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𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚-𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧, 𝙖 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚-𝙞𝙣-𝙖-𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙤 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖—𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙣—𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝.

I’m so disappointed and upset I didn’t end up enjoying this book. I read Breathless by this author a while ago and wasn’t the biggest fan of it. However, the premise of this one sounded so interesting with it being set on an Antarctic cruise.

We’re introduced to a couple, Olivia and Aaron, who are on this Antarctic cruise when all of a sudden Aaron disappears.

There are so many different characters in this book and as much as I tried, I could not familiarize myself with each one. I kept getting confused with who was who, especially with most of them being minor characters.

I had the audiobook and ebook so I switched back and forth, unfortunately, I just could not get engaged in the story either way. It took me a while to actually focus on the actual plotline.

I also don’t think I’m a fan of the writing style, it’s not bad, but it just doesn’t resonate with what I normally read. I also think the ending was so cliche and silly, it just felt like a chore pushing through this book.

Unfortunately, this was not my kind of thriller. It had such an interesting premise to it and I really was hoping I would love it. While it didn’t work for me, I hope it works for other readers.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Doubleday for the review copy and ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Although slightly predictable, this book kept my attention all the way through to the very end. I really enjoyed the setting of the cruise to Antarctica and the twists and turns that come with a thriller. I also really enjoyed the characters and their individual quirks that kept you thinking. Overall, a good standard thriller.

I love a winter mystery with a chilling setting, and Midnight had one of the most unique settings I've read recently: an ocean liner headed to Antarctica! The great details of the voyage included in the story were one of the most special parts of the book.

I wished the main character was a little less wishy-washy, and the gaslighting plot got a bit draggy in parts, but I still really recommend this for readers who love a claustrophobic and chilling feel. Perfect for fans of The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware!

I enjoyed this thriller with many twists and turns. A social media influencer is stuck on an Antarctic cruise where people keep turning up dead and she can't escape the fact that she may be the intended target. I loved the atmosphere of the Antarctic as I have not read many books with this backdrop. I would definitely read more by this author, Amy McCulloch again! I gave this book 4 stars because I felt there was predictability to some circumstances.

Olivia and her boyfriend Aaron are booked on a voyage to the Antarctic to experience the midnight sun. Aaron is an art dealer and is planning a gallery auction onboard for a recently deceased artist, but the day they're ready to depart he leaves the ship to handle a work emergency and misses the departure. Olivia hasn't been on the water since a tragic boating accident in her teens, so the absence of Aaron onboard coupled with her work burnout, PTSD, and insomnia make her even more anxious and unstable. So the strange incidents that start to happen she at first chalks up to coincidence or her mind playing tricks on her. But she soon realizes there's a killer on board... and she his target!
This is an excellent locked room type thriller with a unique ship setting and the Antarctic location is described beautifully--cold and stark-- adding to the tension of the story. There were so many twists and turns and the final one that I never saw coming. Although I enjoyed her previous book Breathless a bit more, this was a really great book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Want to cruise the Lost Continent? See the Midnight Sun? I was intrigued by the plot of this book and decided to request the ARC. The author, Amy McCulloch, writes from firsthand experience. She has actually been on an expedition to Antarctica. The book is written as a locked room thriller. Here is what I liked:

🚢The descriptions of the scenery and activities like kayaking, whale-watching and the Midnight Sun. And the penguins! 🐧

🚢The art component with a gallery on the ship featuring the work of a Lithuanian artist with a bit of a Bansky vibe. 🎨

🚢Olivia, our MC, has some baggage that she needs to deal with. I liked the ending Amy McCulloch chooses for Olivia. 💼

What I didn't like was how long it took for the book to really get to the point where we realized there was a locked room situation. It also seemed like the glacier descriptions could have used some editing. Lots of repetition in that area.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Couldn’t put this book down. Excellent writing and great characters. Don’t miss this well done disaster novel.

