Midnight in Chernobyl

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 *

Adam Higginbotham writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Wired, GQ, Businessweek, Smithsonian, Men’s Journal, and The Atavist. He began his career in magazines and newspapers in London, where he was the editor-in-chief of The Face and a contributing editor at The Sunday Telegraph. The author of Midnight in Chernobyl, he lives in New York City.