Beyond the Ice Limit

A sequel (and conclusion) to "The Ice Limit", in which Eli Glinn, the head of Effective Engineering Solutions, was contracted to obtain a 25,000 ton meteorite from a small island off the southern coast of South America, for a billionaire's new museum. The mission ends in disaster, with many deaths and the mysterious meteorite sinking to the bottom of the ocean. In the final paragraph, the reader learns that the meteorite has --- sprouted.

In "Beyond the Ice Limit", Glinn determines that the alien organism is a threat to the existence of the Earth itself, and enlists Gideon Crew and an elite scientific force to somehow destroy it before it is too late. They discover that this is more difficult than it first appears, as the meteorite has show more given rise to a tree-like organism with its own deadly means of defense. This is a typically fast-paced and suspenseful read from the Preston and Child team, and is only marred by an ending that seems more than anything else to be the result of improbable luck, which seems a lazy way to resolve a seemingly impossible crisis. show less

While I am a big fan of Preston & Child's Pendergast series I have to say that the Gideon Crew novels are a little disappointing. That is not to say I don't enjoy them, as I do find them fun and enjoyable stories. Unfortunately they are not up to the standards I expect from these two writers. The way I feel about them is that Preston & Child said; let's have some fun adventures and not be so deep and serious. And they accomplished it.

The Gideon Crew stories have that science fiction feel and this one more so than the prior novels. The story is well written, is reasonable sound scientifically, has interestingly developed characters and takes the reader on a unique journey. Since I have not read The Ice Limit I cannot compare the show more integration of the story with the original story. On a standalone basis did not feel I was losing something by not having read the first one. Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good fun adventure story. show less

5 years ago, Eli Glinn engineered an expedition to Antarctica, funded by a billionaire, who wanted the world's largest meteorite brought home to his Hudson Valley Museum. That trip ended in death and disaster in The Ice Limit. Now, Eli Glinn is once again headed to Antarctica, because the meteorite, which went down in two miles of ocean there, is apparently not a meteorite, but a seed from space. Yes, you read right. And it's sprouted! Their mission is to destroy it before it can destroy mankind.

2016 Hardcover Large Print, Grand Central Publishing
P.23-4
" 'there's a respected theory in astronomy called Panspermia,' Glunn finally continued. 'it holds that life may have spread through the Galaxy in bacteria or spores carried on meteorites show more or in clouds of dust'...
'you're saying this meteorite was actually just such a seed? And when the Rolvaag sank, it went to the bottom and was.. planted?'
'yes. 2 miles beneath the surface. And then it sprouted.'
Gideon shook his head. 'Incredible. If true.'
'Oh it's true. It sank roots and grew upward like a giant tree - rapidly. Seismic stations around the world noted a number of shallow quakes on the seafloor at the site. The coast of South Georgia and the Falkland islands. but it was all happening two miles deep, and the seismic signature of the quakes looked like the product of undersea volcanic eruptions. So did the mini tsunamis. Since it was in an area far outside of any shipping lanes and posed no risk to anyone, the "undersea volcano" was generally disregarded. . .
Garza looked at Gideon. 'We're going to kill it.'
'but you said it had gone quiescent. Why go to the trouble and the expense - not to mention the danger?'
'because it's alien. It's huge. It's dangerous. Just because it's quiescent doesn't mean it will remain so - ' ..."

Dr Brambell, my favorite character, who I identify with:
P.72:
" 'I have my books. I don't live in the actual world. I am impurterbable.'
Gideon looked at Brambell. 'I have to ask: given all you know about Glinn and his limitations - and all the horror you went through - why did you agree to return for this expedition?'
Brambell laid a veined hand on the book. 'Plain old curiosity. This is our first encounter with an alien life-form, even if it's just a big, mindless plant. I couldn't say no to the chance to be part of that discovery. And--' he patted the book--'in the meantime, I can read to my heart's content.' "

Eli Glinn is self-proud. He thinks he's the ultimate machine to carry out his projects:
P.137:
"A single decision had done this: ... And it was a decision that led to the death of the only woman he had ever loved.
He could not breathe as he watched the body turn toward him, the hair forming a golden halo. he did not want to see the face, which he knew even now would be a sight to haunt him forever. But he was paralyzed; he could not turn away.
the face came slowly into view, profile first, then full-on, like a moon rotating on its axis; lips pink, skin as Pure as marble, the small nose dusted with freckles -- but worst of all were the eyes, those staring blue eyes, coming around to drill into him: accusatory.
his legs began to shake; but before he could seek a chair he felt all muscle tension slacken and he folded to the floor."

