This is not gore-fest horror – it’s all done with things half-glimpsed and subject to interpretation. The bit in the middle where the horror actually happens, though, is excellent, right up there with Dark Matter. Then, after the main events which really only fill about a third of the book, there is a long and unnecessary wrap-up in which we learn more than we need to about what happens to some of the characters in their future. It’s very well-written and gives a real feel for what a climbing expedition of that era would have been like, so in that sense it’s interesting but, although there is some foreshadowing of events to come, the anticipated atmosphere of impending horror doesn’t really take off until past the halfway point. I think it’s revolting.”) I assume all this negativity is designed to show us, firstly, that the environment is harsh and unwelcoming and, secondly, that his mental state is already precarious, but I quickly found I had an overwhelming urge to shove him off the mountain. I do wish they’d use flags.” “I don’t care for the knoll.” “I can’t get used to how cramped it is in my tent.” “Just now, he called me over to admire a giant ‘flower’, its trumpet head a blotched greenish purple, and bowed, like a cobra about to strike. The glacier’s horrible.” “More bloody cairns. The result is that the first half, more or less, is simply a long description of the trek to the mountain and the setting up of the first camps, with a narrator who finds everything either disappointing or horrible. This is a short book in comparison to most, coming in at 240 pages, but nonetheless it is too long for the story it tells. I know this is becoming one of my most regular rants, so I’m going to give it a scientific name – FF’s First Law: The length of a book should be determined by the requirements of the story. Perhaps that’s why I found this one a little disappointing.

And so they set off… but Stephen soon begins to feel haunted himself…Īfter Michelle Paver’s fabulous Dark Matter, my expectations for this chilly ghost story were high indeed.

Only two survived – Lyell himself, and Charles Tennant who has been haunted ever since by his experiences on the mountain. The team of five men proposes to tackle the South-West Face, a route taken by the earlier Lyell expedition which ended in tragedy after they were struck by an avalanche. There’s always been a sibling rivalry between the two brothers and, although acknowledging that Kits is the better climber, Stephen determines that he too will make it to the summit of Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and as yet unconquered. His elder brother Kits is already part of the expedition. When the medic for a Himalayan expedition is injured, Dr Stephen Pearce is asked to stand in.

Thin air a ghost story