Ascension

When an Everest-like mountain appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean seemingly overnight, semi-reclusive physicist Harry Tunmore finds himself a reluctant member of a squad of scientist-explorers, all hungry to uncover its unearthly secrets. Of course, all is not what it seems, and Harry and his teammates quickly find themselves plunged into an unforgiving landscape of nightmares, both physical and metaphysical. Binge (Professor Everywhere) draws on a mix of tropes from sci-fi, horror, and classic literature to create a world that is at once novel and familiar, an epistolary mystery evoking the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Christopher Nolan. The audiobook narration by Peter Kenny effectively lifts the action and adds to Harry’s sense of dread as the mountain’s dangers increasingly reveal themselves. The result is an imaginative romp that admirably entertains and chills even as it occasionally falters, e.g., around the shallow development of supporting characters like Harry’s ex-wife Naoko.