3.5 stars Midnight is a locked room mystery that takes place on board a ship that has set off for the Antartic. The description of the voyage and the surroundings, the ice bergs, the cold all were written so well you will feel you are on board with Olivia. She and her boyfriend Aaron are hosting an onboard auction of art work . When the ship is about to depart Aaron is nowhere to be found. Bodies start to pile up and Olivia seems to always at the edge of things. Who can she trust . So many suspects. Midnight is well worth the read for the atmosphere and the whodunit. Chillingly good.

I absolutely loved Amy McCulloch’s previous book ‘Breathless’ which drew on her experience as a mountain climber so requesting her next book ‘Midnight’ was a complete no brainer for me. The book is set on an Antarctic cruise to celebrate a late artist and auction off some of his paintings. On board are Olivia and her boyfriend Aaron - Olivia has a bad history with being out at sea and is dreading it and when Aaron disappears as they set sail, she realises that this trip may not be smooth sailing. I’m not sure whether it was just my mood when reading this book, but something really stopped me from getting engaged with it. For a start there are a lot of characters to keep track of, even on a relatively small ship. Even in the last few percent when a small group of passengers leave the ship one couple are referred to as people Olivia can’t remember the names of! I kept getting the ladies Olivia shared a cabin with mixed up and there are so many minor characters, red herrings and people involved with their own agendas, I got really confused as to who was who. I also thought Olivia was really naïve at times and a lot of her actions felt very convenient for the plot and not necessarily realistic as to what someone would do. This felt the case with most of the characters, especially those working on the ship who were brushing off and covering up major concerns without much reasoning behind their actions other than to make them look suspicious. There’s also a ‘twist’ at the end, which was very easy to guess from the outset, so I saw it coming a mile off. The ending just felt too neatly wrapped up – particularly the storyline about her father. Overall, I really didn’t gel with Midnight which is a shame as I’d loved Breathless so much. For me I struggled to engage with it throughout and found there to be too many characters and a plot that was unrealistic and predictable. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin Random House – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.