Gideon Crew's partner, Alex Lispenard, who works for Glinn, has just let Gideon know that she changed her mind about getting involved with another project associate. Gideon feels like he's falling in "lugg." The next morning, Alex goes down in the diving sub to survey the "Baobab."
P.139:
"Alex Lispenard worked her DSV controls, circling the trunk of The Baobab from the distance of about 40 ft. The trunk was massive, far larger than even the largest Sequoia: around 60 ft in diameter, and covered with a rough, bark-like surface of crude, parallel vertical grooves.
as her Spotlight probed the trunk, she could see it was vaguely translucent, almost like a cloudy jellyfish, of a pale-greenish color like sea glass. within, she could see the blurry outlines of what appeared to be internal organs, folded tubes and sacs that made no sense, looking like no terrestrial organisms she knew of. there were also some round globules with a yellowish tinge, along with spidery networks of darker, reddish strands."

P.144-5:
" 'emergency eject!' Lennard said. 'Trigger the eject!'
Alex reached for the red eject lever, but was thrown back by an unexpected lurch. and then the mini sub was suddenly swallowed in a green, Milky globe of light, the creature's translucent tissue flaring in the headlamps. she both heard and felt a wet sucking sound, and she could see the tissue flecked with bright specks, flexing and contracting horribly, as the thing swallowed her whole.
'I'm inside,' she said, doing her best to keep her voice even.
'use the arm torch - cut your way out,' was the last message she heard before the UQC ceased working, the acoustic connection crackling out into digital hiss.
She activated the arm and tried to extend it, but the pressure of the thing's internal tissue blocked any movement. she tried a second time, pushing the joystick all the way forward, but now multiple alarms were going off, warning messages flashing everywhere.
Screw this. She activated the acetylene torch, the flame flaring into life. The effect was instantaneous: a sudden, jerking reaction, along with a low booming groan, and then she managed to pull the emergency eject, designed to jettison the titanium personnel sphere from the sub housing, inflate the ballast tanks, and send it screaming to the surface."

Dr Brambell's thoughts on the "spit-out, crushed diving sub" are solicited by Glinn:
P.238:
"Blast glinn, he thought. 'if it was a purely defensive action, why would the thing swallow it in the first place?'
'part of that very defensive reaction.'
'but Lispenard was trying to escape, not attack it. It sucked her in. It wasn't afraid.'
'What are you suggesting?' said Glinn.
you asked for it. 'Think about what the DSV looked like when the thing expelled it,' said Brambell. 'All crushed up in a ball like that.'
'meaning?'
...
'it's a pellet,' BramBell said flatly.
'a what?'
'a pellet. Like an owl pellet. good god, man, need I be more plain?' He waved a hand at the remains - metal and organic both. 'It's a shite.' "

By bringing up a piece of the "roots" of the Baobab, Gideon has unknowingly unleashed parasites into the ship and its crew. Once the"worms" go up your nasal passage and into your brain, the parasitized human will do anything to protect the Baobab, as we see when the expedition's leaders are preparing to nuke it:
P.312-3:
" 'you won't do this!' Waingro cried, waving the gun and firing randomly again. 'Don't even try! I'm warning you!'
The other guard rushed the man; he fired, but missed, and the guard tackled him. the first guard joined in and a massive struggle ensued. It was punctuated by the loud sound of another gunshot -- and then silence.
The two guards, lying on top of the man, got up to reveal Waingro on the ground, arms splayed, gun still gripped in his right hand, the top half of his head shot away, brains sliding out into a widening pool of blood. In the struggle, he had evidently fired the gun inadvertently into his own head.
Gideon looked on in horror. There was something wrong - even more wrong than this awful sight would account for. Just as he felt McFarlane pull him roughly back, he saw what it was; there were gasps and eXpostulations of horror and disgust as others saw it, too. People backed away, shouting and shieking.
wriggling free of the man's ruptured brain, covered with blood and gray matter and membrane, was a dark-grey worm-like thing. As it thrashed free, it opened a tiny mouth, exposing a single sharp tooth; cut itself free; and then began to slither away."

Dr Brambell and his associate are overwhelmed with trying to remove the "worms" from the brains of the first parasitized crew members. Exhausted, Dr Brambell falls into a chair and sets his cell phone alarm, intending to get back to his work in 10 minutes, when this happens:
P.378-9:
"A dream woke him: a nightmare. With a muffled cry he jerked awake, feeling a sudden stinging pain, a horrible rasping vibration, inside his head. His mind, confused and frightened, took a moment to clamber up out of darkness into the real world; his hands flew to his face and he felt something and he fell out of the chair to the ground.
Good God in heaven, there was something on him. it was like a wriggling cable, hard and cold as steel; it was on his face and inside his nose. Digging into his nose. With a second muffled cry, he managed to grasp the tail end of it and tried to pull it out; he could feel the thing's incredibly strong muscles rippling in his frantic grasp as he tugged, but it wouldn't come free. it had fixed itself inside and was working its way deeper, rasping and digging into his nasal cavity. he rolled about on the floor, hanging on to the thing's tail with maniacal intensity, trying to keep it from going deeper, but it was too well anchored, working its way in despite his very painful effort to pull it out.
suddenly he felt, deep inside his head, snapping of bone -- like a finger poked through an eggshell - and then everything changed. The terror vanished and he felt a wonderful, spreading sensation of peace and contentment, and a blessed feeling of sleep stole over him: beautiful, serene sleep."

Now Dr Brambell and his associate Dr Sax are both parasitized, and while ship's crew is otherwise occupied looking for worms on the ship, they steal their way to the subs' hangar:
P.431-2:
"Antonella Sax worked the controls of John as it descended into the depths. She located the main panel, then punched in the code to deactivate the mini sub's AI and disabled any surface override of her autopilot. she felt a sensation of warmth and security as the DSV was enveloped in darkness. She could almost feel the massive weight of water pressing in on it relentlessly, increasing with every meter she sank. there was a feeling of anticipation, of excitement, as she was about to perform perhaps the greatest mission ever conducted by a human being.
As she descended, humming a little tune to herself, she saw movement: a head poked out of a gap in the electronics, a small head with two beady eyes and a tiny puckered mouth. The mouth opened, exposing a single tooth.
'Who are you?' Sax asked playfully.
as if in response, the little creature crawled out of its hiding place and came over, curling up against her thigh for warmth.
she touched it. 'There's a good boy,' she said, stroking it as it relaxed in contentment. 'there's a good boy.' "

I am fascinated by parasites, and enchanted with science fiction. While the ending seemed a little abrupt, and just a little too pat, i don't care; I still loved it. There are no more books in this two-book series, but now I want to read the Gidion Crew first book. show less

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child’s 2016 novel Beyond the Ice Limit concludes the story they began in their 2000 novel, The Ice Limit, while also continuing the Gideon Crew series and connecting to references in their Pendergast books Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead. While 16 years have passed between the publication of the two Ice Limit books, in-universe only five years have passed since the wreck of the Rolvaag. Eli Glinn, Manuel Garza, and Gideon Crew travel to the “Screaming 60s” in order to discover what hatched from the meteorite-egg that Glinn inadvertently planted in the wreck of the Rolvaag and to kill it if it poses a threat to life on Earth. They seek out Palmer Lloyd to gain his approval for the mission, but show more Lloyd has fallen into a deeply self-destructive depression, believing that the planet is doomed and it would be better to die now than wait. Effective Engineering Solutions proceeds anyway, but they soon discover that the creature is far beyond what they could have expected and poses unique threats to their mission. The story provides a resolution to the Twilight Zone-esque ending of The Ice Limit and works well as both an Eli Glinn and a Gideon Crew story. It veers into far more outlandish territory than its more grounded predecessor, but the change in tone for Gideon Crew novels was foreshadowed in The Lost Island, so fans will not be surprised. Further, the story delivers exactly what fans of The Ice Limit had been clamoring for for sixteen years. A fun adventure from Preston & Child ably read by David W. Collins, who brought to life all but the first Gideon Crew novel. show less

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 Desolación, 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 show more 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.

http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/2016/05/beyond-ice-limit.html show less

A brilliant scifi thriller. At first I wasn't sure if I'd like it, not a scifi reader and never read Gideon Crew nor the first Ice Limit. But wow, the authors are great. The writing makes this book like a stand alone. A pure page turner.

I enjoyed The Ice Limit very much but found Beyond The Ice Limit even more entertaining. The Ice Limit was pure sci-fi, cerebral and idea driven, with a jaw dropping ending that set up the next installment. The sequel however was an action packed sci/fi monster romp. Packed with interesting characters, monsters both large and small, and nearly continuous action starting at about the half-way point, Beyond the Ice Limit was a really fun read. I don’t know how long it is (as they say all e-books are 100%) but I read it in 2 days and had trouble picking a stopping point on day one.

As an aside. I think you can read this as a stand alone if you wish. I certainly wouldn’t read this first and then go back to The Ice Limit.

I gave it 5 stars show more because it was a lot of fun--purely on entertainment value. show less