Thin Air by Michelle Paver: a review

I’m not really one for ghost stories. Don’t get me wrong, they can be a lot of fun, but I never really get the fear out of them that they’re supposed to give me. Thin Air wasn’t any different. It was a great book but at no point did I feel fear. I got some chills, but I think that may have been as much to do with Daniel Weyman’s narration of the audiobook as it was to do with Michelle Paver’s excellent writing.

             Thin Air is set in the Himalayas in the 1930s and follows Dr. Stephen Pearce on his expedition up Kangchenjunga with his brother and three others. They follow in the footsteps of Edmund Lyell and Charles Tennant who attempted the climb some years earlier. Lyell had published his accounts of what took place on the mountain, but Tennant became reclusive, and only when Stephen Pearce confronts him, does he decide to tell somebody the truth.

            I can’t do a spoiler free review of a ghost story. However, the knowledge of what the haunting is comes fairly soon after it begins. There is one point in the story I want to talk about that I will put with a warning and send you towards the bear on a jet-ski for spoiler avoidance.

            The true haunting comes after one of Pearce’s crew finds the rucksack of a man called Arthur Ward. Ward was a member of Lyell and Tennant’s expedition who never made it back. Stephen eventually receives word from Tennant as to the truth behind why he never made it back. Paver’s tension building up to this reveal is superb. When Tennant’s letter arrived, I found myself being physically pulled into the book; I had my knees up and I had the book as close as I could. I won’t reveal the truth here, but I urge you to read for this section. This isn’t the place for spoilers, as this is the most key moment in the book.

            I am now going to talk about the end of the book. There are spoilers ahead, so I’ll do as I usually do and put a picture of a bear just after I’ve written about the spoiler. Once you see the bear, read after. If you don’t mind spoilers, then continue reading this section. The end of the Himalayan section gives a heart-breaking scene involving the Pearce brothers. Stephen looks back, and he sees his brother, Kit’s life being taken by the spirit of Arthur Ward. It is a truly heart-wrenching scene that left me genuinely close to tears. Throughout the novel, Paver showed the relationship between the two brothers in a way that was brilliantly accurate. Rarely do authors show siblings that actually reflect the type of sibling relationship that I’ve experienced for myself and that I’ve seen in the world around me. The way they had been so petty earlier in the book when it came to what to do with the rucksack, and Kits not wanting Stephen to get to the peak just because Kits didn’t want to share the glory with his brother. Their interactions often reminded me of the sort of thing that occur between my brother and me. So, when Ward throws Kits off the cliff, I felt it deep within me. I never want to think about the idea of losing my brother, but Paver put me there. It hurt. That section brought me to tears, but it was well worth those tears. The prose was brilliantly written, and good writing always makes us feel something, even if it isn’t entirely pleasant.

            The scenes when Stephen has returned from his trip also managed to get me. Throughout the haunting on the mountain, Stephen was often unaware whether he was dreaming or awake. Paver damn near pulled me in with a “it was all a dream” moment; she reveals that Stephen never made it off the mountain and then puts him right back in London. It’s somewhat of a rollercoaster ride, and she writes it far better than I’ve made it sound here. I can’t tell if I was more shocked by the twists and turns, or that she actually managed to write a good trick dream ending. It isn’t quite the end, but it’s where the ending begins, if you will.

            Even if you’re not big on ghost stories, I well recommend that you read this book. I can’t say that I’m big on ghost stories myself, but this one really had me hooked. It’s so much more than the ghosts that inhabit its pages. The truly brilliant thing about Thin Air is how Paver builds relationships up. I previously mentioned how brilliantly the Pearce brothers are written and she shows how friendships are built up. I absolutely recommend that you find yourself a copy of this book and give it a read. Or, do as I did, and find the audio version read by Daniel Weyman; I found it on Audible and I’m sure it’ll be available elsewhere, and likely it’ll be a bit cheaper. Audio versions of stories like this really help with the tension build up. However you take in this book, get yourself a copy.