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Jeremy Logan #2
Terminal Freeze
In this riveting, high-octane thriller, an ancient creature is inadvertently released to wreak havoc on the inhabitants of a desolate arctic landscape.
Alaska’s Federal Wilderness Zone is one of the most dangerous and inhospitable places on Earth. For paleoecologist Evan Marshall, an expedition to the Zone offers an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study the mounting effects of climate change. But once there, Marshall and his intrepid team make an astonishing discovery: an enormous prehistoric animal encased in solid ice. Despite repeated warnings from the local village, and Marshall’s own mounting concern, the expedition sponsors want the creature cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed on a live television spectacular…But then the creature disappears and an unspeakable horror is unleashed.
Alaska’s Federal Wilderness Zone is one of the most dangerous and inhospitable places on Earth. For paleoecologist Evan Marshall, an expedition to the Zone offers an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study the mounting effects of climate change. But once there, Marshall and his intrepid team make an astonishing discovery: an enormous prehistoric animal encased in solid ice. Despite repeated warnings from the local village, and Marshall’s own mounting concern, the expedition sponsors want the creature cut from the ice, thawed, and revealed on a live television spectacular…But then the creature disappears and an unspeakable horror is unleashed.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published December 24, 2008
1,065 people are currently reading
5,386 people want to read
About the author
Lincoln Child
187books4,876followersLincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut, which he still calls his hometown (despite the fact that he left the place before he reached his first birthday and now only goes back for weekends).
Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen short stories composed during his youth, he wrote a science-fiction novel in tenth grade called Second Son of Daedalus and a shamelessly Tolkeinesque fantasy in twelfth grade titled The Darkness to the North (left unfinished at 400 manuscript pages). Both are exquisitely embarrassing to read today and are kept under lock and key by the author.
After a childhood that is of interest only to himself, Lincoln graduated from Carleton College (huh?) in Northfield, Minnesota, majoring in English. Discovering a fascination for words, and their habit of turning up in so many books, he made his way to New York in the summer of 1979, intent on finding a job in publishing. He was lucky enough to secure a position as editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press.
Over the next several years, he clawed his way up the editorial hierarchy, moving to assistant editor to associate editor before becoming a full editor in 1984. While at St. Martin's, he was associated with the work of many authors, including that of James Herriot and M. M. Kaye. He edited well over a hundred books--with titles as diverse as The Notation of Western Music and Hitler's Rocket Sites--but focused primarily on American and English popular fiction.
While at St. Martin's, Lincoln assembled several collections of ghost and horror stories, beginning with the hardcover collections Dark Company (1984) and Dark Banquet (1985). Later, when he founded the company's mass-market horror division, he edited three more collections of ghost stories, Tales of the Dark 1-3.
In 1987, Lincoln left trade publishing to work at MetLife. In a rather sudden transition, he went from editing manuscripts, speaking at sales conferences, and wining/dining agents to doing highly technical programming and systems analysis. Though the switch might seem bizarre, Lincoln was a propeller-head from a very early age, and his extensive programming experience dates back to high school, when he worked with DEC minis and the now-prehistoric IBM 1620, so antique it actually had an electric typewriter mounted into its front panel. Away from the world of publishing, Lincoln's own nascent interests in writing returned. While at MetLife, Relic was published, and within a few years Lincoln had left the company to write full time. He now lives in New Jersey (under protest--just kidding) with his wife and daughter.
A dilettante by natural inclination, Lincoln's interests include: pre-1950s literature and poetry; post-1950s popular fiction; playing the piano, various MIDI instruments, and the 5-string banjo; English and American history; motorcycles; architecture; classical music, early jazz, blues, and R&B; exotic parrots; esoteric programming languages; mountain hiking; bow ties; Italian suits; fedoras; archaeology; and multiplayer deathmatching.
Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen short stories composed during his youth, he wrote a science-fiction novel in tenth grade called Second Son of Daedalus and a shamelessly Tolkeinesque fantasy in twelfth grade titled The Darkness to the North (left unfinished at 400 manuscript pages). Both are exquisitely embarrassing to read today and are kept under lock and key by the author.
After a childhood that is of interest only to himself, Lincoln graduated from Carleton College (huh?) in Northfield, Minnesota, majoring in English. Discovering a fascination for words, and their habit of turning up in so many books, he made his way to New York in the summer of 1979, intent on finding a job in publishing. He was lucky enough to secure a position as editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press.
Over the next several years, he clawed his way up the editorial hierarchy, moving to assistant editor to associate editor before becoming a full editor in 1984. While at St. Martin's, he was associated with the work of many authors, including that of James Herriot and M. M. Kaye. He edited well over a hundred books--with titles as diverse as The Notation of Western Music and Hitler's Rocket Sites--but focused primarily on American and English popular fiction.
While at St. Martin's, Lincoln assembled several collections of ghost and horror stories, beginning with the hardcover collections Dark Company (1984) and Dark Banquet (1985). Later, when he founded the company's mass-market horror division, he edited three more collections of ghost stories, Tales of the Dark 1-3.
In 1987, Lincoln left trade publishing to work at MetLife. In a rather sudden transition, he went from editing manuscripts, speaking at sales conferences, and wining/dining agents to doing highly technical programming and systems analysis. Though the switch might seem bizarre, Lincoln was a propeller-head from a very early age, and his extensive programming experience dates back to high school, when he worked with DEC minis and the now-prehistoric IBM 1620, so antique it actually had an electric typewriter mounted into its front panel. Away from the world of publishing, Lincoln's own nascent interests in writing returned. While at MetLife, Relic was published, and within a few years Lincoln had left the company to write full time. He now lives in New Jersey (under protest--just kidding) with his wife and daughter.
