Thin Air by Michelle Paver

1935: Kangchenjunga, the mountain that has so far conquered most who try to summit. Stephen's brother is intent on doing so, however, having idolized and studied those who have gone before him. But from the moment they set off, it seems the mountain has an eye to making sure they don't succeed. The team doesn't abide by superstition, but their sherpas certainly do. And the signs for this trek are bad indeed. 

Stephen is a last minute addition to the team. Invited because they needed a medic, not because his brother wants to share the glory with him. In fact, the two have a strained relationship. 

Stephen gets off on the wrong foot from the get go. Kits had hoped to have a talk with the only surviving member of the Lyell expedition he'd read about so many times. Stephen instead has the opportunity but botches it, getting all of them ousted from the man's house. Stephen himself isn't even sure what he's done, but the man's silence about the expedition is legendary. 

Of course that's what really sets the tone for the book. Stephen himself bucks any and all superstition shown by the support team of locals. And it's not until things start to go very badly for the expedition that he begins to believe there might be something to all of the rumors about the mountain.

This is my first read by Michelle Paver. It was also my first time hearing about Kangchenjunga at all. The third largest mountain in the world, it definitely doesn't get the glory and attention that Everest gets. But it's funny that I hadn't heard of it considering my draw to these kinds of stories. 

Paver's story is fiction as is the Lyell expedition the team is so focused on following, succeeding where that team did not. But the other climbs she mentions are real. Interestingly, Kangchenjunga was summitted (sort of—there was a longstanding tradition of not quite going to the top until just recently) by a team led by Aleister Crowley, no less. 

Also interesting, Kangchenjunga is the center of a pretty big yeti legend! 

It's clear from the start, though, that Paver's book isn't about a yeti. The subtitle is "A Ghost Story."

And a ghost story it is! 

But it's the build along the way that's oh, so deliciously creepy and atmospheric. One of the reasons I'm drawn to mountaineering stories is because it's something I have no desire ever to do. Heights terrify me, I hate the cold, and I'm happy if the most rigorous activity I take part in is turning the pages of a book about rigorous activity :) So going into it, this was actually a pretty perfect kind of horror story for me!

Thin Air is a slow burn, so probably not the book you want to dive into if you're looking for a quick read full of jump scares. Instead, it's a book that seeps into your very core. Stephen's discomfort and eventual isolation are much more of a focus than the actual ghost. By the time the really scary stuff starts, you've already been sufficiently discomfited by Stephen's entire experience on the mountain. 

Readers, I loved it! (Though I'd also now love a yeti horror!)

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