Sunday, May 22, 2016

Beyond the Ice Limit

Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
Grand Central: 5/17/16
eBook review copy; 384 pages
ISBN-13: 9781455525867
Gideon Crew Series #4

Beyond the Ice Limit by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child is a skillful, intelligent stand-alone thriller. While it is a new Gideon Crew novel and completes the story started in The Ice Limit, this is a realized narrative that concludes any unfinished plot points found in The Ice Limit for those who have read the earlier novel, but it is immensely entertaining for anyone who hasn't read the previous adventure.

Five years ago Eli Glinn, the head of Effective Engineering Solutions, led a mission to retrieve a 25,000 ton meteorite from the Isla DesolaciĆ³n, located at the very tip of South America by billionaire Palmer Lloyd. The mission was a disaster resulting in the loss of the meteorite, which sank two miles down to the ocean floor, along with the ship, the Rolvaag, and the death of 108 crew members. Now Glinn believes that the meteorite was, in fact, an alien seed from deep space, and the previous mission to retrieve it, in fact, planted it right where it wanted to be. Now it is growing into some strange alien plant. Glinn recruits Gideon to destroy it using a nuclear weapon because he believes that if it continues to grow, it will destroy the planet.

This is another addictive, electrifying adventure that will satisfy both fans of Preston and Child and science fiction devotees. There is plenty of riveting action, suspense, and imminent peril at every turn. There are also some surprises along the way that have me dying to share an alternate title/quip that I simply can't say because it will ruin part of the suspense. This is a page turner and I enjoyed every part of it.

Preston and Child excel at writing intelligent novels with great character development and exciting, complex plots. Beyond the Ice Limit is a wonderful addition to their repertoire. I actual have The Ice Limit, but haven't read it yet, but that didn't hamper my enjoyment and pleasure at reading this sequel because it really does stand alone. I still plan to read The Ice Limit.  Beyond the Ice Limit is very highly recommended and would be a great summer vacation read.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing for review purposes.

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