Midnight is a predictable but readable thriller/mystery set on a tourist expedition to Antarctica. 2.5 rounded up.

#Midnight #NetGalley
this is a solid thriller. I enjoyed the plot and the characters. I would recommend this to someone who enjoys novels that that take place in interesting locations.

The pace was a little slow in parts, but the twist and turns were crazy. You can feel the high emotions throughout the story, coming from the main character. There was a real cast of characters, it was an enjoyable read!

In the frigid summers of the Antarctic continent, the sun never sets, and Olivia Campbell has long dreamed of spending a sunlit night in this beautiful, remote place. So when her boyfriend—a high-powered art dealer with a taste for the finer things in life—decides to stage an ostentatious, career-making auction aboard a luxury cruise liner to Antarctica, Olivia can hardly believe her luck. That is, until the ship sets sail and her boyfriend is nowhere to be found, and she is left to manage both the auction and her own creeping fear of the open ocean entirely alone. And as though that weren't enough, the first bodies turn up soon after. Great setting. engaging characters and a very well developed plot. This kept me riveted until the end. Highly recommend.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I cannot say enough good things about this book. The setting was amazing. I loved that this was an adventure book that was merged into a thriller as well. Well written and I loved the main character.

A great thriller of not knowing who to trust, even yourself. An interesting setting of a cruise to Antarctica and a lot of history to delve into with different perspectives. It kept me guessing!

With my obsession over the world cruise a few months ago and my TikTok being full of the Drake Passage, I really enjoyed this book. It had my blood pumping and was exciting because it was so unique. Multiple deaths and a woman who needs to get through it herself. She overcomes so much from her fear of the water after her father’s tragic death to surviving the cruise from hell. The intrigue of an art exhibit plus grudges spanning years. It was a very good read.

Olivia and her art dealer boyfriend board a cruise for Antarctica. On board, they plan to sell the work of recently deceased artist whose work was heavily inspired by the landscapes of the South Pole. Olivia's boyfriend, however, disappears and people on board start dying.

This type of "airport novel" thriller usually isn't my bag, but the unique setting of Antarctica drew me in. The book, however, mostly takes place on a cruise ship While McCulloch does create some good atmosphere, the arctic setting feels underutilized.

The mystery isn't bad, but moves too slowly. There's too much filler. I got annoyed with Olivia constantly trying to check her email when the ship Wi-Fi was basically useless. The twist at the end does pay off, and makes for a good climax, but it took a bit too long to get there.

Overall, it was fairly entertaining, despite the flaws. If you're a fan of these kinds of mysteries, you may enjoy it.

Olivia faces her fears of the ocean in order to board a ship to the arctic, alongside her art dealer boyfriend. Olivia has not been at sea since she was a child on a fateful trip which took the life of her father and changed her mother forever. Now she finds herself aboard a ship full of strangers, unsure of who she can trust and in fear for her life. Is she safer on board the ship with a killer, or out in the open of the freezing cold arctic with someone on her trail. Good luck putting this book down. It's a well-written adventure thriller with pulse-pounding action and plot twists aplenty for readers to enjoy. Quick read.

I loved the vivid descriptions of Antarctica in this book! I don’t know that I would personally want to go there myself, but I enjoyed reading about it.

The main character was a little frustrating to me at times. Her reactions to some alarming events was often underplayed while she seemed to overreact to more minor situations. It was odd to me. And I sometimes had a hard time keeping track, or caring, about the large number of supporting characters.

Unfortunately, I ended up finding Midnight to be an unsatisfying thriller. If I could give it three and a half stars, I would, so I will call it three.

Midnight by Amy McCullough is a fast paced, locked room mystery set on a cruise ship in Antarctica. It has lots of twists and I was surprised by the the “killer” Recommend!

The reviews made this sound great, but it wasn't for me. I didn't like the characters or the writing. I was looking forward to a story with Antarctica as the setting. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

There is a saying in real estate that three things matter: location, location, location. Midnight is a novel that leans heavily on this aphorism, letting the setting of a luxurious ocean cruise to Antarctica do the heavy lifting for the storytelling.

Olivia Campbell is afraid of the water. Well, not so much the water as boats. For reasons that are not explained to the reader till the midpoint of the text, she links them to her father’s death and has developed a bit of a phobia about them. This makes what she is about to do seem rather risky: She is going on a luxury cruise with her boyfriend Aaron to Antarctica. Recovering from a nervous breakdown that essentially tanked her career and nearly destroyed her relationship, the trip is meant to be an opportunity to rework both. She and Aaron have formed Hunt Advisory, a group that will help scout and nurture artistic talent. Their first auction is to take place aboard the opulent liner with the beauty of the icy sea being the backdrop against which the work of the recently deceased Kostas Yenin will shine. His paintings echo the landscapes outside the ship’s windows and will be a valuable keepsake for the wealthy patrons aboard.

Things go wrong almost from the start. Aaron has no sooner boarded than he has to go back on land to deal with a mysterious issue. Assuring Olivia he will return before the ship leaves, he ends up not making it and she spends a frantic twenty-four hours searching for him onboard as well as trying to reach him on land (not easy to do when internet and cell service are spotty) without success. When he finally emails her that he missed the boat and to have fun without him, she is understandably furious. She allows a honeymooning couple to take her double bed while she bunks in with three other women in a singles cabin. Then she goes off to work only to have the auctioneer dismiss everything she says and, in the absence of Aaron, rework the auction to suit himself. Even as she tries to finagle her way through this, Olivia finds herself suddenly accident-prone – she is nearly choked by her life jacket and then almost killed by a fall on the stairs. She is certain there was someone behind her both times but is assured by others that there wasn’t.

It is at this point she learns the couple she gave her cabin to have been poisoned. Her frantic questioning leads to the discovery that they brought the drugs onto the cruise themselves, but Olivia can’t help but wonder if the whole incident didn’t have something to do with her.

An average grade review is the toughest to write because there is nothing particularly right or wrong with the story. What that means in terms of this particular novel is that it is a pretty basic mystery in which a naive, emotionally fragile, and rather unobservant young woman tries to deal with trauma from her past (her fear of sailing/being on ships and the recent nervous breakdown) while also trying to figure out what is happening in her present. Olivia does not make for a good amateur sleuth; her investigating tends to be clunky, her questioning of suspects obvious, and her intuition non-existent. She is also impeded by her lack of access to the internet and cell service and her lack of knowledge regarding Aaron, his business, and his friends. This feels awkward because she was supposedly on the trip with him as the financial guru of his company. The fact that she didn’t know the company was in the red, nor various deals he’s made with some of the people on board, shows she was woefully unprepared to hold that position.

Tension in a mystery tends to come from the reader’s desire to figure out just what is going on or their concerns for the character’s safety, but I didn’t really feel any of that here. Olivia is so clueless and hapless that I struggled to care about what she and Aaron had landed themselves into, figuring any disaster that happened they had probably brought on themselves (I was right). I also didn’t care about them as people. In spite of being given a good deal of Olivia’s backstory, she never felt real to me. Perhaps it’s simply that the writing relies heavily on telling rather than showing, but the information I had on Olivia’s character didn’t translate to understanding or liking her. Aaron is barely present, and the secondary characters, including the villain, are caricatures.

I’ll add that it’s odd to hear about the environmental impact on Antarctica – from tourists in Antarctica. From what I’ve read, both their presence and that of the boats that carry them there are responsible for at least some of the damage being done to that area.

The positives are that the story has decent pacing, readable prose, and none of the characters are hateful. Faint praise, which reflects the grade given.

A rather lackluster mystery, Midnight is dependent on the unique location to make for an interesting tale. The descriptions are lovely and intriguing and the isolation of the setting does add an oomph factor to the story. But it’s not enough of one to save it from its shortcomings. If you absolutely love Antarctica and cruise ships, maybe pick it up just for that. Otherwise, give it a miss.

One of my dreams is to see Antarctica! I had to read this. I was hooked immediately. I learned about boats and art too. I could not put this down. The setting was absolutely perfect!

