This novel has many flaws, but I loved it, and that is why I am rating it four stars!
The premise is classic, but with a twist: There are thirteen people working on a research station in Antarctica. The narrator, Dr Kate North, is the newest member and arrives to replace the former station doctor, who died in an accident. After some time, she starts having doubts about this accident and tries to find out what happened. Of course there is another murder, and in the 24 hour darkness of the Antarctic winter, suddenly nothing is safe at all.
The twist? Even if you escape this locked room, you will die because you cannot survive in the conditions outside!
I loved the setting and premise of this novel. I have watched a few documentaries about research in Antarctica (Bremerhaven, where I live, is the homeport of the Polarstern research vessel). Of course I am no expert, but it seemed to me that the author did her research well and the descriptions are mostly authentic. The story drew me in at once and I couldn't stop reading. The depiction of Antarctica is beautiful and I was simply there while reading.
There were a few aspects that I did not like, though: Kate is addicted to painkillers and other pills and takes them frequently throughout the day. She starts having symptoms fast if she does not take them, and even apart from that, she is very jittery and unstable. So the fact that she was chosen to be the replacement doctor, undergoing many physical and psychological tests in the process, is completely unbelievable. On the other hand, some of the characters are very stereotypical - Of course the German is stiff and serious! Of course all the men are pining after the pretty lesbian, and would you have thought she is a lesbian, with her not even wearing dungarees?
There are some other inconsistencies and actions that are not credible.
But despite of them, I enjoyed this novel very much and it completely captivated me. ( )

The Dark, by Emma Haughton, is a mystery set in Antarctica. After a personal trauma, Dr. Kate North decides to leave everything behind and take a post wintering over as the station physician. Not many researchers stay over the winter, through the 24-hour darkness and months without fresh supplies, but a few continue their work year-round. Kate’s ready for an extreme reset, where no one knows her past and where she can self-prescribe in peace.

Before arriving, Kate heard that the position is only open because the previous doctor died in an accident, but once she’s living in the research station, she begins to hear other things. Kate can’t seem to leave this alone, asking nosy questions and peeking around, and I felt a real conflict as she started to look into what could have happened. She’s a mess in her personal life, and maybe this project will distract her and pull her out of this? But then again, she’s a mess, so maybe she’s just going to make it all worse.

Full review on my book blog

A novel of two halves - tediously slow and patently ridiculous - I only persevered with Emma Haughton's debut novel for adults (although I have read better YA fiction) because I was hoping for a sci-fi novel, like The Thing, or a supernatural tale, like Michelle Paver's Dark Matter (which, upon checking my review, I also hated). Nope. Instead we get an attempt at 'Agatha Christie characters transposed to an Antarctic wilderness', with possibly one of the most annoying narrators in the history of contemporary fiction.

Seriously, what is with the penchant for whiny, pathetic female characters who are too busy feeling sorry for themselves to realise when they are in danger? Are they meant to be relatable or sympathetic? I just wanted Dr Kate North to die, quite honestly. For the first half of the book, she is a waste of space, whacked out on pain medication, first her own and then stolen from the clinic, obsessed with the scar on her face and the memory of her late fiancé yet simultaneously confusing her position as the new medic at a remote ice station with a dating app. After mooning over and finally getting off with Drew, the dishy American who makes hydroponic salads, Kate turns her attention to the next man who is kind to her, Scandinavian mechanic Arne. When not hopped up on drugs or swiping right for her male colleagues, Kate spends her time blinded by tears, which are constantly either prickling or welling in her eyes. That and referring to herself in the third person while at another pity party for one. There's a scene - spoilers, I guess? - where Kate is abandoned outside in the eternal dark and loses both her torch and her bearings, and even though she's the narrator, I desperately wanted her to freeze to death and end both our suffering. Sadly, she survives.

