A review by bethreadsandnaps
Midnight by Amy McCulloch

3.0

I read this one because I gave Breathless 4 stars, and I’m a sucker for a book set on a cruise ship. Also, the Ultimate World Cruise, the TikTok phenomenon, will be in Antarctica in the next week. Serendipitous timing! 

Our protagonist Olivia is an actuary (rarely seen job in books, not known for their excitement), and she is working with her boyfriend Aaron on a new project to get a recently deceased artist’s work onto this cruise company’s art auctions. If you haven’t been on a cruise, art auctions are a big deal on cruise ships. 

This cruise is going to Antarctica, Olivia is very apprehensive about getting on the ship for a reason that will be revealed. Even worse, Aaron leaves the ship right before it sets sail and doesn’t make it back by the time it leaves! 

Unfortunately, this was a standard thriller. A lot of characters with precious little character development and I kept mixing everyone up, it took a long time for the first murder to show up, it didn’t give off the cruise ship vibes. 

It DID give off cold, wet vibes, and icebergs/glacial calving were the most educational pieces. Breathless - her previous thriller - had a lot more about mountaineering than this one did about Antarctica.