The Last Mountain

The Last Mountain is a thriller that tells the story of how ambition and selfishness can lead to disaster. The story is seen through the eyes of Mel, an ageing wannabe mountain man, a drifter, a bit of a bum who is always quick to make excuses for his lack of any real achievements. Mel finds himself sitting in a Peak district pub with an old man as a table companion. Mel has recently been through an ordeal, an expedition to the Himalayas that went wrong and nearly cost him his life. The old man persuades Mel to tell the story. This he does and the narrative switches between Mel recalling episodes in his life that led up to the expedition, including meeting his girlfriend Fi, and the fateful trip itself, and back to the pub where Mel increasingly struggles to carry on with his story. The old man becomes less sympathetic and more menacing whilst half-familiar strangers come into the pub in a steady stream and disappear into a back room. As Mel’s story of death, insanity and his desperate struggle for survival moves towards its conclusion so the truth of the true horror of his experience is revealed.