A dilettante by natural inclination, Lincoln's interests include: pre-1950s literature and poetry; post-1950s popular fiction; playing the piano, various MIDI instruments, and the 5-string banjo; English and American history; motorcycles; architecture; classical music, early jazz, blues, and R&B; exotic parrots; esoteric programming languages; mountain hiking; bow ties; Italian suits; fedoras; archaeology; and multiplayer deathmatching.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,071 reviews
July 1, 2022
A climate thriller set in the Arctic north of Alaska at a US government station, "Fear Base", love the name! A paleoecologist, biologist, enigmalogist, and TV camera crew are there to document a prehistoric animal found in a cave as a result of global warming. A native Shaman warned them to leave the area to no avail. Adding to the suspense, the creature disappears, they are stuck in the ice storm, and not everyone will make it out alive! This story reminds me of the movie "The Thing" with Kurt Russell and the TV series "Fortitude".
August 8, 2017
Lincoln Child is my go-to author for techno-thrillers now that Michael Crichton is no longer with us. The guy can simply do not wrong in my eyes. Fast-paced, tight story, archeological mystery, it's all there. This one was no exception. A saber tooth tiger is found frozen in the ice on a military base in Alaska. The fun just takes off from there. Great stuff and I devoured it in three days.
November 22, 2021
Book 2 in the Jeremy Logan series published 2009.
A 3.5 star adventure.
Genre classification, my best attempt would be fantasy/sci-fi/horror/thriller.
Given my above classification this needs to be seen as pure escapist entertainment and as such performs well.
A team of scientist and documentary film maker are in the frozen waists of Alaska. The scientist are there because global warming has accelerated the ice melt on the glacier at Camp Fear. Their hope is of finding some secrets that the glacier has kept hidden beneath the ice for tens of thousands of years. And of course the doco makers are there to film what happens.
When a huge sheet of ice falls from the glacier a cave is revealed. The scientist almost salivate at possible secrets that will now be in their reach.
What they find is way beyond their expectations. A huge cat like creature seems to be perfectly preserved in a massive bed of ice.
The cat is removed from is frozen grave and placed in a secured vault.
When the cat is found to be missing all hell breaks loose. The scientist blame the film producer. The film producer blames the scientist. This bickering goes on until one of the film crew is found dead but not just dead his body has been eviscerated. The killing has just started.
Panic and fear now grip the remaining group. They are far from any human population, so how are they to escape this monster before they are all dead?
I gave the book 3.5 stars which for me means an above average read but not one I had trouble putting down.
A 3.5 star adventure.
Genre classification, my best attempt would be fantasy/sci-fi/horror/thriller.
Given my above classification this needs to be seen as pure escapist entertainment and as such performs well.
A team of scientist and documentary film maker are in the frozen waists of Alaska. The scientist are there because global warming has accelerated the ice melt on the glacier at Camp Fear. Their hope is of finding some secrets that the glacier has kept hidden beneath the ice for tens of thousands of years. And of course the doco makers are there to film what happens.
When a huge sheet of ice falls from the glacier a cave is revealed. The scientist almost salivate at possible secrets that will now be in their reach.
What they find is way beyond their expectations. A huge cat like creature seems to be perfectly preserved in a massive bed of ice.
The cat is removed from is frozen grave and placed in a secured vault.
When the cat is found to be missing all hell breaks loose. The scientist blame the film producer. The film producer blames the scientist. This bickering goes on until one of the film crew is found dead but not just dead his body has been eviscerated. The killing has just started.
Panic and fear now grip the remaining group. They are far from any human population, so how are they to escape this monster before they are all dead?
I gave the book 3.5 stars which for me means an above average read but not one I had trouble putting down.
January 7, 2024
More screenplay than novel!
A team of scientists is given the opportunity to study the effects of the acceleration of global warming at the foot of a rapidly retreating glacier located near Mt Fear in Alaska's Federal Wildlife Zone, the site of a mothballed but still functional military base originally used as part of the DEW line system during the height of the cold war with Russia. This particular group of eager scientists, like virtually every other scientist in today's "now" oriented, results-focused world, is starved for funding and happily accepts a grant from a local cable television network without fully considering the long strings that are attached.
Despite ominous warnings from a local Native American shaman that they are trespassing on sacred ground guarded by a very angry and very evil aboriginal god, the team presses on, eager to complete their work before the onset of the winter night and twenty-four hour darkness. When the team reports the astonishing discovery of a prehistoric mammal resembling a saber-toothed tiger found encased in a tomb of glacial ice, the scientists are horrified to face the full implications of their funding contract.
The television company sends out a full production unit headed by Emilio Conti, a legendary documentary film-maker together with a ruthless network executive who are under instructions to assume responsibility for the entombed cat. The plan is to cut the cat out of the ice, thaw it and reveal it in a live docu-drama to an enthralled world-wide television audience.
When the cat is inadvertently thawed before the cameras are ready to roll and disappears, the killings start. Of course, it isn't long before the team of scientists and the terrified film crew realize they were perhaps premature in their assumption that the frozen prehistoric cat had been dead for thousands of years. It now seems that the perfect killing machine is awake and is taking its revenge on those who would presume to trespass in its territory.
I've long been a fan of Lincoln Child, whether he was writing solo or together with his partner, Douglas Preston. But as soon as an author writes more than one book, it logically follows that there is a "best" book and a "worst" book in his bibliography. This one, unfortunately, qualifies easily as Child's weakest entry in a long string of successful thrillers. There isn't anything about this one that isn't overwritten, over-exaggerated and over the top - characters, dialogue, obsession, setting, situations ... you name it! And, with all due respect to aboriginal religious beliefs, to run away from the science and technological aspects of the novel and retreat to the literary device of using aboriginal legends as a way of simply being spooky, seemed like a major cop-out. Frankly, it seemed like that was an escape route because Child couldn't think of a better ending.