I loved the setting for this mystery. An adventure cruise to Antarctica! The author depicts a wondrous and beautiful space ruled by nature and the elements while intruded upon. A once in a lifetime trip but a missing art dealer throws a wrench in the high profile inclusion of a famous artist's onboard auction. The auction aspect was interesting while the mystery seemed secondary. Some twists but a pretty easy whodunit. The author was inspired by her own trip to Antarctica and it shows.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

A twisty thriller with a surprise or two at the end. Olivia has an issue with boats and water- an issue that's critical, as it turns out to the plot- but she agrees to go to Antarctica with her boyfriend Aaron, a art dealer who has arranged a special on board auction. And then Aaron hops off the ship just before debarkation and doesn't come back, leaving Olivia alone and mystified. She's even more mystified when it becomes clear that there's a killer on board. And a mysterious man who appears quite threatening. There are some deeply implausible aspects of this (a bunk room- with bunk beds- on a luxury voyage? excitement but no caution about encountering a leopard seal while in a kayak) but then there are the atmospherics of Antarctica (the cold, the ice, the leopard seal). This goes on a bit long and one of the twists is a bit of a stretch (as is the surprise awaiting Olivia at the end). That said, I liked that Olivia is an actuary (not seen that in a novel recently, if ever). Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Although terrified of the water, Olivia has been persuaded by her boyfriend to join him for a once in a lifetime cruise to Antarctica to help their new business. But when her boyfriend misses the ship and suspicious things start to happen to people on board, it seems like the water might be the least of Olivia's worries ...

This is a tense, gripping thriller in an unusual but fascinating setting. Some of the twists were better than others, but it was undoubtedly a brilliant book and I devoured it!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

After reading Breathless I was so excited to start another novel by McCulloch.
She did an amazing job once again!
Midnight by Amy McCulloch is absolutely chilling. It was a great book! It was really well written. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest.
I enjoyed the character development and the plot had me guessing the whole time.
I really enjoyed the atmospheric setting of Antarctica. The detail and descriptions were so vivid and detailed.
An incredible atmospheric and tense thriller with complex characters.

Thank You NetGalley and Doubleday for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

The first chapter did a good job of drawing me in and the few chapters after added to the intrigue while simultaneously confusing me. Lol

The setting of an Antarctic cruise with the descriptions of the landscape and wildlife actually made this a unique mix of suspenseful moments and serene nature which I liked. However, I figured out who the killer was very early on and that combined with the large amount of characters to keep track of made me like this just a little less than I’d hoped.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this early. Thank you Vintage Anchor

Prepared to be swept away into a suspenseful thriller!

Olivia has spent the last year in a downward spiral, almost succumbing to her extreme anxieties and despair. Her lifelines have been her best friend, Tricia, and her boyfriend, Aaron.

In a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Aaron arranges to host a high-end, luxury art auction aboard an Antarctic cruise ship. Aaron, an art agent, has secured the exclusive contract for representing a talented artist who tragically passed away in a car accident, making his artwork priceless.

As they prepare to board, Aaron is called back to the hotel, so Olivia boards and plans to meet up with him later. However, he never makes it onboard. As Olivia scrambles to contact Aaron, through storms and spotty cell and Internet service, it becomes clear that someone on board wishes her harm.

I did struggle to get into the book at first, but once Olivia boarded the ship, I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of the ship, the characters, and the awe-inspiring Antarctic landscape are so vivid that you find yourself immersed in the story. The ending was amazing! Highly recommended for fans of Amy McCullough, suspenseful reads, and mysteries.

Thank you to Amy McCulloch, NetGalley, and Vintage Anchor, Doubleday Publishing for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC, and Covid for the weeklong book binge!

This has a similar feel to McCulloch’s previous book Breathless (which, ironically, I’m pretty sure I read when I had Covid in February!) - a semi-adventurous, but mostly play-it-safe girl with a tragic backstory, on a once in a lifetime expedition without her partner, who ends up being hunted by a killer. Here our protagonist is Olivia. She used to be an actuary, but ever since meeting her boyfriend Aaron (this is yet another book featuring a whirlwind serious relationship), she’s been swept up in the world of high art. Aaron represents a painter named Kostas Yennin. Yennin painted gorgeous landscapes of Antarctica (and it seems like most of the pieces had a multimedia element as well). He was hugely talented, but wasn’t really breaking into the art world…until he tragically died in a car accident. Now Aaron has commissioned this Antarctic cruise to exclusively debut and sell Yennin’s artwork, which is all the more priceless (oxymoron?) now that he can’t make any more of it.

