Wow, what a wild ride this was!! When you read the premise of the book, you wonder how it could be so exciting but it really was.

Rachael leaves her comfortable life in London behind to spend months in Antarctica over winter at the behest of her mentor.

What happens when she gets there is the stuff of nightmares but she tackles each issue as it arises.

I don't want to put too much detail in this review in case I give away too much but suffice to say this book was absolutely worth reading and a rollercoaster of a read that I just couldn't put down.

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books.

Whiteout by R. S. Burnett keeps you hooked till the very end.
A well written suspense filled with twists that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
A quick and fun read that I finished in a few hours.
The characterization was superb, the writing pacey and flowing, and the tension delivered in a series of shocks and twists along the way.
This is a tightly written story, with well developed characters and enough suspense to keep you reading.

Rachael Beckett has a devoted husband, Adam, and they are the doting parents of an adorable toddler, Izzy. Rachael is a scientist who analyzes glaciers in Antarctica that are disintegrating because of climate change. When Guy Barnard, her former boss, pressures Rachael to join him and his colleagues on what promises to be a crucial expedition, she jumps at the chance. It seems that influential members of the American government have conducted exploratory drilling for oil in Antarctica. Their findings have led them to believe that extracting oil from this area will bring down the cost of energy. Guy and Rachael set out to prove that the glaciers are melting at such an alarming rate that further drilling could trigger an environmental catastrophe.

Most of "Whiteout," by R. S. Burnett, is an enthralling tale of adventure in a forbidding climate where dedicated glaciologists conduct important research. The temperature in Antarctica during the winter season is well below freezing, and those who remain there for months at a time are at risk from such hazards as frostbite, hypothermia, mental illness brought on by isolation, and fatal plunges into crevasses. During this eventful trip, Rachael, who is brilliant but also stubborn and reckless, will encounter terrifying challenges.

Burnett's descriptive writing is excellent, and we sympathize with the heroine, whose struggles would defeat most human beings. Thanks to the author's vivid prose, we can almost feel the bitterly cold wind as if it were whipping in our faces as well as the blinding snow that makes navigating the treacherous terrain so perilous. What a shame that Burnett ends his suspenseful thriller with a contrived, wildly implausible, and melodramatic finale. Until the closing chapters, this was a compelling and exciting roller-coaster ride.

DNF @ 13%. I was so excited to get an eARC of this from Netgalley, but it’s been almost 3 weeks since I started it and I have no desire to try and force myself further. The premise sounded so intriguing but I couldn’t figure out why I felt so disconnected from the main character and her emotions…until I saw a few other reviewers on here saying this is obviously a male author trying unsuccessfully to write a woman MC.

Yep, there it is. Considering this is a debut, the author’s first and middle name are initials, and there’s no author photo or even bio on here that gives pronouns, I had just wrongly assumed it was a woman author. Apparently I was wrong, and now it makes perfect sense why the MC didn’t feel realistic enough for me to care what was happening to her. Sigh. Can men please stop trying to write women MCs unless y’all are going through a group of brutally honest women sensitivity readers first. Or better yet, just stick to writing male MCs instead.

Yowsa! This is a real page turner especially for fans of novels about Antarctica. This moves back and forth in time to tell Rachel's story as she battles to stay alive in the present. She's alone at an outpost in Antarctica doing research and listening to a broadcast from the BBC about how the UK has been attacked with nuclear weapons. And then she has her own disaster and must set off in the dark back to home base. And just when she thinks things might be ok, well, no spoilers! To be honest, this does get quite Perils of Pauline in spots (and strains credulity a bit) but I couldn't put it down. You've got to buy the premise and root for Rachel but that's easy to do. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A great read.

Thank you Netgalley & Crooked Lane Books for an eARC ♥️


The story follows Rachael, a glaciologist who's stuck in Antarctica after a nuclear war breaks out. I know, I know, it sounds bleak, but trust me, it's a crazy ride.🤯
Rachael's a total rockstar, by the way. She's smart, resourceful, and determined to survive, no matter what. I was totally rooting for her from the get-go.
The author's writing is insane! The pacing is crazy fast, and each chapter ends with a cliffhanger that'll keep you up all night wondering what happens next.
But what really got me was the psychological aspect. Rachael's forced to confront some pretty dark stuff, and I was right there with her, wondering what I'd do in her shoes. It's a total mind-game, and I was here. for. it.

As I started reading Whiteout it felt like I was reading the news but as the story progressed there was web of deceit, lies, greed, unbearable psychological hurt, and crime. Rachael was a scientist experienced with travels to the Antarctica and she was now summoned by her mentor to help analyse what was happening to the ice to avoid drilling for oil in the region. She'll face many difficulties and will have to fight for life to discover the truth, send the data she was able to record, and eventually be reunited with those she loved. Whiteout has a great plot, a relentless heroine who will rediscover her most treasured feelings whilst fighting for her life. Highly recommended!
I thank the author and NetGalley for this ARC.