I toyed with the notion of awarding two stars but, after all was said and done, despite its weaknesses, the novel still entertained me. Not only that, I still remain a fan and will buy the next book.
There was also a segment that was absolutely breathtaking and deserves special mention on its own. If you've never heard about the steely courage of ice truckers and the perils they face as they deliver goods to far northern communities ... well, suffice it say that the segment on the 18-wheeler's trek across 200 miles of frozen Alaskan tundra was worth the price of the novel all by itself. Surely that's worth three stars at a minimum!
Paul Weiss
A team of scientists is given the opportunity to study the effects of the acceleration of global warming at the foot of a rapidly retreating glacier located near Mt Fear in Alaska's Federal Wildlife Zone, the site of a mothballed but still functional military base originally used as part of the DEW line system during the height of the cold war with Russia. This particular group of eager scientists, like virtually every other scientist in today's "now" oriented, results-focused world, is starved for funding and happily accepts a grant from a local cable television network without fully considering the long strings that are attached.
Despite ominous warnings from a local Native American shaman that they are trespassing on sacred ground guarded by a very angry and very evil aboriginal god, the team presses on, eager to complete their work before the onset of the winter night and twenty-four hour darkness. When the team reports the astonishing discovery of a prehistoric mammal resembling a saber-toothed tiger found encased in a tomb of glacial ice, the scientists are horrified to face the full implications of their funding contract.
The television company sends out a full production unit headed by Emilio Conti, a legendary documentary film-maker together with a ruthless network executive who are under instructions to assume responsibility for the entombed cat. The plan is to cut the cat out of the ice, thaw it and reveal it in a live docu-drama to an enthralled world-wide television audience.
When the cat is inadvertently thawed before the cameras are ready to roll and disappears, the killings start. Of course, it isn't long before the team of scientists and the terrified film crew realize they were perhaps premature in their assumption that the frozen prehistoric cat had been dead for thousands of years. It now seems that the perfect killing machine is awake and is taking its revenge on those who would presume to trespass in its territory.
I've long been a fan of Lincoln Child, whether he was writing solo or together with his partner, Douglas Preston. But as soon as an author writes more than one book, it logically follows that there is a "best" book and a "worst" book in his bibliography. This one, unfortunately, qualifies easily as Child's weakest entry in a long string of successful thrillers. There isn't anything about this one that isn't overwritten, over-exaggerated and over the top - characters, dialogue, obsession, setting, situations ... you name it! And, with all due respect to aboriginal religious beliefs, to run away from the science and technological aspects of the novel and retreat to the literary device of using aboriginal legends as a way of simply being spooky, seemed like a major cop-out. Frankly, it seemed like that was an escape route because Child couldn't think of a better ending.
I toyed with the notion of awarding two stars but, after all was said and done, despite its weaknesses, the novel still entertained me. Not only that, I still remain a fan and will buy the next book.
There was also a segment that was absolutely breathtaking and deserves special mention on its own. If you've never heard about the steely courage of ice truckers and the perils they face as they deliver goods to far northern communities ... well, suffice it say that the segment on the 18-wheeler's trek across 200 miles of frozen Alaskan tundra was worth the price of the novel all by itself. Surely that's worth three stars at a minimum!
Paul Weiss
September 24, 2023
New to me authors: Lincoln Child
New genre: modern techno-horror
Book 2: Jeremy Logan series (can stand alone)
Available: NOW
Four scientists from Northern Massachusetts University (Quaternary Paleoecologist Evan Marshall, Climatologist and team leader Gerard Sully, Evolutionary biologist Wright Faraday, and computer scientist Penny Barbour) along with their graduate student Ang Chen, have been given clearance to use Fear Base to study the impact of global warming on subarctic environments. When calving reveals a cave in a glacier that has been buried for at least 12,000 years, the scientists eagerly investigate. What they find changes their lives�.and creates a non-stop thrill ride! It’s at this point that our Regina professor of medieval history, an enigmalogist as he likes to call himself, Jeremy Logan, arrives.
So, the title. What’s up?
Terminal freeze, or flash freeze, is a phenomenon where a sample that is lowered to below melting/freezing point will quickly freeze thereby preventing large ice crystals from forming and damaging the sample. The title reflects a major part of the last 1/3 of the book. Spellbinding.
Focus?
The focus is on global warming in sub-arctic environments (glaciers) with strong physics references (sine waves, sympathetic resonance) in the last ¼.
Setting?
The ‘Zone,� is a vast stretch of northeastern Alaska where temperatures struggle to get above zero for a few months of the year. Branded Federal Wilderness Zone, this area is home to fewer than two dozen people and stretches two million acres. Mount Fear Remote Sensing Installation Base (decommissioned 50 years ago) is the home base for these scientists. An abandoned building adds to the tension and mystery.
Learn anything?
I loved learning about ice truckers, the Callisto Effect, the SAGE system, ice fog, and was driven to Google the Beresovka finding.
Any beefs?
Sure. A huge jump to suspend disbelief in parts, a few characters who didn’t need to be involved, and a ton of unanswered questions. Perhaps a rushed ending, too. BUT none of this took away from my enjoyment.
This is my second book by this author and I’ve come to love his well-researched and engaging thrillers that have a science/history premise. I’d eagerly read book 3 in the Jeremy Logan series.
New genre: modern techno-horror
Book 2: Jeremy Logan series (can stand alone)
Available: NOW
Four scientists from Northern Massachusetts University (Quaternary Paleoecologist Evan Marshall, Climatologist and team leader Gerard Sully, Evolutionary biologist Wright Faraday, and computer scientist Penny Barbour) along with their graduate student Ang Chen, have been given clearance to use Fear Base to study the impact of global warming on subarctic environments. When calving reveals a cave in a glacier that has been buried for at least 12,000 years, the scientists eagerly investigate. What they find changes their lives�.and creates a non-stop thrill ride! It’s at this point that our Regina professor of medieval history, an enigmalogist as he likes to call himself, Jeremy Logan, arrives.
