Night Shift

Antarctica. A mining base at the edge of the world.

Anders Nordvelt is over-promoted and he knows it. Arriving at Australis base on the last transport before the long night falls, he is to take over as Chief of Security. It should be an easy job. The crew have all been rigorously psychoanalysed and he’s there only because the rulebook says the position must be filled. The biggest challenge Anders anticipates is to find his place within an established group.

But shortly after his arrival communications to the outside world are cut. Suspicion immediately falls upon Anders. It’s his job to uncover the culprit – but how can he find answers when the rest of the crew, bound by relationships, resentments and passions he knows nothing about, see him as the threat? Surely no-one can have crossed thousands of miles of wasteland – the sabotage must have been an inside job. But how could a criminal have got past the screening process?

Then the commander’s body is found in the ice. The running of the base falls to the senior staff, Anders included, but there is open hostility towards him. Only the uncertain support of the engineer, Max, gives any hope. But can he trust her? Is he giving her too much leeway as it is?

Amidst the fear the work must continue. In a world where every last scrap of fuel is precious, the minerals must keep flowing. But the attacks continue, leaving them with no heating and little food. As they shelter in a basement room, claustrophobia, starvation and madness become as big a threat as a murderer.

Will Anders live long enough to find the killer? Will anyone survive the night shift, or will future explorers find only ice and frozen corpses in the last remaining wilderness on the planet?

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launching in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.