The Chilling

An unputdownable thriller set in the pressure-cooker environment of an Antarctic winter.

An isolated research station. A storm approaching.

There's nowhere to run. But so much to hide.

Keen to flee the wreckage of her marriage, Australian scientist Kit Bitterfeld accepts a coveted winter research position at Macpherson Station in Antarctica. On the way there, Kit and her fellow researchers field a distress call from a nearby ship.

By the time they reach the vessel it is on fire and the crew has vanished. A lone survivor is found, but he can't remember who he is or what has happened.

They bring the survivor, identified as geophysicist Nick Coltheart, to Macpherson but it's clear that something is wrong. More and more of Kit's colleagues are acting strangely. And she can't shake the suspicion that Nick knows more than he's letting on. With the winter darkness setting in, Kit must figure out the truth before they are completely cut off from the outside world. But is the danger lurking out on the ice, or is it closer than she thinks?

The Chilling offers a compellingly icy twist on the winter thriller setting, transplanting the most haunting elements of Scandi noir to the southern hemisphere, and announces Riley James as a brilliant new talent writing in a fresh corner of Australian crime fiction.

'Rug up for this icy survivalist thriller: Touching the Void by way of John Carpenter's The Thing.' Benjamin Stevenson, author of Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

'Riley James is one to watch: stoke the fire and lock the windows, you're in for one hell of a ride.' Margaret Hickey, author of Cutters End

'Drier than a Jane Harper novel, more snow than a shelf of Scandi noir, The Chilling is a white-knuckle thrill ride from the first page. One of the best crime debuts of the year. I couldn't stop reading.' Aoife Clifford, author of It Takes a Town

'The Chilling is an atmospheric thriller with a wild setting and a fast-paced plot - you won't be able to put it down.' Christian White, author of Wild Place

About the Author

Riley James lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her partner and two children. She was born and raised in north-west Tasmania and has been writing since the age of six. She trained briefly as a journalist before completing a PhD and becoming an academic. The Chilling is her first novel.