So, the title. What’s up?
Terminal freeze, or flash freeze, is a phenomenon where a sample that is lowered to below melting/freezing point will quickly freeze thereby preventing large ice crystals from forming and damaging the sample. The title reflects a major part of the last 1/3 of the book. Spellbinding.
Focus?
The focus is on global warming in sub-arctic environments (glaciers) with strong physics references (sine waves, sympathetic resonance) in the last ¼.
Setting?
The ‘Zone,� is a vast stretch of northeastern Alaska where temperatures struggle to get above zero for a few months of the year. Branded Federal Wilderness Zone, this area is home to fewer than two dozen people and stretches two million acres. Mount Fear Remote Sensing Installation Base (decommissioned 50 years ago) is the home base for these scientists. An abandoned building adds to the tension and mystery.
Learn anything?
I loved learning about ice truckers, the Callisto Effect, the SAGE system, ice fog, and was driven to Google the Beresovka finding.
Any beefs?
Sure. A huge jump to suspend disbelief in parts, a few characters who didn’t need to be involved, and a ton of unanswered questions. Perhaps a rushed ending, too. BUT none of this took away from my enjoyment.
This is my second book by this author and I’ve come to love his well-researched and engaging thrillers that have a science/history premise. I’d eagerly read book 3 in the Jeremy Logan series.
February 2, 2015
This was a little 'blah' for me. But I think I don't care for monster stories. I don't like twiddling my fingers and waiting for characters to be picked off by the monster. I also didn't like how predictable it was for who would die. It was like Child was mainly killing off the jerky characters. While I am not saying that I want to see likable characters killed off, it seems too calculated to establish a character as a putz and then kill them off. It was a bit sadistic of the author, quite frankly. Also, there were characters I didn't know if they made it at the end of the book. Honestly though, I wasn't too sad about one of the characters who got eaten. That's terrible of me, I realize it.
I did like the descriptions of the frozen North a lot, but that's because I love cold weather and winter settings. I live in Texas, so I don't get nearly enough 'winter.' When I feel hot and I really miss winter, I even day dream about there being a good two feet of snow on the ground and playing in the snow. That crunching sound it makes when it's a newly fallen powder. Yup, that's how much I love winter and snow.
Probably my favorite part of this book was the look at winter as a brutal adversary in itself. Now that I could get behind. My favorite part was when the refugees from Camp Fear had to drive across two ice lakes. That was fascinating and it was probably the most exciting moments of the story.
I didn't quite like the concept of the predator itself. It never came together as concretely as it should have. Also, some characters who had promise were underutilized. Logan promised to be an intriguing character, but he was barely in the book. Also, Marshall didn't have much charisma as a lead. Considering his tragic past, I think he didn't have his fears challenged enough in the long run. Usuguk felt a bit one-dimensional to me. The native shaman who provides spiritual/cultural background for the story.
I think this book is a low three stars for me. I rarely give under 3 stars, so getting a three isn't a compliment per se. It's more like saying it's a blah book that didn't offend me enough or I didn't dislike enough to rate lower. It wasn't a bad book, by any means. Just mediocre.
I am thankful for the suggestion to read this for our Action/Adventure Aficionados group read. It was pretty listenable as an audiobook. I am grateful that I found it at my library in audiobook, but I don't think I could have committed to finishing this in print. It just didn't get me excited enough.
I did like the descriptions of the frozen North a lot, but that's because I love cold weather and winter settings. I live in Texas, so I don't get nearly enough 'winter.' When I feel hot and I really miss winter, I even day dream about there being a good two feet of snow on the ground and playing in the snow. That crunching sound it makes when it's a newly fallen powder. Yup, that's how much I love winter and snow.
Probably my favorite part of this book was the look at winter as a brutal adversary in itself. Now that I could get behind. My favorite part was when the refugees from Camp Fear had to drive across two ice lakes. That was fascinating and it was probably the most exciting moments of the story.
I didn't quite like the concept of the predator itself. It never came together as concretely as it should have. Also, some characters who had promise were underutilized. Logan promised to be an intriguing character, but he was barely in the book. Also, Marshall didn't have much charisma as a lead. Considering his tragic past, I think he didn't have his fears challenged enough in the long run. Usuguk felt a bit one-dimensional to me. The native shaman who provides spiritual/cultural background for the story.
I think this book is a low three stars for me. I rarely give under 3 stars, so getting a three isn't a compliment per se. It's more like saying it's a blah book that didn't offend me enough or I didn't dislike enough to rate lower. It wasn't a bad book, by any means. Just mediocre.
I am thankful for the suggestion to read this for our Action/Adventure Aficionados group read. It was pretty listenable as an audiobook. I am grateful that I found it at my library in audiobook, but I don't think I could have committed to finishing this in print. It just didn't get me excited enough.
January 20, 2013
Lincoln Child is better known for the horror centered Pengergast series on which he collaborated with Douglas Preston. Terminal Freeze is one of Child's solo novels but is still dead center in the genre of modern techno-horror. It is a light read, aka supermarket bestseller, aka airplane novel, aka summer read, aka any somewhat derogatory label you want to give a book that is purely for entertainment value and will be forgotten about two days later. That's isn't to say it is not fun. It is the literary equivalent of Twinkies. But I did enjoy it for what it was. This fun romp takes place in the wintery cold regions of the Alaskan wilderness and involves a monster frozen in ice. It is not a spoiler to tell you it doesn't remain frozen for long. I can't help wondering if the author was giving a nod and a wink to the classic sci-fi story Who Goes There by John Campbell although their monsters are quite different. Lots of mayhem takes place with tut tutting native Americans, bewildered scientists, an evil film crew, and a troop of semi-competent military types that might well have been wearing red shirts from a Star Trek TV set...
