Whiteout by Ashton Macaulay

Book Description

In Whiteout, monster hunter Nick Ventner faces his greatest challenge to date. From amateur necromancers in the bayou to Sasquatch impersonators in the Pacific Northwest, Nick has seen it all. Even if some of the details might be a little fuzzy. Accompanied by his trusty mountain guide, Lopsang, and his testy apprentice, James, Nick journeys into the Himalayas to settle a matter of pride and payouts, as he searches for the lost riches of Shangri-La rumored to lie within the mountain’s peak. However, the sudden arrival of Nick’s greatest adversary, Manchester, complicates matters, and pits the two in a race towards the top, and both soon find that they have not just one another to contend with, but also a mythical and elusive yeti that has been terrorizing the mountain.

Review

Whiteout, an action-adventure urban fantasy is terrific fun if you’re looking for a good monster hunt. The novel features well-developed characters let loose in an atmospheric setting and just may leave you on the edge of your seat.

Set in the Himalayas, the story follows monster hunter Nick Ventner. A village has commissioned Nick to kill an unknown beast responsible for the deaths of a half-dozen of the village’s climbing guides.

The pacing of the novel is relentless, building suspense and tension chapter by chapter. With each encounter, Macaulay builds distrust between characters and continually raises the stakes. As a reader, you know who you can’t trust, but you don’t know why. Whiteout is peppered with twists and turns, keeping readers engaged and eager to uncover the truth behind the sinister events.

Nick Ventner is a fun character to read. Macaulay may have been channeling the actor Harrison Ford because Ventner is like a booze-soaked combination of Indiana Jones and Hans Solo. The dialogue is sharp and full of sarcasm.

A Story Within A Story

One thing I found fascinating about Whiteout was the structure Macaulay used. The novel opens with Nick Ventner telling the story of what happened in the mountains to a wealthy man called Winston. Whenever Nick and Winston are talking, Macaulay uses a third-person limited point of view (pov). But when Nick is telling the story about what happened in the mountains, Macaulay uses a first-person past tense point of view. The change in pov made it easy to distinguish between the “then” story and the “now” narrative.

Whiteout is fun romp into a world where cryptids exist, and monsters are real. It’s the first in a planned trilogy, so if you enjoy the world, there is more to come!

Content Warning

Alcohol, Death, Gore, Violence

The header photo is a composite image. Base image by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash