The Ice Limit
by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child
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Book Summary Information
Author: Douglas Preston, Lincoln ChildEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-07-01
ISBN: 0446610232
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of The Ice Limit
Book Review: Like pushing a boulder uphill...
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is paced like a boulder being pushed uphill: the first half is rather slow but it's clear that the authors are fitting the pieces into place to set up the thrilling second half, which races downhill toward a nail-biting conclusion. Problem is, not everyone has the patience to get to the second half. I've been loaning the copies of my Preston/Child novels to a few others, and one put the book down and did not finish it, despite my encouragement to keep giving it a try till the pace picked up. Their novels usually suck me in and keep me reading "just one more chapter" when I should get to bed. Therefore, I gave this book a three-star rating for the first half, a five-star for the second--averaging to a four-star review.
(In my reviews I try not to give away too many plot details.)
This novel does not feature the regular cast of Agent Pendergast and friends, but introduces a new cast whom the authors can kill at will because the characters are not driving a series. The authors certainly keep the reader guessing who will survive the ordeal.
The theme, seems to me, is man's hubris: rich man Palmer Lloyd hires engineering firm extraordinaire, EES, to transport "the world's heaviest object ever moved by man" from an island near Chile to his museum in the Hudson River Valley. On page 39 of the paperback version, when Eli Glinn of EES, claims that his firm has a "perfect engineering record" in "analyzing failures" and "has never failed," the reader just knows that disaster is in the making because who can possibly foresee the future perfectly? To err is human.
The villain in the novel, Comandante Vallenar, has a chip on his shoulder and a secret that Glinn could not know and, therefore, could not compute the consequences of for the Comandante is determined to thwart Lloyd's efforts to move the meteorite from native soil. And EES is attempting this monumental feat near the Antarctic Circle, where the weather is treacherous, volatile, and unpredictable.
Preston and Child have a talent for getting the reader to become emotionally involved with the characters, who are often flawed but likeable. However, they have no qualms about killing off some of the featured characters, which bummed me a bit, but it contributes to the unpredictability of the plot. Despite the best efforts of very intelligent persons in moving the meterorite--EES, Palmer Lloyd, and meteorite expert, McFarlane--once the first accident occurs, events begin to spin out disastrously out of control.
It is the usual meticulous research and detail that lends credibility to the Preston/Child's inventive plots and establishes the base for the events in the second half of the book.
You just have to be patient to reach that exciting second half.
Summary of The Ice Limit
The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them.Billionaire Palmer Lloyd is accustomed to getting what he wants--and what he wants for his new museum is the largest meteorite on earth. Unfortunately for Lloyd, it's buried on an inhospitable Chilean island just north of the Ice Limit in the most brutal, unforgiving seas in the world.
Fortunately for Lloyd, he knows people--people like Eli Glinn, the hyper-focused president of Effective Engineering Solutions, Inc.; Glinn's nonconformist, genius of a mathematician, Rachel Amira; and the uncannily able construction engineer, Manuel Garza. Lloyd's also tapped the brilliant but disgraced meteorite hunter, Sam McFarlane, and the exceptional supertanker captain, Sally Britton, whose career was unshipped by intemperance and a reef. Of course, such a team has a hefty price tag:
Lloyd's broad features narrowed. "And that is... "EES's plan is to obtain mining rights to the island, secure the allegiance of various Chilean functionaries via blinding sums of money, disguise a state-of- the-art supertanker as a decrepit ore rig, mine the rock, slip it into the ship, and zip back to New York to thunderous notoriety. Unforeseen, however, are a rogue Chilean naval captain, seas to make Sebastian Junger boot, and a blood-red meteorite of undetermined pedigree and a habit of discharging billions of volts of electricity for no apparent reason."One hundred and fifty million dollars. Including chartering the transport vessel. FOB the Lloyd Museum."
Lloyd's face went pale. "My God. One hundred and fifty million... " His chin sank onto his hands. "For a ten-thousand-ton rock. That's... "
"Seven dollars and fifty cents a pound," said Glinn.
Like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's earlier collaborations (Relic, Thunderhead, and others), The Ice Limit tools along swiftly, blending nicely drawn characters (excepting, regrettably, the book's true protagonist, the meteorite), a reasonably exciting narrative, and enough graspable science and plausible-seeming theories to bring readers happily up to speed and keep them climax-bound. Not the authors' best effort, certainly, but a fine diversion nonetheless. --Michael Hudson
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