Nick, meanwhile, suffers from memory loss and has nightmares about Augustin trapped in a serac. Sam is initially thrilled, of course, to have his boyfriend back but struggles with the fact that he is now severely disfigured. And what has happened to Nick’s climbing partner Augustin? Why do the authorities insist Nick was found in a lower lying valley rather than where he was actually found, at mount Maudit? According to the rescue crew, Nick’s face was ripped open by a nasty rock fall, but it looks like it has been sliced open by an ice axe.

Nick has been horribly disfigured but his specialist seems to lie about the how and where. Sam rushes over to Switzerland, but soon discovers things aren’t adding up. They’re madly in love and happy, until Sam receives a call from a Swiss hospital telling him that Nick has been gravely injured during a climb. American Sam studies linguistics Nick is a travel writer with a substantial instagram following. Nick and Sam are a happy couple living in a quiet Amsterdam neighbourhood. Olde Heuvelt, by the way, means Old Hill. It actually exists, buried somewhere deep in the Alps. It’s easy to see where he got the inspiration: the name Maudit means cursed mountain. So does Olde Heuvelt’s Echo, except that it adds a twist to the familiar story. He does a good job of portraying the appeal of the sport, but illustrates the dangers and risks too – risks to himself, but to others as well. I must have read Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air at least three times. It’s not one I partake in: too strenuous, too expensive, too risky.

Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt