Dark Matter, By Michelle Paver

Michelle Paver's first novel for adults is a ghost story set in the Arctic Circle in the 1930s. Jack Miller, a working-class young man with an education, is the radio operator on a scientific expedition to Gruhuken in northern Norway. He spends the four-month winter night alone in the camp, where he records in his journal the growing sense of oppression and terror, and it becomes clear that the camp is haunted by a malevolent spirit. The tale of cruelty in the past that led to the haunting is gradually revealed, but I will never see the words "flensing knife" again without flinching. Chapters are interspersed with moody photos of Arctic scenes. It is an atmospheric ghost story that would give Susan Hill a run for her money.