Yes, there's a bloodbath and bad decisions (why oh why do smart men and women think it is a really great idea to split up and explore all those corners the monster might be hiding?) and questionable science...everything you want in a guilty pleasure. So I'm going to give this a very generous three stars and give it a shaky recommendation for those who like literary Twinkies.
Yes, there's a bloodbath and bad decisions (why oh why do smart men and women think it is a really great idea to split up and explore all those corners the monster might be hiding?) and questionable science...everything you want in a guilty pleasure. So I'm going to give this a very generous three stars and give it a shaky recommendation for those who like literary Twinkies.
November 24, 2014
This was pants. Truly crap. Basically Lincoln Child has re-written , (a book I really like) his début with Douglas Preston but set in a frozen army base rather than the New York Natural History Museum. He's also sapped any sense of excitement, mystery or threat. Everything is telegraphed from miles away and there are no twists that catch you, no surprises, no subtlety and not much of interest. Purely a by the numbers creature feature wrapped up in some pseudoscience.
To add insult to injury the creature physically appears to be the same as the Kothoga/Mbwun (with a few small quirks) and he even draws attention to it by mentioning Dr Frock and the Callisto Effect (which makes it worse as if you've read Relic it's starkly obvious how any of them could kill it with the huge forward facing eyes...).
Plus, we get stuck with some stock characters and an hysterically clichéd Italian documentary maker. Sigh. Where's the creativity?
Despite a very slow start and build up, I was starting to warm up to it but then things just went further south. "Goose the decibels" started it off followed by the moment the creature's vast leap forward was instantly arrested by a mid-air seizure - basic laws of physics anyone? You don't suddenly drop to the floor if you've already leapt just because of a seizure. You may land badly...
Anyway, nitpicking. If you get to the end and are particularly forgetful the main surviving characters helpfully present and explain the plot to you as an epilogue. Bad.
Looking around it seems some of his other solo books are a lot better so maybe this was a poor choice. I just love creature features.
Really, I just want to be able to read Jurassic Park for the first time again. Sigh...
To add insult to injury the creature physically appears to be the same as the Kothoga/Mbwun (with a few small quirks) and he even draws attention to it by mentioning Dr Frock and the Callisto Effect (which makes it worse as if you've read Relic it's starkly obvious how any of them could kill it with the huge forward facing eyes...).
Plus, we get stuck with some stock characters and an hysterically clichéd Italian documentary maker. Sigh. Where's the creativity?
Despite a very slow start and build up, I was starting to warm up to it but then things just went further south. "Goose the decibels" started it off followed by the moment the creature's vast leap forward was instantly arrested by a mid-air seizure - basic laws of physics anyone? You don't suddenly drop to the floor if you've already leapt just because of a seizure. You may land badly...
Anyway, nitpicking. If you get to the end and are particularly forgetful the main surviving characters helpfully present and explain the plot to you as an epilogue. Bad.
Looking around it seems some of his other solo books are a lot better so maybe this was a poor choice. I just love creature features.
Really, I just want to be able to read Jurassic Park for the first time again. Sigh...
December 5, 2017
Reminded me a little bit of The Thing. Fun creature feature. Loved the ending.
August 25, 2022
Not a bad story but I think I liked Deep Storm better. Still it was an action packed, scary thrill ride, just not quite as unique. But it was entertaining and I will definitely continue the series.
March 6, 2014
'Testost(erone) tosh' is self-evidently the male version of chick-lit and I must admit I much prefer the manly rubbish compared to the entirely unpalatable (IMHO) female polemic. This genre is always fast, furious, vicious and improbable - wonderful comfort reads.
January 9, 2018
Top of the world, Alaska. Scientist and military make a base for an experiment 50 years ago, find the creature 'it', science team gets brutally mutilated, base shuts down. 50 years later, another science team re-opens the base, finds 'it' AGAIN and the science teams gets picked off one by one again, or until someone figures out how to kill 'it'. Yada, yada, yada. Jeremy Logan was NOT the main character in this one and it was like 'huh'?? His reason for being at the base went way over my head and I couldn't figure it out. The evacuation of the civilians by an ice road semi trucker was more thrilling and scary than what was actually happening at the base.
The first book in this series really had me excited about getting back to Jeremy Logan but not sure I want to pick up the next book in this series. Blah. I finished it only to add it as an easy addition to my yearly book challenge.
The first book in this series really had me excited about getting back to Jeremy Logan but not sure I want to pick up the next book in this series. Blah. I finished it only to add it as an easy addition to my yearly book challenge.
April 11, 2013
Holy macaroni, but this was a really good book. It happens in Alaska's Federal Wilderness Zone. They are studying the mounting effeccts of climate change at the base of a glacier when they discover an enormous pre-historic animal encased in ice. The local villagers (a fair ways away, actually) tell them not to disturb it, no, no, leave, you fools or you will die, die, aaaahhhaaaa.
But they don't leave. Many die. aaaahhhaaaa, And the afterthought is just.... creepy.
But they don't leave. Many die. aaaahhhaaaa, And the afterthought is just.... creepy.
June 22, 2024
Rounded up from 2.75. Good author. Good premise. So why am I so disappointed in this book? Simply put I knew this was a series but not who the series was about. Reading this book I watched the author shoe horn the main character into his own story. When he simply could have left him out completely or made this a stand alone. Instead he 'happens' upon the folder then 'just' shows up.
He spends the rest of the book just flouncing about doing his own thing or being the magic McGuffin of the artic. Mr Childs you did Marshall and Gonzales dirty by not letting them be the stars they were meant to be. They were were starlight with the audience and the group till the end. And just like the beginning Logan spends the end winking at us mysteriously, instead of just spitting out what he's thinking.
He spends the rest of the book just flouncing about doing his own thing or being the magic McGuffin of the artic. Mr Childs you did Marshall and Gonzales dirty by not letting them be the stars they were meant to be. They were were starlight with the audience and the group till the end. And just like the beginning Logan spends the end winking at us mysteriously, instead of just spitting out what he's thinking.
September 27, 2018
I had a sense of deja vu while reading. I think I may have listened to this years before I started on GRs? Maybe not. Maybe it sounded like another story? IDK
All I can say is I never felt that thriller on the edge of your seat moments. So I must have read. It’s not the story which was good.
I’m not really sure why this series is named after Logan. His presence was fleeting.
Overall, good read.
The narrator was really good but hardly modulated his voices for men and women making it hard to tell who was talking in a conversation without dialogue tags or characters context to know who was speaking.
All I can say is I never felt that thriller on the edge of your seat moments. So I must have read. It’s not the story which was good.
I’m not really sure why this series is named after Logan. His presence was fleeting.
Overall, good read.
The narrator was really good but hardly modulated his voices for men and women making it hard to tell who was talking in a conversation without dialogue tags or characters context to know who was speaking.
January 10, 2023
Cli Fi horror. A scientific expedition in Alaska's Glacier National Park find a frozen monster. Of course, the usual idiots want to de-frost it on national television. Guess they've never seen King Kong.
May 9, 2016
Whoa, what a terrible book! It reads like he was expecting someone to make a movie of the week out of it. But with a really low budget. The monster isn't even partially described until near the tedious long drawn out end of this silly story. "It plays with you! It PLAYYYSSS with YOUUUUU!!!" WTF? Seriously?! Cuz it doesn't. No where in the book. And what was up with the ice road trucker part of the story? It wasn't even part of the story. Just tossed in there because even this ridiculous monster couldn't be expected to eat THAT many people. Had to get the extra people off the military base, right? Oh for Pete's sake...books like this are the reason too many people think they can write. The woman are one dimensional, the men are idiots and the monster? Well, I was hoping he was going to eat everyone. Every. Single. Person. And the author.
February 5, 2017
This was my 2nd Jeremy Logan story, I think, maybe 3rd. Just the thought of being in a 20 degree below zero environment freaks me completely out--not to mention a thawed "thing". Jeremy didn't have a lot of time to think about his wife in this story!
February 4, 2023
I gave 3 1/2 stars, for this thrilling novel and quick read, filled with interesting scientific facts. A 10,000 year old creature frozen in time is discovered by scientist researching climate change near an old early warning military facility in Alaska north of the arctic circle. The facility with many no longer used underground levels is manned by a handful of soldiers who are accommodating the scientist. Learning of the discovery, a documentary film crew arrives on the scene to film the thawing of the ancient creature. A native shaman warns of the awakening of an angry evil spirit. The creature is described as an evolutionary killing machine apparently thaws on its own and disappears.
There is mounting tension among the soldiers, scientist and film crew. The soldiers and scientist go on the hunt for the creature as the stealthy creature goes on the hunt for them. The second half of the story had me on the edge of my seat up to its exciting conclusion. Lincoln Child is the author of DEEP STORM, a techno thriller which I found to be a better story.
There is mounting tension among the soldiers, scientist and film crew. The soldiers and scientist go on the hunt for the creature as the stealthy creature goes on the hunt for them. The second half of the story had me on the edge of my seat up to its exciting conclusion. Lincoln Child is the author of DEEP STORM, a techno thriller which I found to be a better story.
August 31, 2020
Lincoln Child is een Amerikaans auteur van techno-thrillers en scifi-horror romans. Sterfkou schreef hij in 2009.
Een groep wetenschappers bivakkeert driehonderd kilometer ten noorden van de poolcirkel. Hun doel is, om in het ijs, de effecten van de opwarming van de aarde te bestuderen. Daar doen ze een onverwachte ontdekking die het onderzoekscentrum verandert in een doodskist. Is ontsnappen wel mogelijk?
Ik vond het verhaal zeer vlot geschreven. Het leest zeer gemakkelijk. Dit wordt gerealiseerd omdat vanaf een bepaald deel van het boek er altijd een soort dreiging over de gebeurtenissen ligt. De personages beginnen angstiger te komen en als lezer voel je die angst soms zelf ook.
Er is een personage aanwezig in het verhaal dat wat als fantasy kan overkomen. In het verhaal wordt het meer als een spiritueel wezen omschreven. Ik omschrijf het meer als een erg beangstigend wezen.
De personages die beschreven worden zijn zeer divers en bij sommige kon ik soms een gevoel van afkeer krijgen. Personen waarmee ik in het echte leven nooit een vriendschap zou kunnen opbouwen. Anderen kwamen dan meer vriendschappelijk over, behulpzaam.
Wat ik zeer goed vond aan dit boek is dat je de aanvaller maar beetje per beetje beschreven krijgt. Soms kun je je een beeld vormen van een personage maar in dit boek moet je lang wachten tegen dat je de exacte beschrijving van het hoofdpersonage krijgt.
Naarmate het slot nadert stijgt de spanning in het verhaal. Hoe men het verhaal afsluit had ik niet direct kunnen bedenken. Zeer inventief gevonden.
Conclusie
Een boek dat ik zeer graag gelezen heb. Ik werd meegezogen in het verhaal en zocht mee naar de dader. Een boek met een zeer inventief einde.
Engels
Lincoln Child is an American author of techno thrillers and sci-fi horror novels. He wrote about Terminal Freeze in 2009.
A group of scientists camp 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Their goal is to study the effects of global warming in the ice. There they make an unexpected discovery that turns the research center into a coffin. Is escape possible?