Still suffering from the guilt of her father’s death! Olivia has reluctantly decided to go out with her new boyfriend and business partner on an Antarctic cruise. An emergency draws boyfriend Off the ship and he never reboards. Olivia is terrified to continue the voyage alone, especially when it now seems that her life is in danger and passengers are dying.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amy McCulloch and Vintage Anchor for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I love the intense and very claustrophobic feeling of a thriller/mystery on a cruise ship! The pacing of this novel was stellar and the twists were equally as fun. I suspected everyone at one point or another so I definitely recommend.

I really enjoyed this one. I loved the setting and all the information around Antarctic. My suspicions were all over the place and I thought the author did a great job of keeping me guessing. The ending with Patty seemed a bit out of nowhere but overall it was a great read.

I was a huge fan of Breathless by Amy McCullough, and was excited to read her next book. I was not disappointed. McCullough does a great job capturing once in a lifetime adventures while also putting a thrilling spin on them. She creates a tense, trapped atmosphere in a unique environment. The writing is strong and manages to convey the beauty and danger of the cruise expedition to Antarctica. My only complaint was the introduction of some of the side characters was a little rushed and by the time they became important I had forgot what their backgrounds were. Some of the dialogue for the social media influencer character was a little cringey, but I thought it was easy to look past. Overall, Midnight is a great twisty thriller with a beautiful and adventurous setting. Looking forward to more from McCullough. (4.75/5)

After reading Amy McCulloch’s debut adult thriller, Breathless, in the extreme geographic setting of climbing one of the world’s highest summits where survival is not guaranteed particularly when a murderer is part of the climbing party, I was primed and ready for her next standalone, Midnight, set against the frontier of Antarctica.

Like any good thriller, the main character and those surrounding her are as much of a curious enigma as the action part of the plot, which yes, involves multiple murders. I appreciated how this was another situation where a group is isolated and trapped with a murderer while on the fortified icebreaker/cruise ship and on Antarctica, itself.

Speaking of Antarctica… the setting is a vital element in the story beginning with the intriguing town that is the jumping off point for Antarctic explorers and visitors, to the region of sea known for storms to flare up, and the details about the warming threat to Antarctica, the glaciers, the wildlife, and even the special ship that has been outfitted with luxurious accommodations and the adventures of kayaking around glaciers and the Antarctic shore and camping on the shore. The attention to gear and precautions makes the reader feel the adventure suspense of the location.

The art element about the dead artist who painted and drew Antarctica as his muse and the way the cruise was as much about his exquisite work that wealthy bidders were there to get the original and see the other prints on display while cruising the settings.

The thriller part was interesting. The main character has a water phobia and has recently experienced total burnout from all the stresses in her life she was ignoring. She’s as shaky as it gets so one is meant to wonder if she’s an unreliable narrator or is someone toying with her as their next victim. Olivia is the sole narrator except for one brief scene in the beginning from the murderer’s POV. She’s not strong or particularly brilliant, but she does have long-buried survival skills her dad taught her that she recalls as the ship carries them further from civilization. I could appreciate the build of suspense and the way all the characters and their activities made for potential suspects, but I latched onto the correct villain nearly from the start and picked up on the motive as soon as I was given enough facts to piece it together. This didn’t diminish my suspense because then I was muttering at my device when Olivia was making the wrong assumptions and putting herself into worse danger. One of her wrong assumptions was rather dumb. She didn’t even try to find out if someone she suspected could be telling her the truth even when they offered her a way to verify. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that between her great fears, isolation, and mounting panic that she wasn’t firing on all cylinders. Plus, it did make it more exciting.

All in all, this was a solid good thriller and a fabulous setting for one that I can heartily recommend for a chilling winter read.

I adored McCulloch’s first book Breathless. This one does offer a lot of things that I typically love: life-threatening, high stakes adventures while exposed to the elements—this time in barren Antarctica. I enjoyed the luxury cruise setting and the author’s first-hand knowledge of these kinds of expeditions. Beyond that, it was very hard for me to overlook that it felt very disjointed and haphazard. The characters felt quite flat and the answers both felt pretty obvious or didn’t totally make sense. It’s worth trying if you love the movie Glass Onion.