The Ice
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The world’s most hostile environment just became even deadlier…
Brutal, unforgiving, and breathtaking—for American biologist Kathy McNeely, much of Antarctica’s lure lies in its dangerous beauty. Part of an international research team sent to study the long-term effects of an oil spill on the ecology, Kathy’s focus is on the penguin population. As she uncovers a mysterious new threat to the birds, a sudden blizzard drives more than snow to her team’s remote field camp.
Archaeologist-turned-adventurer Brian Hurley isn’t the kind of man to stay in one place very long. But the fierce whiteout conditions force him to postpone training for his record-breaking sledge run to the South Pole. He’s not the only one stranded at the scientists’ camp—a pair of cagey energy contractors and a dogged L.A. journalist also wait for the severe weather to pass.
As the storm rages on, a dangerous and potentially deadly spate of accidents plagues the Ice. Missing supplies, damaged equipment, and communication errors—too many to be coincidence—spur rumors of sabotage. Someone is conducting unsanctioned research in protected areas, and they’ve discovered something so valuable, they will do anything keep it secret.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This timely, credible and suspenseful eco-thriller begins when marine biologist Kathy McNeely finds oil-soaked penguins in a part of Antarctica where no oil spills have been recorded. What seems at first the residue of an earlier disaster soon acquires more sinister implications as McNeely, her Russian and American associates, and maverick archeologist Brian Huxley are caught in the web of TERCO--a U.S. conglomerate that has found something worth killing for beneath the Antarctic ice. Experienced adventure novelist Charbonneau ( Intruder ) convincingly presents the psychological and technical problems of Antarctic survival. His description of the final race, made by tractor and dog sled, to discover the real cause of the oil spill and stave off environmental disaster is gripping. Though the characters are conventional, they are appealing--including the huskies, whose personalities become as distinct as those of their masters. But the real protagonist of The Ice is Antarctica itself. Charbonneau's passion for this last unspoiled land infuses the book and inspires the reader. Even cynics will applaud as TERCO is frustrated by ``a bunch of goddamn birds'' and the people who care for what the penguins represent. BOMC featured alternate; Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection.
