The Dark: The unputdownable and pulse-raising Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

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Haughton has created a fantastically atmospheric setting ... it's a chilling race to the finish to discover whodunnit' - Observer A sense of growing menace pervades ... the freezing wasteland and claustrophobic workings of the research station are finely rendered' Financial Times Set against the dangerous sub-zero temperatures end endless night of the Antarctic… Brilliantly atmospheric and terrifying‘– CATHERINE COOPER

As I’m much too ginger to really enjoy the sun, I’ve developed a bit of a fascination with cold places. Holidays in Alaska, Russia or Norway – count me in! With that in mind, it was the setting of Antarctica that brought me to this book – and I am so glad it did. I always love books that take me to a strange new world and let me experience life in the shoes of the people who live there. The author does exactly that here, providing a fascinating insight into what life in Antarctica is actually like: the protective clothing they have to wear outside to protect them from the deadly cold - they'd die in minutes without it; the limited diet (no fresh fruit or vegetables for months on end), the lifestyle, blood tests, mid-winter festivities, and more chillingly: accidents and medical problems and improvised emergency medical treatments.The kind of heart-pounding, sleep-stealing read that you want to recommend to everyone you meet. An absolutely thrilling book' - CASS GREEN

At the base where the characters are living, they are cut off from the wider world. It can take a long time for emergency services to reach them if anything goes wrong. It makes it more important than ever that they work as a team. When Doctor Kate North arrives, she turns up shortly after one member of the group she has been assigned to, has been killed. There is already a tense atmosphere, and everyone, of course, is still upset because of what has happened to their team member. Kate feels as though something isn’t right, and there are murmurings among the group, that there might be more to the death than first meets the eye. One member of the group isn’t prepared to let it lie. But is it possible there is a killer amongst them? If so they could all be in danger. The decision to give a number of team members similar names - Arne, Ark and Alex - is a necessary part of the plot, but just meant I kept mixing them up and forgetting what their role in the story and station life was. On top of that the patronising way the text drew attention to the language fumbles of the non-native English speakers made me very uncomfortable. All of the characters spoke English better than Kate spoke any other language, but she jumped on every time they fumbled an idiom or confused a word in a way that just added to my irritation with the character. I’m not a big fan of darkness. I’m not afraid of it, but the thought of being surrounded by it 24/7 during several months doesn’t seem like an appealing idea to me. The writing was so vivid I could see myself there and felt the claustrophobia of that environment more than once. The cold atmosphere inside the station between all the people working there was at times even more chilling than the sub-zero temperatures outside. Add some rivalry and suspicious to a hostile environment and you have a time bomb!There is a great plot here, but the leading character was so annoying that it detracted from my enjoyment. When their popular doctor was killed on a field trip due to faulty equipment, blame and suspicion disrupted group dynamics, and the growing tension is tangible. Boredom and loneliness can lead to emotional problems and personal rivalries, and strife when not carrying out their duties. I assume the research station was inland as the area was devoid of wildlife. Penguins, sea lions, etc., would have relieved the monotony and given the workers some diversion and amusement. The Dark came across as a modern-day Whodunit in that Kate realises that someone on the base killed her predecessor Jean-Luc and that any one of the other twelve crew members could be the culprit as they were all present the day he fell to his death and she will stop at nothing to uncover who the killer is.

For me, this was like Agatha Christie on speed. Which is perhaps appropriate as Kate, the main character, is a pill popping Doctor. Are the pills the reason for her bad decisions throughout the book, or is she just flakey? Either way, she is totally unlikeable as she stumbles from one disaster to another within the 'closed door' setting of Antarctica. She suspects everyone, at some time, as does the reader, faced with more red herrings than a Fishmonger! The book made for a light read and if it wasn’t for the fact that Kate is an addict who’s swallowing pills like candy all day, I would have given it one star more. I can understand where the pill-popping comes from, but seriously? I counted sometimes a dozen very strong pills a day she took… even when she didn’t need them. No way she would have been allowed to come near patients, let alone pills. However, there are some good things to, of course. I mention lovely knitting work and delicious food. You’ll have to read to book to find out more. After the tragic death of the station doctor, Jean-Luc, at the UN Research Base in Antarctica, A&E doctor Kate North arrives to replace him. She will spend the next twelve months looking after the staff, which over the winter will mean there are just thirteen of them.She mentions it often and when she has suspicions about one of them, she's disheartened because she believed this person might have loved her. This is a genuinely tense and exciting thriller – I couldn’t put it down as I watched Kate navigate her way through some excruciatingly tense events and situations. Given the fact that Kate is herself an unreliable narrator (not a spoiler), I was drawn into guessing and second-guessing all the time. I didn’t manage to get anywhere near the solution but I had a lot of fun trying. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a magician able to switch genres with ease. Her previous novel, Mexican Gothic, was a dark and brilliant slice of gothic fantasy; her latest, Velvet Was the Night, is a superb noir thriller set in Mexico City in the 70s following the student massacre known as “El Halconazo”.