Authors: Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Genre: SciFi/Horror
Unique Elements: Con Artist with a Deadly Condition tries to atone for his life by working for a highly covert organization
Series: A Gideon Crew Novel
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Number of Page: 375 Pages
MSRP: $27.00
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Reviewed by: J.T. Hanke
Final Score: 3.5 Moons (out of 5)
Note: Folks who’ve read Gideon Crew novels won’t be left out in the cold (so to speak) if they haven’t read the original novel, The Ice Limit, as all the necessary details about The Ice Limit plot points are included within this new story. (With that said, it’s not recommended that you read this book if you haven’t read the previous Gideon Crew novels, even if you have read The Ice Limit, however, because the details of this book serially connect to the previous Gideon Crew novels, most notably the preceding book, The Lost Island.)
After the mysterious events of the Lost Island, Gideon Crew discovers the secret healing benefits his employer has received from the plants on the lost island, allowing him to now walk.
Could this cure work for Gideon’s own deadly condition? It doesn’t seem like it, but its miraculous properties are enough to keep a skeptic like Gideon on the hook with Glinn in his strangest quest yet: the search for a presumably dangerous alien life form at the bottom of the ocean past the Ice Limit.
Story
2001’s The Ice Limit told the tragic account of Eli Glinn attempting to claim an alien meteor, but, when his ego exceeded his grasp, it led to a catastrophe that killed 108 people and opened the world to danger from beyond his reckoning. The story was intended to be a one-off from the writing duo who are most known for their series revolving around Agent Pendergast and, now, Gideon Crew. However, fan outcry for a sequel continued to gain momentum and, now that Glinn was a featured pro/antagonist in their Gideon Crew series, why not combine the sequel to the Ice Limit with the next Gideon Crew novel?
The concept is brilliant. Especially since they’ve been having a bit of difficulty getting the hang of the character of Gideon Crew–a nuclear physicist by day and social engineer/art thief by night, whose transformation to reluctant hero is begun with the discovery of an incurable brain disorder that will curtail his life. Gideon Crew has been much more of a fleshing out process for the authors than Agent Pendergast who, according to the authors, seemed to have a mind of his own. After the thriller/mystery of The Lost Island, however, Gideon Crew had seemed to solidify into a thinking man’s Indiana Jones, with some of the charm of White Collar, which I really enjoyed.
Beyond the Ice Limit might be best described as Moby Dick—with an obsessed Eli Glinn as Captain Ahab in a hunt for his elusive great white whale in the form of an alien life form he’s responsible for–meets Aliens—with lots of small aliens trying to infect and turn the crew members into killers and saboteurs.
While I like different novels in a series to have different flavors from one another, going from The Lost Island’s suspense/mystery (in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Arc or National Treasure) to Beyond the Ice Limit’s almost pure horror (in the vein of Infected, The Descent, or The Body Snatchers) was a bit of a jump for me, especially since the mystery of what the creature is and how it interacts with things was actually quite intriguing and could have been explored more slowly and suspensefully to retain more of the style of the preceding Gideon Crew novel.
With that said, it is a well-told horror tale, even if at times it goes a bit Hollywood with staggering odds (whose intensity keeps getting ratcheted up), lots of violence, and an end game that could literally destroy the planet (and the other series the authors write, since they’re part of a shared universe).
The ending of the novel was solid, even if they played chicken with a darker, more logical ending. The epilogue, however, was nicely cathartic and left you feeling more excited about future Gideon Crew books.
Dynamics
The interpersonal dynamics of Beyond the Ice Limit are clearly intended to be somewhat like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, with Glinn playing the role of Holmes as the motivating person who the unraveling of the mystery revolves around with Gideon serving many of the needs of a Watson-type character. (Gideon has a special set of skills that are needed, but the story isn’t his story and he’s there to kind of clean up after others mistakes.) Ironically, Glinn is too distant and removed a character to be Sherlock Holmes (which is saying something, considering how distant Holmes could be), and is upstaged in his own sequel by Sam Mcfarlane, a Meteor Hunter from the original book, who has insight that others lack. (In a nice twist, however, Glinn seems to realize his limitations for once, as he chooses to permit this to occur.)
While we do get more insight into Glinn in this book (and see that he does feel guilty about his actions in the first book), everyone stays so busy dealing with ever progressively overwhelming odds, we don’t actually have much dynamic interaction between the main characters and one another. (The one exception is a romantic one with Gideon and a coworker, where you really see the dynamic capability Gideon possesses. Unfortunately, like all Gideon Crew relationships, this one is extremely short.)
One of the best suspense movies I’ve seen recently was 10 Cloverfield Lane, which is a character driven mystery between three people. The dynamics of these characters drive the whole film and keep you invested in them.
Gideon Crew is a character that works best in character-driven mysteries because he’s trying to figure people out, even as he’s trying to figure himself out. To prevent it being too much like Pendergast, it would be great if the authors gave Gideon Crew an actual team that he must work regularly with–especially since he thinks he works best alone. Like Danny Ocean (from Ocean’s Elevent), he needs a team of equals to work with–rather than being just the errand boy for a Lawful Neutral “Lex Luthor.” (And, like Han Solo, give Gideon a permanent love interest on the team to inspire him to want to be better.)
Gothic Fit
As an epic horror novel that explores man’s weakness, darkness, and suspicion, Beyond The Ice Limit is extremely Gothic, continuing on in the vein of such classics as The Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies.
Although some the dynamics which are involved in our romanticism are largely absent, the exploration of our intelligence vs. the unknown, without turning away from the darker and bloodier things we are capable of in that pursuit, was also right in line with our style.
Final thoughts
While Beyond the Ice Limit may be a bit more uneven a novel than The Lost Island and you may learn less about the title character than you have in past books, it’s conclusion of a pre-existing story within the world of Eli Glinn, along with his evolution as a character, is worthwhile. If you’re a fan of sci-fi/horror from folks like Jack Finney, Scott Sigler, and Neal Asher, then you will likely find this to be a very enjoyable yarn.
I personally am looking forward to how Gideon develops in future novels, especially if the authors can make him work with a team of people so that his social engineering is now put to use in a dynamic and reflective way.
Story: 3.5 Moons (out of 5.0)
Dynamics: 2.5 Moons (out of 5.0)
Gothic Fit: 5.0 Moons (out of 5.0)
Final Score (not an average): 3.5 Moons (out of 5.0)
