A BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB PICK • AS SEEN ON THE TODAY SHOW • NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD WINNER

"Breathless is a high-altitude, high-stakes thriller that combines fascinating, authentic mountaineering experience with pure thriller entertainment. The suspense rises like the Nepalese mountain it is set on. Reminded me of the best of Michael Crichton, where in-depth knowledge and a masterful plot work together to create a tense adrenaline-fuelled ride. I loved it.’—Matt Haig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library

"A vertigo-inducing page-turner by an author who brings the high-stakes world of expert mountain-climbing to life on the page."—Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

“The fact that McCulloch has actually climbed Manaslu allows her to ground her zippy thriller in first-hand experience. McCulloch knows what it’s like to be on a commercially guided ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. She knows what it’s like to be a relative novice in that context—surrounded by guides and Sherpas and other climbers who’ve got far more experience in the mountains. She knows what it’s like to be plopped down in a community of ambitious and sometimes disagreeable strangers in a setting that requires mutual trust. And she knows what it’s like to feel, as one of the few women on the mountain, like you’re ‘a target’ for misogyny and unwanted sexual advances. And so, in between the deaths and cliffhangers through which the plot hurtles, McCulloch puts her firsthand knowledge on display—in the process winning our trust as readers and shedding an uncomfortable amount of light on some of mountaineering’s less admirable aspects.”—Climbing.com