certainly increasing my enjoyment of the thriller aspects of the novel, and a  testament to McCulluch's personal experience. When the murderer is unmasked during a frantic descent of the mountain, those telling details bring the story to life.

I had a few nits to pick along the way. When the climb stalled, the story lost a bit of momentum, and some of the motivations of... omission, let's say, are a little hard to forgive, even factoring in the effects of extreme emotion and even hypoxia on the characters. Despite those quibbles, Breathless is a perfect beach read. And reading something this chilling when you're baking in the sun will provide some unexpected shivers. Think of that as a welcome side-effect.

This book just kept you intrigued. It wasn't just a mystery but was also a learning experience. Kudos to this author. I need to read more from her.

Whoa! What a ride. It was very fast-paced. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and how real the story felt. The author did a great job painting the setting, so it was easy for me to visualize the scene played out before me. I recommend giving this one a chance!

I love cold climate stories and this ticked all the boxes! A wonderful read that will leave you breathless. I went and bought a copy just so I could read it again and again

I found this to be a fascinating. As someone who has not done any mountain climbing, I found the setting amazing. A definite “locked room” type of mystery, set on a high peak in Nepal.

I liked Cecily, the main protagonist, who is a struggling journalist a little out of her element within this group of experts. I wasn’t sold on some of the other characters, but I think that was the point. Overall, the book was a great descriptive, fast-paced thriller.

Breathless had a fascinating cast of characters, a truly unique setting, and a lot of fascinating details about how you go about climbing one of the world’s highest peaks (if one is so inclined.)

Having Cecily be a bit of an outsider to this world worked really well. She’s a journalist who wrote a viral article about her own failed attempt at climbing, an attempt that ended in tragedy. So Cecily has a lot to prove, both on the mountain and off.

The book’s cast of characters included influencers and rich people trying to check off a bucket list, but also experienced mountain climbers and, of course, the Sherpas. A Nepalese ethnic group known for guiding mountain climbers since the 1920s, Sherpas are an essential part of most climbs, offering expertise with the terrain, familiarity with life at high altitude, and general logistical support, all at great risk to themselves.

I won’t be climbing any mountain peaks anytime soon, but I will see what Amy McCullouch writes next.

will be reviewing and posting a review to my social after I receive a physical copy of the book. I look forward to pulsing my review and sharing the link to the post.

Setting a fairly traditional thriller in such an untraditional environment is actually kind of genius and McCulloch pulls it off. This story is believable and engaging, very well paced and plotted. The author's familiarity with alpine climbing is obvious. I might wish the writing was a little stronger, particularly the dialogue, but I will definitely stay abreast of McCulloch's next project.

Ebook/Thriller: I really, really want to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. It was a thrilling wild ride up a mountain.
While two questions were not answered at the end, this book was fulfilling.
I knew that climbing high mountains were done in stages. This book really gives you the feel that you're waiting around trying to acclamate for a long period of time. The novel also give details about what it is like to be scaling on the fixed ropes, falling, and freezing. Yes, there is a lots of details about the cold that really bring you in the writer's world and as a reader, I could feel the cold and terror.
Why terror? Well there's a murderer on the mountain, of course.

I was hoping to read an adventure that was exciting and put me on the edge of my seat. I didn't get it unfortunately. I loved that the main female character was a POC and was excited to read her adventure in being able to summit the mountain. That was probably the only exciting part. At least for me. It took me a lot of time to read this. Maybe if I re-read this it will be better.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and the publisher for an ARC of this story for my unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed the story of this book, but it was drawn out and boring for periods of time, I was not eager to pick up the book to finish it, until about 85% in. In addition, this is probably small to some readers, but it bothered me. Early on the author discussed the timeline and how they had to go up and down to acclimate properly. In the end they only went up once and were miraculously acclimated! Now that being said, the book did not need to be longer, but the author should have just jumped ahead after a few up and downs.

This is the story of a struggling journalist, Cecily, who managed to get a spot on an exclusive expedition. If she summits, she is guaranteed an exclusive interview with the prodigious Charles, who is set to achieve his goal of climbing the largest peaks alpine style. This is the chance of a lifetime for Cecily to prove herself, as a journalist and a climber.

When a climber dies shortly after Cecily saw him alive and well, before the first push to base camp, Cecily’s journalistic instincts tell here there is more to the “accidental” death. The story has many twists and turns, but it did not instill excitement even though they were there. You will question - is this just normal or is there a murderer throughout the story. When you believe there is a murderer you will go back and forth as to who it may be, which there are a lot of characters, so you will have lots to choose from. The ending ties most things up.

I would recommend waiting for the audiobook, as I find a book with a lot of extraneous information is easier to listen to, then to read.

Breathless was the perfect title for this book because that's how you felt right along with Cecily. There were times I was on the edge of my seat. The author described every detail so well that I wanted to try alpinism and I hate snow & cold. There are a number of unexplained deaths in this season of mountain climbing throughout the world, but people die every year in the death zone, the area above 7000 meters when oxygen is needed by most climbers. But Cecily is getting suspicious especially when someone she just met and left behind dies in a freak accident, or was it? One of the problems is it's almost impossible to investigate deaths at this level and the other? Paranoia. Which happens to be one of the symptoms of hypoxia. And Cecily has very few climbs under her belt and none at this level. Practically being a newbie doesn't warm her to other serious climbers, but Charles McVeigh wanted her on this climb, if she wants to interview him. This would be a major coup for the outdoors journalist, but she has to make it to the summit before he will allow the interview. This book gives you a front seat look at mountain climbing while leaving you to wonder, are people being murdered or is Cecily paranoid. The author does a good job of presenting a number of suspects, including Cecily's mind to try and figure out what's happening. There was one character that was left dangling that I think was supposed to be a red herring, but it didn't work. And while I understand why the character was in the book, either they should have been just mentioned or fleshed out more. It wasn't a problem for me, just a slight annoyance. Just a side note, the Eiger was mentioned a couple of times and it made me want to watch The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood (from the 70s) again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Anchor for providing a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.