I found the story very smoothly written. It reads very easily. This is realized because from a certain part of the book there is always some sort of threat over the events. The characters start to come more fearful and as a reader you sometimes feel that fear yourself.
There is a character present in the story that can come across as fantasy. In the story it is described more as a spiritual being. I describe it more as a very scary creature.
The characters described are very diverse and with some I could feel disgusted at times. People I could never develop a friendship with in real life. Others came across as more friendly, helpful.
What I really liked about this book is that you can only get the attacker described bit by bit. Sometimes you can imagine a character, but in this book you have to wait a long time to get the exact description of the main character.
As the end approaches, the tension in the story increases. I could not have imagined immediately how the story was concluded. Found very inventive.
Conclusion
A book that I really liked to read. I was sucked into the story and searched for the culprit. A book with a very inventive ending.
Een groep wetenschappers bivakkeert driehonderd kilometer ten noorden van de poolcirkel. Hun doel is, om in het ijs, de effecten van de opwarming van de aarde te bestuderen. Daar doen ze een onverwachte ontdekking die het onderzoekscentrum verandert in een doodskist. Is ontsnappen wel mogelijk?
Ik vond het verhaal zeer vlot geschreven. Het leest zeer gemakkelijk. Dit wordt gerealiseerd omdat vanaf een bepaald deel van het boek er altijd een soort dreiging over de gebeurtenissen ligt. De personages beginnen angstiger te komen en als lezer voel je die angst soms zelf ook.
Er is een personage aanwezig in het verhaal dat wat als fantasy kan overkomen. In het verhaal wordt het meer als een spiritueel wezen omschreven. Ik omschrijf het meer als een erg beangstigend wezen.
De personages die beschreven worden zijn zeer divers en bij sommige kon ik soms een gevoel van afkeer krijgen. Personen waarmee ik in het echte leven nooit een vriendschap zou kunnen opbouwen. Anderen kwamen dan meer vriendschappelijk over, behulpzaam.
Wat ik zeer goed vond aan dit boek is dat je de aanvaller maar beetje per beetje beschreven krijgt. Soms kun je je een beeld vormen van een personage maar in dit boek moet je lang wachten tegen dat je de exacte beschrijving van het hoofdpersonage krijgt.
Naarmate het slot nadert stijgt de spanning in het verhaal. Hoe men het verhaal afsluit had ik niet direct kunnen bedenken. Zeer inventief gevonden.
Conclusie
Een boek dat ik zeer graag gelezen heb. Ik werd meegezogen in het verhaal en zocht mee naar de dader. Een boek met een zeer inventief einde.
Engels
Lincoln Child is an American author of techno thrillers and sci-fi horror novels. He wrote about Terminal Freeze in 2009.
A group of scientists camp 300 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Their goal is to study the effects of global warming in the ice. There they make an unexpected discovery that turns the research center into a coffin. Is escape possible?
I found the story very smoothly written. It reads very easily. This is realized because from a certain part of the book there is always some sort of threat over the events. The characters start to come more fearful and as a reader you sometimes feel that fear yourself.
There is a character present in the story that can come across as fantasy. In the story it is described more as a spiritual being. I describe it more as a very scary creature.
The characters described are very diverse and with some I could feel disgusted at times. People I could never develop a friendship with in real life. Others came across as more friendly, helpful.
What I really liked about this book is that you can only get the attacker described bit by bit. Sometimes you can imagine a character, but in this book you have to wait a long time to get the exact description of the main character.
As the end approaches, the tension in the story increases. I could not have imagined immediately how the story was concluded. Found very inventive.
Conclusion
A book that I really liked to read. I was sucked into the story and searched for the culprit. A book with a very inventive ending.
February 21, 2017
read this is a daze (had to travel a lot lately, plus multiple instances of waiting in line);
understood the general flow of the story, not enough to critique it, though;
i must say that logan chap's a lot less frisky than their (him and preston) other heroes
i do hope to see the aurora borealis for real someday
understood the general flow of the story, not enough to critique it, though;
i must say that logan chap's a lot less frisky than their (him and preston) other heroes
i do hope to see the aurora borealis for real someday
November 21, 2024
Wanted to like it. The premise was cool but it was hard to keep my attention on the story.
July 3, 2022
Exciting story! I love how Lincoln Child makes all of his unique, descriptive settings so integral to the story. Deep Storm and The Third Gate are the best examples of this--the settings are so awesome and extreme. Great creativity! This book also does a signature Child (and Preston) move with gracefully balancing the line between realism and fantasy. Child gave a detailed scientific explanation for the story's mystery, but it's still open-ended enough so readers can entertain the mystical explanation. Good suspenseful plotlines too.
April 24, 2022
although I am not sure how this book is classified it could very well be considered a horror book. While reading it I could not help but be reminded of the movie and book, “The Thing�.
A quote from the book pretty much gives one an insight of what is in store for him. “It plays with you! And when it’s finished playing——it kills. It’s going to kill us all.�
The book starts off with a scientific study in the arctic at an old military post. A creature is found frozen in the ice and is being thawed out for a documentary. The creature becomes alive and starts killing people, sounds a little like “The Thing� to me. Although the creature seems to have it’s roots in Eskimo mythology, at the end of the book some reference is made to space.
Although a very good read, it smacked too much of “The Thing”for my liking.
A quote from the book pretty much gives one an insight of what is in store for him. “It plays with you! And when it’s finished playing——it kills. It’s going to kill us all.�
The book starts off with a scientific study in the arctic at an old military post. A creature is found frozen in the ice and is being thawed out for a documentary. The creature becomes alive and starts killing people, sounds a little like “The Thing� to me. Although the creature seems to have it’s roots in Eskimo mythology, at the end of the book some reference is made to space.