The rest of the UNA (United Nations Antarctica Station) are even more cliched, if that is possible. Drew is American and therefore has movie star good looks, Rajiv the chef (who makes curry) is 'easy to remember' with his turban, Arkady and Tom struggle with English and need Kate to finish their sentences and explain colloquialisms to them, Alice is 'ethereally feminine' yet gay! How can that be? Surely Caro, who wears baggy dungarees all the time, is more likely to be the lesbian. This was the insulting level of description throughout.

The plot is a drawn out murder mystery where one of the crew is a killer but everyone is trapped at the station for the winter. After pages of what seems like the same conversation - everyone asking Kate if she's okay, Kate telling them that she's finding the lack of sleep/light/trust hard and people keep making her cry - a few clues are finally thrown in via the video diary of the previous doctor who died in mysterious circumstances. And then Kate suddenly turns amateur detective, despite later quoting Bones from Star Trek: 'I'm a doctor, not a detective!' (She's not much of a doctor, either, to be fair.) Four of the men have names starting with A, the initial of the last doctor's suspect, so Kate decides to trust no-one (except for Arne, he's pretty cute!) and harass everyone.

The most unbelievable twist in the tale comes when Kate is forced to go cold turkey - suddenly she is wonder woman! Delivering a premature baby in a remote ice station with the power out, no prior experience and no incubators? No problem! Someone is shot in the head? It's just a flesh wound!) One character even pulls her up on such a miraculous recovery: ‘And who made you de facto leader?’ Luuk finally finds his voice, throwing me a challenging look. ‘Why all of a sudden are you giving the orders? Seems to me it wasn’t long ago you were confined to your room for breaching pretty much every rule on the base.’

Honestly, apart from some interesting background into life on Antarctica and a pretty description of the aurora autralis, this was a laughable story with a narrator who grated severely on my nerves throughout. Did I guess the killer? Yep. Was the killer's motive even remotely credible? Nope. Did I wish they would do us a favour and kill Kate? More and more with every chapter! ( )

As soon as The Dark begins we are thrust into life in Antarctica in much the same way as Dr Kate North. She is arriving at the ice station there to take up a role as the doctor after the previous one died out on the ice. She's also running away from the aftermath of a tragic accident, one which has had a huge physical and emotional effect on her.

I love stories that take place in settings like Antarctica. From the off there's a real sense of foreboding about the inhospitable nature of it. After all, for humans to live there they have to rely completely on items that have been transported there. The only natural thing they can use is the snow for water. I felt a shudder go down my spine when 24 hour darkness descended, lasting for several months of the year. Add to that the fact that Kate has been placed within an already established group and the sense that something just isn't quite right, and this is quite the unnerving read.

It took me a little getting into. Just like Kate, I had to get to know the names, nationalities and roles of all the characters, and I had to get used to the unusual setting. However, I was very quickly drawn in to the action, to the feeling that some people had a lot to hide. There are some really tense moments, none more so than when Kate has to carry out a very unexpected procedure. I couldn't take my eyes off the page. I also really enjoyed reading about life at the ice station and imagining trying to cope with all its limitations.

This is a locked room mystery but set somewhere that even if you escape you will probably die. I got a very strong sense of how cold it was from the writing and that alone was scary, never mind the fact that the previous doctor's death might not have been an accident and that amongst the residents of the ice station might be a very dangerous person. I thought this was such a fantastic and atmospheric debut thriller, dark in more ways than one. ( )

A locked room type of psychological thriller with a difference! It’s set on a research station in the Antarctic where thirteen people are confined together for several months. When one of them is found dead, they all begin to suspect each other of murder.

This is an exciting and suspenseful murder mystery which had me gripped until the last page. It’s a real chiller thriller in more than one sense of the word! I love the setting, it gave me the shivers. The tension racks up beautifully, I was on the edge of my seat most of the time. It did get a little incredulous and unbelievable on occasions but, hey ho, that’s literary licence for you. I just think it’s a rollicking good read! Great fun and entertaining. ( )