Fogs and the spectre of war might hang over London, but what could possibly be over the Arctic except the midnight sun? Little does the team know what lurks in acclaimed British writer Michelle Paver's The real terror of being alone in the dark, cut off by snow and ice, and with a hostile presence lurking, left me breathless.It's 1937, and 28-year-old Jack Miller, down on his luck and desperate for opportunity, falls into the chance of a lifetime: being the wireless operator for a scientist expedition heading from London to the high north. “I don’t think snowy horror gets better than Michelle Paver’s masterful fictional account of a 1937 winter in Svalbard, deep in the Arctic. “A blood-curdling ghost story, evocative not just of icy northern wastes but of a mind turning in on itself.” “A spellbinding read – the kind of subtly unsettling, understated ghost story MR James might have written had he visited the Arctic.” It is a ghost story, but it is also a metaphysical meditation on what lies beneath our little lives.” New Statesman on the BBC Radio Four adaption of Dark Matter for Book at Bedtime “Brilliant… fabulously grim… a perfectly frightening ghost story”

The strangeness that humans can suffer from when exposed to the Arctic wilderness is brilliantly exploited in this period piece.”

The novel ends in tragedy that is as haunting as anything else in this deeply affecting tale of mental and physical isolation.” “Paver records terror with compassion, convincing the reader that he believes everything he records while leaving open the possibility that his isolation – and the class barrier he feels so acutely – has made him peculiarly susceptible to emotional disturbance. Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black, The Times The wastes of the Arctic night are devoid of humanity, warmth and company, the very home of hopelessness loneliness and threat, and their atmosphere clings to the inner walls of the mind.” “A magn ificent contemporary ghost story, packing a powerful charge of unease and mounting fear.

In a world of CGI-induced chills, a good old-fashioned ghost story can still clutch at the heart!” Mission accomplished: at last, a story that makes you check you’ve locked all the doors, and leaves you very thankful indeed for the electric light. “Paver has created a tale of terror and beauty and wonder. Two-thirds through, I found myself suddenly afraid to look out of the windows, so I’ll call it a success!” “The ultimate test of a good ghost story is, surely, whether you feel panicked reading it in bed at midnight. The novel virtually defines a new genre: literary creepy. “Dark Matter is brilliant! Imagine Jack London meets Stephen King.

Dark matter by michelle paver