Although a very good read, it smacked too much of “The Thing”for my liking.
March 9, 2009
After impressing me with last year, Lincoln Child sort of missed the boat with Terminal Freeze. While there was nothing bad about it, it suffered from being a retread of , Child's thriller debut with Douglas Preston. He even seems to recognize this when he refers to Frock and his Callisto Effect theory. Swap out Relic's natural history museum for a military base in Alaska, change some character names and throw in a documentary team from a television channel, and you've got Terminal Freeze.
Creativity isn't terribly high on my list of requirements for a good book, so this isn't the whole of my complaints. As long as a book is well-written and has interesting characters, I tend to overlook the fact that it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Terminal Freeze, however, lacks the punch and pizazz that Relic and other Preston/Child books have. It is completely without any element of surprise. I heartily recommend not reading any synopsis, including the book jacket's inside flap, because it lays out the entire plot. There aren't any game-changers, no moments of "Ah ha, gotcha!" After Child did such a good job taking Deep Storm in an unforeseen direction several times, I'm really disappointed he didn't do that here.
The next Preston/Child collaboration is out in two months, and I'm hoping that it's more interesting than this one was.
Creativity isn't terribly high on my list of requirements for a good book, so this isn't the whole of my complaints. As long as a book is well-written and has interesting characters, I tend to overlook the fact that it doesn't bring anything new to the table. Terminal Freeze, however, lacks the punch and pizazz that Relic and other Preston/Child books have. It is completely without any element of surprise. I heartily recommend not reading any synopsis, including the book jacket's inside flap, because it lays out the entire plot. There aren't any game-changers, no moments of "Ah ha, gotcha!" After Child did such a good job taking Deep Storm in an unforeseen direction several times, I'm really disappointed he didn't do that here.
The next Preston/Child collaboration is out in two months, and I'm hoping that it's more interesting than this one was.
April 11, 2009
There's nothing better than a good adventure-horror-sci-fi novel... there's something comforting in the predictability of some of the plot points: Take a group of scientists, mucking about in something they shouldn't (in this case, unearthing a large creature frozen in ice and thawing it out), in a remote location (a remote Alaskan glacier), throw in something evil (large, man-eating creature, possibly prehistoric), a few stupid characters (a filmmaker who stops at nothing to get the perfect shot for his documentary AND an uncaring reality TV host caught in her own celebrity), and you're sure to have a fun, bloodthirsty time as the body count grows. Of course, you'll also have the brave hero who plots the escape route (in this case, an ice road trucker who wears hawaiian shirts in subzero temps) AND the other brave hero who figures out how to defeat the evil creature AND woo the SMART female character who manages to not get herself killed.
Yup, yup... all there... Lincoln Child's latest thriller, while not the next great Pulitzer winner, had all the necessary plot points to entertain for a fair amount of time. If you're a fan -- or if you have thus far avoided the adv-horror-sci-fi genre altogether -- I'd say give it a whirl.
Yup, yup... all there... Lincoln Child's latest thriller, while not the next great Pulitzer winner, had all the necessary plot points to entertain for a fair amount of time. If you're a fan -- or if you have thus far avoided the adv-horror-sci-fi genre altogether -- I'd say give it a whirl.
April 2, 2009
I am somewhat biased because I am a huge Preston / Child fan. Their prose really resonates with me and I enjoy the experience of reading their words.
This book was not my favorite of their works. The exploration of the arctic and the assembly of the documentary crew, the scientists, the military and the Tunit shaman made for an interesting cast of characters. I read this book more quickly than many other thrilers that I read and this is a huge gauge for me as to how much I enjoy a book. As much as I love Child's writing, something about this story left me wanting more. The technology and the history of the military base made interesting backstory, but in the end the work felt a little too predictable (which is my only real criticism.)
As always Child delivered an interesting villian, which kept me turning pages to discover its origin and how it could possibly be defeated.
I would recommend this book for thriller lovers and especially Preston / Child fans.
CJ
This book was not my favorite of their works. The exploration of the arctic and the assembly of the documentary crew, the scientists, the military and the Tunit shaman made for an interesting cast of characters. I read this book more quickly than many other thrilers that I read and this is a huge gauge for me as to how much I enjoy a book. As much as I love Child's writing, something about this story left me wanting more. The technology and the history of the military base made interesting backstory, but in the end the work felt a little too predictable (which is my only real criticism.)
As always Child delivered an interesting villian, which kept me turning pages to discover its origin and how it could possibly be defeated.
I would recommend this book for thriller lovers and especially Preston / Child fans.
CJ
May 3, 2016
Well, maybe not the best story from this author, but a fast and fun "take me away from politics" read nonetheless! Scientists studying global warming two hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska's federal Wildlife Zone discover what they believe to be a prehistoric animal in a glacial cave under layers of ice. What they discover is something much more otherworldly. With the help of a Tunit Shaman, remnants of a film documentary crew, military personnel and Doctor Jeremy Logan they manage to survive and kill the beast... or do they?
April 28, 2014
Intelligent, well-plotted, unique, and captivating. I love Lincoln Child as simply "Lincoln Child," and he certainly doesn't disappoint with Terminal Freeze. I do wonder to where the cat ran off, though. :)
February 27, 2022
Questo romanzo di Lincoln Child è un interessante mix tra weird, horror e thriller, che molto deve alla "Cosa" di John Campbell e di più al film di Carpenter. L'autore vi fa rientrare i miti degli indiami dell'estremo nord del continente americano ed ambienta la storia in una delel basi di avvistamento missili del periodo della Guerra Fredda. Molti i personaggi portati sulla scena dall'autore che costruisce un romanzo corale, con un protagonista non prima-donna, lasciando spazio a tutti. Una bella lettura, che piacerà soprattutto agli amanti del genere.
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