Found: Title of historical science fiction thriller set in 1930s/1940s?

- Book takes place in late 1930s and early 1940s.
- American pilot crashes at sea in 1930s, just before World War II, and is picked up my German military boat.
- Crew goes ashore on an Antarctic island. They find a dry valley with microbial/cyanobacterial mats whose spores are deadly.
- German crew finds natural harbor on shore of island with the wreck of a Norwegian ship. They find the wreck's crew dead, killed by the dust/spores from the mats. Gives them the idea to weaponize dust/spores.
- American pilot eventually escapes but had fallen in love with a female German researcher on the boat. Thinks about her during the war (scene where he's drinking in a pub in England during the war and telling a fellow pilot about her) and eventually he lands up back on the island.
- Book probably came out at some point between 2000 and 2010.

>1 DrakeTungsten: Could it be Ice Reich?

>2 vorkosigan: Yes, that is definitely the book.

Thanks. I have been trying to remember the title of this book for months.

How did you come up with it so fast?

>3 DrakeTungsten: I tried recreating my google search just now. I think it was prewar pilot antarctica german norwegian microbes (I do this at the end of my day sometimes, it's relaxing!) I'm so glad that was it.

>4 vorkosigan: Wow, it's the first result. Glad you hit on that combination of search terms.

I definitely used terms such as "pilot, Antarctica and German", as well as "1930s, 1940s, island, dry valley, microbial mats and cyanobacterial mats", but didn't have any luck.

Glad you were able to track down the title. :)

>5 DrakeTungsten: I did because the book sounds so interesting!

>6 vorkosigan: The premise is pretty solid. The author obviously did his research.

If the book has a flaw, it's that the characters could be written a bit more strongly. They were okay, but didn't strongly resonate with me.