After the tragic death of the station doctor, Jean-Luc, at the UN Research Base in Antarctica, A&E doctor Kate North arrives to replace him. She will spend the next twelve months looking after the staff, which over the winter will mean there are just thirteen of them.

Kate applied for the job after a tragic accident in which she was badly injured and her partner was killed. Still grieving and on high-dose pain medication she sees the challenge of working in Antarctica as a way of starting again, it isn’t long though before she is unsure she has made the right decision.

Kate starts to suspect that someone on the base killed Jean-Luc but the more she pushes for answers the more danger she puts herself in.

I’ve read a few books set in desolate lands and have always enjoyed the feeling of stillness, claustrophobia, and tension that they bring and The Dark was no different, in fact, setting a thriller in such a cut-off, isolate place is perfect. It certainly makes the plot feel intense and urgent. Author Emma Haughton has done a great job of creating scenery so vividly that it made me feel chilly whilst reading.

The Dark came across as a modern-day whodunit in that Kate realises that someone on the base killed her predecessor Jean-Luc and that any one of the other twelve crew members could be the culprit as they were all present the day he fell to his death and she will stop at nothing to uncover who the killer is.

I became fully invested in the characters. You do have to wait until right near the end to discover which crew member killed Jean-Luc though I had my suspicions from around halfway through. The Dark was an enjoyable, eerie thriller that was fast-paced and absorbing right from the off.