Breathless cover art

Breathless

This year’s most gripping thriller and Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Breathless

By: Amy McCulloch
Narrated by: Katie Leung
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

IT'S ICE COLD. YOU'RE MILES FROM HELP. AND ONE OF YOU WILL BE NEXT . . .

When struggling journalist Cecily Wong is invited to join an expedition to climb one of the world's tallest mountains, it seems like the chance of a lifetime.

She doesn't realise how deadly the climb will be.

As their small team starts to climb, things start to go wrong. There's a theft. Then an accident. Then a mysterious note, pinned to her tent: there's a murderer on the mountain.

The higher they get, the more dangerous the climb becomes, and the more they need to trust one another.

And that's when Cecily finds the first body...

© Amy McCulloch 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Crime Thrillers Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Crime Fiction Exciting Scary

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Deep, Deep Snow cover art
Peak: A Novel cover art
Stranded cover art
The Way of the Brave cover art
Aftershock cover art
The Lodge cover art
Higher Love cover art
When You Find Me cover art
The Dark cover art
Crime After Crime: The Complete Series cover art
The Fifth Guest cover art
The Island cover art
The Bond: Two Epic Climbs in Alaska and a Lifetime's Connection Between Climbers cover art
Tell Me Lies cover art
The Next Everest cover art
Missing Molly cover art

Critic reviews

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)
If you're looking for a book to thrill and transport you, then Breathless is the read for you! Set high in the chilling Death Zone, this thriller had me on the edge of my seat. I loved being immersed in the competitive, high-stakes world of alpine climbing and Amy brilliantly evokes how risky this setting is, a setting that can only get deadlier with a murderer on the mountain... A must read for 2022 (Sarah Pearse, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Sanatorium)
Stunning. Suffocatingly tense, highly original and exhilarating, Breathless is an early contender for thriller of the year

Tense, chilling and terrifying with unforgettable characters and an unpredictable and atmospheric plot. One of the most original thrillers I've read. It deserves to be huge!

(Claire Douglas, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Couple at No. 9)
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, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Maid)
Gripping. Thrilling. A visceral account of a novice's struggles with thin air and exhaustion

This thriller would be unsettling enough at sea level, but in the death zone, it's suffocatingly tense. McCulloch combines extreme mountaineering with murder to create a novel that's chilling, vivid, and entirely unique.

(Abigail Dean, Sunday Times bestselling author of Girl A)
The ultimate high-altitude mountain thriller. Ice-cold, twisting, deadly and doesn't put a foot wrong. It took me on a chilling journey to the death zone, and I loved it! (Janice Hallett, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal)
A blockbuster worthy thriller
Nail-biting, chilling, totally exhilarating - a true triumph (Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars)
All stars
Most relevant
katie leung gives an incredible performance in this gripping tale, great performance great story, just an absolute joy to listen too

brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, riveting from the start and with a pretty unique setting, the plot twisted and turned so

unpredictably. I really hope this author has her next book well underway 🙂

couldn't switch it off!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Turned into a very good yarn. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Would have liked to have heard the murderer get their comeuppance.

Very entertaining, full of technical info

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have no idea how this book has been classed as nail biting. 5 hours in and it’s a massive snooze fest. I can’t make myself listen until the end it’s so sloooow going. The characters are uninteresting the main character is just again.., boring.
The narrator tries but fails to distinguish between different voices and she’s also monotone. Maybe good if you’re struggling to fall asleep…

Unbelievably boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It reads as if the author knows her stuff on the mountains and at times I forgot I was listening to fiction. Looking forward to more adventures with our heroine.

An enjoyable informed story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews