But this decision turns out to be one which will have unexpected and tragic consequences.
They are heading to the Arctic to collect ‘data’ that might in the future be useful if there is another European war and decide that a place called Gruhuken would be the ideal spot. Despite his stroppiness the expedition party seem to think Miller's skills as a communications expert are just what they need and eventually they are all heading north and trying to find their sea legs. From the very outset, Miller is constantly undermined by his feelings of inadequacy – social and financial – and channels these emotions into personal animosity towards ‘the fat one’ of the group, Algie Carlisle.
Miller, a penniless lower middle-class ‘grammar-school boy with a London degree’ answers an advertisement to join an expedition to the Arctic which is being organised by four upper-class Oxbridge graduates. We see everything that happens through his eyes and we are increasingly unsure whether the horrors he faces are ‘real’ or whether they are a metaphor for his crumbling state of mind. The story of Jack Miller’s experiences as a member of an amateur expedition to the Arctic in 1937 is told by way of giving us privileged access to his ‘lost’ journal. This was enough to convince me that a reread was probably in order given that over a decade had passed since I first fell under its spell. Oddly enough, I’ve already done reviews of Thin Air and Wakenhyst but, I discovered, I’d not done one Dark Matter which was published 2010 and preceded the other two. Over the Christmas period I was keen to find a top rate ghost story and digging past the first row of books on the shelves I came upon Michelle Paver’s trilogy of sophisticated, brilliantly written chillers – Thin Air, Wakenhyst and Dark Matter.
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