The Dark by Emma Haughton

Kate North has just undergone rigorous interviews and testing to earn a spot as the doctor at a remote UN station in Antarctica. She’s to spend a year there, the first portion with the winter team, a barebones collection of individuals who will spend six months in increasing darkness. They are unable to leave and they have no access to new supplies. 

For most, it’s a nightmare. 

For Kate, it’s a welcome change. 

But as soon as Kate arrives, she begins to hear stories about the previous doctor and the accident that befell him. An accident some believe was intentional. With darkness closing in and nowhere to go, Kate is faced with the possibility that one of the people still housed at the station could be a murderer. A possibility that becomes all too real when one of their own is found dead. 

I love, love, loved this book! The closed off setting, the impenetrable darkness, the barely staved off danger of the surroundings alone, not to mention a killer lurking on the remote station...This is exactly the kind of book that I crave!

So what kind of person chooses to be closed off from the world for no less than six months? Well, Kate North, for one. 

Kate has experienced great loss and pain recently and the promise of getting away from everything and everyone that reminders her of that is of understandable appeal. And though the station is in need of a replacement doctor quickly, Kate was thoroughly vetted and rigorously interviewed. 

But they didn't catch everything. Like the fact that Kate has a very strong pill addiction!

Nonetheless, Kate is confident she can do the job. And that doesn't change when she's met with a few less than enthusiastic colleagues. 

It soon becomes clear that at least some of the frosty welcome is due to the circumstances of her hiring. It seems her predecessor died in a terrible accident. And some aren't entirely sure it was an accident at all. 

But is it paranoia as a result of their setting? Or is the station itself as dangerous as the cold and dark outside?

Honestly, while I wanted to savor this one because it was so exactly what I was in the mood for, I gobbled it up in one day! 

If you like creepy, atmospheric reads; if you like locked-room mysteries; if you like thrillers that pit characters against impossible odds; heck if you just like a great fast-paced read, The Dark is definitely for you! This is one of my favorites of late, and it's left me with a massive book hangover, if I'm honest. Nothing is quite hitting the same spot now!

The Dark is out now in the UK and the US. Be sure to order a copy from your favorite indie via Bookshop!