Olivia sort of works with Aaron, but she’s basically just along for the ride, until the ship leaves port without him on it. He’d been acting strange in the days before they left, and Olivia kept thinking she saw someone in Argentina following them. A few hours before the ship was due to leave, Aaron got some kind of message that spooked him and left the ship, telling Olivia he’d be back before they left. There’s a lot of back and forth about what could have happened to him, but it’s pretty clear that he ain’t coming back.

So Olivia is flying solo, and has to run this art auction on her own. She gives up her fancy suite to a honeymooning couple and bunks with a trio of women who all seem friendly enough. Annaliese and Patty are both travel agents, and Janine is some kind of travel blogger. All three of them are alternately friendly and shady, depending on the chapter. Olivia is still convinced that she’s being watched on board, and she has several scary incidents and close calls, but she’s never sure who’s behind it (and literally every character she comes into contact with may as well have a twirling mustache and a Russian accent. It gets to the point where it’s almost silly – if *everyone* is a suspect, then it’s not fun). Much like Breathless, there’s a fleeing from a killer in an extreme environment moment during the final “wild camping” excursion (which is pegged as this item only for big spenders but honestly sounds like my worst nightmare).

We also learn Olivia’s tragic backstory - she used to sail all the time with her parents (her father worked on boats and used to sail yachts from one port to another for his rich clients). But one night, her father put her on watch and she fell asleep. Their boat collided with a speedboat and her father went overboard. Until the cruise, Olivia hadn’t been on another boat, and she’s understandably freaked out about it. Of course, it’s clear that there’s more to this story, especially after Olivia spots a yacht that looks suspiciously like the death boat.

It’s very fast-paced, and I flew through it with every twist, wanting to know how it was all going to play out. Even though I despise camping, I’m somehow a sucker for these kinds of outdoor survival stories.

3.5/5

Midnight was definitely a slow starter for me, it took a while to get into the storyline and actually feel engaged by it. But once it started delving deeper into the murders it was more intriguing. The setting is beautiful and I do like a locked room thriller, however, for me personally there was nothing extraordinary about it. That being said, it was good, it was fun and it's a nice quick read!

This one took me a bit longer to get into than Breathless by this author which was SO propulsive, but once the ship set sail I was hooked and could barely put the book down! Very satisfying twists and I enjoyed learning more about the art world.

The premise of this was intriguing and I loved the beginning set up, however I found it quite confusing and long-winded once all the characters and various story lines all rushed over one another.

I really wanted to love this but it fell quite flat. I expect a little more from the overall mystery.

This is an exciting cat and mouse novel in which the stark setting becomes yet another “character” in this thriller. The characters were fleshed out sufficiently if not particularly in-depth. The plot driven story really packs a punch and uses the events to maximize the excitement. A must read you will not be able to put down.

In Midnight, couple Olivia and Aaron are taking a luxury cruise to Antarctica where they will be selling artwork by Yennin, someone who took inspiration from the continent and who recently died. But this trip is even more special for Olivia as it is meant to be a fresh start in her life. All starts to go haywire when Aaron misses boarding and now Olivia is all alone. As one bad thing after another takes place, the reader starts to ask who can we actually trust.
There were some thought processes Olivia had that I thought were silly. Some people she thought were safe and others she thought were dangerous, and I more so thought the opposite. I wasn't very attached to the characters, and I felt like the book was a little repetitive.
I really liked the setting of the book. I love books that take place on cruise ships; not many thrillers do yet. It was a locked room situation, but with excursions! I also loved the location choice the author made - Antarctica. It's a continent known for freezing temperatures and unstable glaciers, which is perfect for a creepy story.
What also made this book special was that the author did the same cruise! She has seen the wonders of the continent, so she spoke from first hand experience.

I was excited to try this story as it has everything that I usually love in stories: isolation/forced proximity, wintery setting, and a mystery the main character has to figure out to survive. Unfortunately, the main characters didn't draw me in, and I didn't care all that much about them. Perhaps this is harsh, but it didn't grab me, so I will not be finishing this one. DNF'd around the 5% mark.