This thriller was perfect for helping me out of my reading slump as the pacing is perfect and the twists are twisty. Especially for a debut, I really enjoyed the writing in Whiteout and can’t wait to see what this author puts out next.

Part climate thriller and part domestic suspense - I loved the oscillating timelines as Rachael flashes back to her mundane suburban life. Stuck deep in the Arctic with only an emergency broadcast to keep her company - she begins to wonder if the mundanity was so bad after all.

Check this one out if you love thrillers, mysteries, cli-fi, and suspense!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the eARC of this frigid title!**

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane for providing me with this advanced eARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5⭐

This was so different than any thriller I have read before!
I found myself flipping the pages, holding my breath and feeling shivers down my spine just from thinking how cold the main character was. (then I went ahead and had frozen fruit bowls in the middle of winter so that I could feel 1% as bad as her)

I was incredibly curious to know how this book was going to develop and appreciated the fast pace.

The lack of higher rating is purely because, at some point, things did stop sounding very realistic to me.

Overall, I would recommend this book as it is so different from anything I've ever read.

I really enjoyed Whiteout. It was an edge of your seat read, full of suspense, drama, mystery, and crazy twists.

I loved R.S. Burnett's writing style. I was drawn in immediately and couldn't put it down. Rachael, Zak & Guy were interesting characters, especially Rachael. She was strong, determined, independent, stubborn, and downright fierce.

I highly recommend, and I look forward to reading more from R.S. Burnett.
Fans of John Marrs, Freida McFadden & Jeneva Rose will love this book.

Thanks to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and R.S. Burnett for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Edge of your seat read. I also have the audiobook version as well. This was well written and had great suspense.
The setting of the middle of Antarctica is phenomenal.
My only complaint would be all the political stuff thrown in that wasn’t really necessary.

Rachael Beckett is an experienced Antarctic researcher who's skilled at measuring the thickness of the ice shelves, to predict possible calving. Currently, Rachael is taking a break from field work to stay in England with her husband Adam and baby daughter Izzy, who's the light of Rachael's life.

Rachael didn't plan to return to the Antarctic for a while, but feels compelled to go after a visit from her mentor, Guy Barnard. Guy brings research showing the Ross Ice Shelf is melting, and a piece weighing 4 trillion tons and measuring 23,000 square kilometers (the size of Wales) is in danger of calving off because of climate change combined with drilling. This could result in sea levels rising by six meters (about 20 feet), which would be disastrous. A possible solution would be to stop drilling, which the U.S. Congress has to authorize. To convince senators to vote the right way, scientists need compelling undeniable research. Thus Guy is planning an Antarctic expedition, and he convinces Rachael to join his team.

Guy, Rachael, and the rest of the research group is flown into Antarctica and start their work. Jump ahead four months and Rachael is alone in her pod in the pitch black Antarctic winter. For various reasons, Rachael has become separated from the rest of the team, and a radio broadcast repeating every two hours states the following: "This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service from the BBC in London. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons....the number of casualties are unknown....stay in your homes, etc.

Rachael doesn't know if Adam and Izzy are dead or alive, but fears the worst, and actually thinks she might be the last person alive on earth. Nevertheless, Rachael is carrying on with her research, recording everything in her journal: Temperature -69 C; Windspeed 63 mph; Ice Thickness....whatever; etc.

In the course of the story, Rachael's situation goes from bad to worse to horrendous, but she's absolutely intrepid and fights to carry on.

To say more would be a spoiler, but rest assured there's plenty of danger and drama.

This thriller is an edge-of-your-seat page turner, and you might even want to don your parka in empathy with Rachael, who has to 'Brave cold that's like a punch in the face. Cold that snaked its way inside you in seconds and seemed to freeze your very bones. Cold that overwhelmed you, stopped your hands from working properly and even slowed down the functions of your brain.'

Very good book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, R.S. Burnett, and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of the manuscript.

White Out by RS Burnett, in the book we meet Rachel, who is trying to be happy as a stay at home mom one day when she gets a visit from one of her old colleagues Guy. he tells her he desperately needs her help because one of the biggest fractures in the Antarctic is about to let loose of France sized ice cliff that will intern release other ice, and it will overwhelm the world and spell doom for us all. To make matters worse, the American president has ignored peace, treaties, and okayed drilling in the Arctic. this is how she decides to abandon her 15 month old baby Izzy and husband Adam doing research in the coldest place on earth. it seems everything that can go wrong does and she finds herself in a fight for her life but for what because she’s received a message on her radio that says nuclear bombs have been dropped and for all she knows everything she knew and loved is gone. Sadly she also learns it isn’t just the weather that she’s up against and will visit the precipice of death more than once, but the body yearns to go on and go on she does. I started out reading the Kindle version of this book, but soon as I heard the narrator Billy Fulford Browne, I stuck with the audiobook. She not only had a great way of setting the tone but emotionally kept pace with the narrative and thought she did a wonderful awesome job. I didn’t like the main character Rachel, especially after she agreed to leave her 14 month old daughter and I get it. She was going to save the world, but I’m sure there were others that could’ve done that job and in no way would I leave my baby for five months to go live in the Arctic. When you have children, I believe it’s your duty to keep yourself safe and out of danger so you can be there for your children, but that’s just my opinion as far as this book it is awesome and I definitely absolutely recommend it. #NetGalley,#CrookedLaneBooks, #SpotifyBooks, #TheBlindReviewer, #RSBurnett, #WhiteOut,

Wow. That was intense.
Rachael is a scientist, wife and mother. She’s been living the normal life and it’s driving her crazy. Then, her friend Guy shows up and asks her to help save the world. How can she say no? It means going to Antarctica, and in winter. She’s been there but never in winter but figures it’s important. Then she finds out details were left out. It’s not the expedition she thought it was. Then things get worse. And then…….yeah, it gets bad. Can’t give details though.
Some of the book dragged a bit but I was rooting for Rachael and really wanted to see how things went. And then just as things were looking up, bam! Did not see that coming.
Holy Mackerel, this is a debut novel. Went to look for other books and found out it’s his first. Wow. Very strong beginning. Looking forward to more from Mr. Burnett.
I received this as a free ARC and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read and review Whiteout by R.S. Burnett. All opinions are my own.

Rachel was a researcher and now is a stay-at-home mom. She's somewhat unfulfilled in this role she has found herself in. This is affecting her marriage. A former colleague presents her with a research project in Antarctica that will take her away for several months, and she jumps at the chance to do something different and fulfilling. Obviously, her husband is not really happy with the decision, but she goes anyway. Upon arrival things start going south pretty fast and she finds herself volunteering to go alone into the dangerous blizzard like conditions to save the project and maybe the world. After going out alone she finds herself cut off from base camp communications for a couple of months. Base camp is miles and miles away, but she has to try. From here one problem after another occurs. Will she make it?

This is one of those adventure stories where one thing after another goes wrong. A survival adventure/thriller. Loneliness, starvation, temperatures way below zero, and so much more. I did get frustrated with some of the decisions that Rachel made throughout the book, but boy does she have grit. There should be a wide audience for this one. Whiteout will be available February 11th from all major book retailers. Happy Reading!!

The synopsis compares this book to The Martian, and it’s spot on. The Antarctic could as well be another planet that is trying to kill any human who goes there. Rachael braved the perpetual darkness and unspeakable cold of the continent in winter to try to save the world. When the novel starts, she’s alone and her only contact with the world is a transmission that says that there was a nuclear war, and she may be the last person alive. Then everything that can go wrong does, and she finds herself alone and starving, just trying to survive. These parts were insanely suspenseful, when everything seems lost, she can only rely on her wits to get herself out of trouble. There is a little too much deus ex machina, but I was invested enough in the story that I didn’t mind. That said, I didn’t like Rachael, didn’t connect with her and, while her reactions are understandable under the circumstances, all her internal monologues about being a good mother and her relationship with her husband were a little tiring. I am not the type of reader who enjoys that content, so maybe that was my problem. One of the main twists seemed too absurd, and the final reveal was not unexpected. I still enjoyed it.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Crooked Lane Books.

This was such an interesting and intriguing story! It's was really intense and had me on the edge of my seat a lot of times. The plot was very different to other thrillers I have read and I really enjoyed the whole survival thing, while diving into mentally challenge of being totally caught off from everyone.
This is a perfect thriller for winter and I will definitely recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first half had me racing through the pages... The pacing was so quick, and I enjoyed how the information was revealed. But as things progressed it became way too predictable, and I felt disconnected from the main character. The dialogue felt flat, and I kept waiting for something surprising that never came. The political commentary was a strong point, though! relevant and well-executed.

Read in: 5 days & 🇬🇧 & 📱

I like the premise of the novel, a researcher stranded in the Antarctic following a nuclear devastation. However, I did not engage with the narrative or the characterisation and did not finish.

Whiteout by R. S. Burnett is the kind of book that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Rachael Beckett is stuck in the middle of the Antarctic winter—freezing, starving, and totally alone—after hearing the worst news imaginable: nuclear war might have wiped out everyone she loves. It’s bleak, intense, and full of heart-pounding moments as Rachael fights to survive the brutal cold and her own grief. And just when you think things can’t get worse, she realizes she’s not as alone as she thought—and not in a good way. The mix of isolation, mystery, and sheer terror makes this a gripping survival thriller that’ll leave you breathless.