Midnight in Chernobyl

Reviews / Votes

Superb, enthralling and necessarily terrifying . . . the accident unfurls with a horrible inevitability. Weaving together the experiences of those who were there that night, Higginbotham marshals the details so meticulously that every step feels spring-loaded with tension. . . . Amid so much rich reporting and scrupulous analysis, some major themes emerge. . . . Higginbotham's extraordinary book is another advance in the long struggle to fill in some of the gaps, bringing much of what was hidden into the light. * New York Times * An invaluable contribution to history... tells a compelling story exceptionally well. -- Serhii Plokhy * Evening Standard * Reads like a thriller: forensic, compelling and utterly terrifying. * Mail on Sunday * Higginbotham tells the story of the disaster and its gruesome aftermath with thriller-like flair. Midnight in Chernobyl is wonderful and chilling ... written with skill and passion. A tale of hubris and doomed ambition. * The Observer * Adam Higginbotham uses all of the techniques of the top-notch longform journalist to full effect. He swoops us into the heart of the catastrophe. * The Guardian * Utterly gripping and superbly researched... Higginbotham shows brilliantly how the tragedy contributed to the collapse of the whole Soviet system that had created it. * BBC History Magazine * An account that reads almost like the script for a movie . . . Higginbotham has captured the terrible drama. * The Wall Street Journal * This is a highly detailed, carefully documented, beautifully narrated telling of this breathtakingly complex accident and its mitigation. * Nature * Secrecy, stupidity and farce: the full story of what caused Chernobyl. Surely definitive. * Sunday Telegraph * A gripping, miss-your-subway-stop read. Higginbotham captures the nerve-racked Soviet atmosphere brilliantly, mostly through vivid details about the participants. * New York Times Book Review *