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Breathless by Amy McCulloch

Thriller

Breathless

by Amy McCulloch

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Quick take

The chilling story of a mountaineering expedition gone very, very wrong. Make sure you have your oxygen pack ready.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, International

    International

  • Illustrated icon, Creepy

    Creepy

  • Illustrated icon, Whodunit

    Whodunit

  • Illustrated icon, Rugged

    Rugged

Synopsis

A high-altitude thriller that will take your breath away—Cecily Wong is on her most dangerous climb yet, miles above sea level. But the elements are nothing compared to one chilling truth: There's a killer on the mountain.

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.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of Breathless.

Breathless

PROLOGUE

SUMMIT DAY

Breathe, Cecily.

Cold air filled her lungs. It was strange. When she’d pictured breathing up here, she’d assumed it would feel like suffocating. Choking. Maybe, in a way, like drowning.

But it didn’t.

She could feel the sting of the wind on a tiny bit of exposed skin on her cheek, between her buff and her sunglasses, and then a stronger gust against her body, threatening to bring her to her knees.

The air was there. It just wasn’t doing what it was supposed to.

She was so tired. Her muscles struggled to work as she pushed through the snow. Not just her muscles. Her blood. Her lungs. Her brain.

It was simple, really—there wasn’t enough oxygen in the air, less than a third of what her body was used to. The altimeter on her watch read that she was still up above eight thousand meters. In the death zone.

Her heart raced. She looked over her shoulder. Was he following? She stopped in her tracks. A hulking silhouette a few meters above her, his ponderous steps breaking fresh snow, stalking her, chasing her. But no...She blinked and realized it was only the shadow of a cloud on the mountainside.

Without enough oxygen reaching her brain, not even her eyes could be trusted.

So is he coming? Or is he waiting below?

She didn’t think it was possible for her heart to beat faster, but it did, galloping inside her chest. Her breath sped up too as she gulped down the thin air. She swooned, her head spinning.

What did it matter if he was above or below her?

Worry about him later. Worry about survival now.

She moved as fast as her body would let her. A thousand-meter drop was one misstep away. Meanwhile, phantom footsteps haunted her from behind.

She had to get down the mountain.

And she was going to have to do it on her own.

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Why I love it

I don’t always choose a thriller, but honestly, the further I journeyed up the mountain with Cecily, the harder it was to stop reading. This is a fast-paced and totally gripping novel. Make sure to pick up Breathless, I promise you that an adventure awaits!

Everything is high stakes on a mountaineering expedition. One wrong step and you could plummet to your death. Equipment malfunctions can happen and you could seriously injure yourself. Even if you do everything exactly right, the elements of nature are unpredictably harsh. In Breathless, Amy McCulloch masterfully brings the mountain and all of its dangers to vivid life.

Cecily Wong is about to get the scoop of a lifetime. Charles McVeigh, an internationally famous mountaineer, is about to break a record on the eighth-highest peak in the world—and he wants Cecily to cover his ascent. There’s only one condition: to get the interview, Cecily must summit Mount Manaslu with Charles first. Even though she’s a novice climber, Cecily accepts his terms. Her career depends on it. But when someone dies, Cecily starts to wonder if maybe she’s in over her head. As she climbs further up the mountain with no escape, she starts to realize that if the elements don’t kill her, something much more sinister on the mountain just might.

Member ratings (23,030)

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View all
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Darling Girls
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Wife Upstairs
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless