Terminal Freeze

December 8, 2008
In this taut, suspenseful SF thriller from bestseller Child (Deep Storm
), an obscure scientific expedition in Alaska's remote Federal Wilderness Zone stumbles on the frozen body of what appears to be a saber-tooth tiger in a cave, though only the eyes are clearly visible through the ice. When news of the find reaches the cable television network sponsoring the expedition, Emilio Conti, a legendary documentary filmmaker, rushes to the scene, where he plans to film the thawing of the animal on live TV. After the frozen creature disappears, Conti suspects sabotage, until horribly eviscerated corpses begin to pile up at the military base hosting the expedition. Paleoecologist Evan Marshall suspects that the prehistoric beast is responsible—and that the initial identification of it as a saber-tooth was mistaken. While the story line of a horrific monster picking off a shrinking group of survivors in a confined area is nothing new, Child's superior writing raises this above the pack.

February 1, 2009
Furry prehistoric beast thaws, then makes up for lost meals with human victims.

Paleoecologist Evan Marshall leads a group of scientists into"The Zone" in northeastern Alaska. Working out of a small base known as the Mount Fear Remote Sensing Installation, his team from Northern Massachusetts University is doing research on global warming. The only other humans around are a small number of Native Americans, Tunits, to the north. Beneath the ice floor in a cave, the team spots a frozen creature, two fist-sized yellow eyes surrounded by black pupils—perhaps, as the team believes, a saber-toothed tiger. When Usuguk, an elder of the Tunits, arrives to warn the team of evil and advise them to leave, Marshall politely but firmly refuses. Meanwhile, in Virginia, Dr. Jeremy Logan discovers some ominous, though unspecified, information about Fear Base in top-secret documents from the 1950s. More turmoil rocks The Zone with the arrival of brash Emilio Conti, an executive producer with a documentary film crew, big as Marshall's and twice as boisterous, that promptly sets up a makeshift adjoining camp. The only respectful filmmaker is attractive producer Kari Ekberg. Marshall tries to oust Conti and company, but the producer's smug announcement that the film has financed the entire expedition effectively neutralizes any objections. After Conti sets about melting the block of ice, the creature inside proves much larger than a cat, though it disappears before anyone gets a good look. Then the tastefully depicted carnage begins. As the body count rises, an ice-road trucker named Carradine boldly drives most of the cast to safety while Conti prepares to film the beast and Marshall seeks help from the Tunits.

Child (Deep Storm, 2007, etc.) depicts his frigid setting with greater authority than his characters, diminishing his thriller's impact. Far from a classic, but a minor-league Jurassic.

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January 15, 2009
In Child's latest (after his last solo effort, "Deep Storm"), scientists studying the effects of climate change in the Arctic Circle find frigid temperaturesand something more. While exploring an ice cave, the group uncovers the remains of a frozen saber-toothed tiger. When documentary filmmakers learn of the find, they come up north to record the discovery for a television special; then, the director has the bold idea to thaw the creature out on live TV for a ratings grab. When one of the scientists realizes that their discovery is bigger than the big cat, he tries to stop the unveiling, but the director is thinking of awards rather than everyone's well-being. Child excels in creating strong characters, isolating them, and forcing them to overcome impossible odds. Readers will be reminded of the film "The Thing", but this book has more hard science to back up the chaos. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/15/08.]Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

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