Erica Ferencik

Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik is a very highly recommended science fiction mystery set in the near future.

Valerie “Val” Chesterfield is a linguist who specializes in dead Nordic languages. She also suffers from life long anxiety issues, panic disorder, and has recently started drinking more after the death of her twin brother, Andy. She and her father were told that Andy committed suicide by going outside unprotected into 50 degree below zero weather at the Arctic research station show more located on a remote island off Greenland’s coast where he worked. They both doubt this is the truth. When Val is contacted by Wyatt Speeks, Andy's fellow researcher in Greenland, Val hesitates to open the email. When she does, her first reaction is total disbelief.

Wyatt claims that a young girl, 8 or 9 years-old, who was frozen in the ice has been thawed out alive. She is speaking a language no one understands and he sends Val a recording of the girl talking. Wyatt wants Val to travel to the research station to meet this girl and try to figure out what she is saying. None of this is in Val's comfort zone, but she ventures to the Arctic to attempt to decipher what the girl is saying, while also trying to uncover more information about Andy's death.

Val is a vulnerable, sympathetic main character and the fear and panic she has to overcome is palpable. All of the small cast of characters are depicted as realistic and believable with compelling backstories. Sigrid, the name given to the girl, is a unique characters and following the burgeoning relationship between her and Val as they try to communicate is fascinating. Raj and Nora are researchers who arrived at the station with Val and provide a counterpoint to Wyatt and Jeanne. Jeanne is the mechanic, cook, and assistant. Wyatt is an enigma, sometimes menacing, who is clearly hiding something and most certainly has a ulterior motive.

Greenland and the unforgiving, harsh environment is a place, but also takes on the importance of another character. I quite enjoyed placing this group of people in this context. Having these characters in such an isolated setting is akin to having a small group of explorers anywhere, including a future space mission. That isolation and the harsh environment coupled with Sigrid and the mystery behind her all work to give Girl in Ice the feeling of a science fiction novel that contains several mysteries that need to be solved.

The writing is excellent and the plot is engrossing. Girl in Ice had me captivated from beginning to end. The action does move slowly at the start, but it serves to is build up the atmosphere, tension, and deepen the mysteries while simultaneously providing important character development. The linguistic portions of the novel are fascinating. For me, this was an un-put-downable and unforgettable novel with a unique plot and characters. I need to look into Ferencik's other novels.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery/Scout Press.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2022/01/girl-in-ice.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4431588425 show less

The River at Night is Erica Ferencik's (fantastic!) debut novel.

We all have them - long term friends that you try to get together with at least once a year. That's what Wini, Pia, Rachel and Sandra try to do, picking a new vacation destination every year. It's white-water rafting this year in the remote wilds of Maine. A place where no one lives. Or do they? And when they have an accident on the river..... Great premise!

The four are all very different personalities. Friends yes, but show more personalities do clash - especially in stressful situations. Ferencik nails the interactions between the four - their depictions are realistic, the friendship rings true and the personalities remind me of some people I've known. The friendship between the four is tested as the book progresses, as is each woman.

Great plotting - a hint of Deliverance for those that remember that movie. (No worries, not as graphic) Lots of action. I kayak, but I don't think I'll ever go white water rafting. And I no idea what was going to happen next. I can't tell you how much I appreciate being kept in the dark, wondering where an author is going to take the story.

I chose to listen to The River at Night. The narrator was Joy Osmanski. Her interpretation of the novel was excellent. Each woman was easily identifiable - with their own tone, cadence and attitude. I absolutely believed the interactions between the four. And the other characters (not going to spoil it by saying who) had a dark and sinister voice that gave me chills. Osmanski conveyed the sense of danger and desperation really well - and had me listening to just one more chapter before turning in. This is a book I know I enjoyed more by listening. I felt caught up in the story, included in the conversations and decisions. Although I was mentally voting (and shouting) 'no' for many of their choices!

The River at Night was such an addicting tale! Absolutely recommended. I'll be watching for Ferencik's next book! show less

In a month of fantastic novels, with debuts and series endings I have been waiting months to read, it still surprises me that my favorite book of the month, if not the entire year so far, is Erica Ferencik’s Into the Jungle. After all, I am not an outdoorsy person. I have no desire to step foot into the Amazon jungle or any jungle, let alone live there. I am arachnophobic and can barely stomach Aragog in the Harry Potter series. Nothing about South America interests me. Yet, I adored this show more novel about a young woman who drops everything to be with her new love as they move to a small village deep in the Amazon. Spiders who can kill chickens, jaguars who vanish like ghosts, tarantulas that drop from the ceiling, ants that cause more pain than a bullet – these should not be things about which I want to read. I devoured it all and wanted more. I was upset when the story ended. I wanted to experience more of this alien world, which Ms. Ferencik so masterfully captures. I wanted to get to know more about Omar’s life and his family. The ending just about broke my heart and left me gutted. I still have no desire to visit the Amazon, but, thanks to Ms. Ferencik’s writing, I feel like I experienced what Lily did, and that is enough for me. show less

Nine years later, I wish I could wrap my arms around my younger, stupider self and tell her to hold on tight, because flying to Bolivia on a scam was the least in a series of bad decisions I was about to make.

And that pretty much sums up the entire book: a series of bad decisions made by a nineteen-year-old who grew up in the U.S. foster care system. Used to stealing and doing whatever else it takes to survive, Lily resorts to working in a run-down hotel in Cochabamba, Bolivia, running with show more other troubled girls from the U.S. and Europe. Then she falls in insta-love with Omar, a mechanic in his mid-twenties, who grew up in a remote jungle village. After two months, she follows him to his village (because his nephew was killed by a jaguar and only he can avenge the death) and tries to assimilate. Kind of. Really, she just whines about how unfriendly all the women are, while she basically moons around, having sex with her boyfriend. For the first 3/4 of the book, the most exciting thing that happens is that she realizes she's pregnant in the middle of the jungle, hundreds of miles from civilization as she knows it. (This is not a spoiler, because it's revealed in the prologue, which doesn't even fit with the version of events that occur later in the book.) All of this is described in excruciating detail through overwrought prose.

And then, in the last quarter of the book, shit gets real. (Real ridiculous.) After basically ignoring her infected insect bites for months, it turns out Lily has a life-threatening disease that can only be cured by visiting a homicidal tribe even furthur into the jungle. Then Omar is killed and she must navigate her way back to his village. On the way, she gives birth, by herself, in the middle of a monsoon, and -- still bleeding and dosing her newborn with frog venom to keep him silent -- she busts out all kinds of previously untested jungle skills to save his village from vicious poachers. Well, almost. It's really the murderous jaguar and the aforementioned homicidal tribe that end up coming to the rescue and wiping out the poachers. And then, totally unscarred -- in fact, vastly improved -- by her traumatic, near-death experiences, Lily returns to the U.S. with her infant and makes a better life for both of them, never forgetting her experience in the jungle. Ri. dik. u. lus.

This novel is being marketed as a thriller, which it is not. Despite occasional heavy-handed foreshadowing, there's no real suspense, other than wondering what stupid decision Lily is going to make next. I'm really surprised this isn't this author's first novel. show less