The year is 1901, and Nicky is the well-to-do daughter of George Abney, a prominent whaling company owner. The company is not financially healthy, and Nicky needs to lie low while her father works to fix it. Fast forward to 2023, when urban explorer Dominique is drawn to Iceland to explore the Ormen shipwreck and document its last days for her TikTok project. Although she intended to be alone, she is far from it. What sinister history does the Ormen hold, and how does it bind the lives of women together who lived centuries apart? C.J. Cooke’s latest gothic thriller, A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC, delves into the secrets and sorrows of Nicky, Dominique, and the Ormen itself.
C.J. Cooke is at her best when she weaves mythical creatures and folklore together with a breathtakingly chilling atmosphere across different times in history, and this novel serves up each of these elements on a silver platter! Ever the master of imagery, Cooke most assuredly does not disappoint with her palpable descriptions of the Ormen, both past and present, and the locales to which it travels. Cooke quickly builds an aura of mystery and intrigue around the Ormen and sends you on a page-turning journey following its voyage across time and place.
Fans of Cooke and readers of her prior novels will also appreciate that A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC continues her tradition of exploring themes about motherhood. However the central storylines revolve primarily around both physical and mental female traumas. Although the descriptions are not excessively graphic, evaluating the trigger warnings and making a considered choice about reading the novel is advised (trigger warning: sexual trauma, self-harm).
On the whole, if you’re looking for a novel to utterly transport you, C.J. Cooke’s A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC is just the book for you. Each page is packed with rich detail about everything from shipwrecks and selkies to parkour and urban exploration – a uniquely engrossing novel that you’ll find yourself reflecting on days later!
A deserted shipwreck off the coast of Iceland holds terrors and dark secrets in this chilling horror novel from the author of The Lighthouse Witches.
The year is 1901, and Nicky is attacked, then wakes on board the Ormen, a whaling ship embarked on what could be its last voyage. With land still weeks away, it’s just her, the freezing ocean, and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them...
Now, over one hundred years later, the wreck of the Ormen has washed up on the forbidding, remote coast of Iceland. It’s scheduled to be destroyed, but explorer Dominique feels an inexplicable pull to document its last days, even though those who have ventured onto the wreck before her have met uncanny ends.
Onboard the boat, Dominique will uncover a dark past riddled with lies, cruelty, and murder—and her discovery will change everything. Because she’ll soon realize she’s not alone. Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for almost a century. Something that craves revenge.
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