The Dark: A Locked-Door Mystery in Antarctica

I saw The Dark reviewed over on Hair Past A Freckle, and immediately had to read it. A locked-door mystery? With the travel adventure and the isolation of Antarctica? That’s exactly what I enjoy reading these days.

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.

Once the mystery starts, it’s fascinating. When there’s a second tragic “accident” at the station, this becomes the best kind of locked-door mystery. There are only a limited number of suspects, and only a limited number of places where someone or something could be hidden. There can’t be a last-minute rescue and there are no police to call, since any emergency services are on a different continent, separated by harsh weather.  But there are so many possible motivations!

There is a body and an emergency surgery in The Dark, but it’s not gory at all. Seriously, there’s only some blood, and there’s more blood in an episode Call the Midwife which never grosses me out.

I enjoyed this novel so much. I loved the group of winter scientists, and their personalities and relationships. The international researchers felt like some of my best ESL classes, with a rotating list of food styles and any excuse for a party. Even the station manager, who’s mysteriously harsh and negative to Kate from the start, felt realistic. Look, you don’t have to be locked into a winter in Antarctica to feel trapped and harassed by a negative manager. And there’s a question of whether the personality conflicts are just from coworkers trapped too closely, for too long or if someone is hiding something or if Kate’s well-meant questions are actually the thing stirring up trouble.

There are some slower parts to this novel, but the parts that aren’t a page-turning mystery are interesting descriptions of life in an Antarctic research station in the dark winter months. Overall, the winter research station made an ideal setting for the locked-door mystery.

The Dark, by Emma Haughton, will be released by Mobius on September 28, 2021. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.