In Cold Pursuit

I've been to Antarctica, and so enjoyed reading this description of a mystery set at McMurdo Sound with pleasure. It's a good concept, with a grad student trying to track down the reason for the disappearance of her thesis advisor. He had been arrested for the murder of a reporter who wrote negative stories on his research on global warning, and it's up to her to clear his name. She puts together the facts of what actually happened at high altitude on the Ice, and narrows it down to the final possible suspect, but not before another death on the Ice takes place and she herself is put at risk. On the plus side, the description of Mac Town and the surrounding landscape are a nice introduction to life in Antarctica; the description of Survival camp in a white-out storm is great. On the other hand, as a mystery, there are 9 suspects and so many characters, Polar support groups and scientists in research projects that I had to write a list to try to keep track of all the names. And the final result was not something that I could have been deduced solely by paying careful attention to the facts as they had been presented. This is the first book by this author I have read, so I'm not sure if the proliferation of characters is unique to this book, but I'll be finding out by checking out the others she has written. It's a minor problem compared to all the good things i discovered here.

This book has it all - an intrepid heroin, an adventure through a new and dangerous world, a history lesson on Antarctica, and a thorough understanding of what it takes for daily survival in an unyielding, thrilling, and very dangerous environment. As the heroin, a master's student in glaciology, seeks to find out what happened to cause her mentor to be arrested for murder, her search puts her in the sights of the real killer who has his own agenda.

I hadn't read anything by Sarah Andrews before, and was impressed by her passion for making science accessible to a broad readership through fiction (similar to the role of Michael Crichton, though his works were largely science fiction, not fiction set in scientific environments.) The novel does a marvelous job of showing us the grandeur of Antarctica while also painting an extraordinary picture of life for scientists and workers at the McMurdo scientific research station. I also learned a bit about the climate change studies being done in Antarctica. The story is told through the eyes of grad student Valena Walker, who has just arrived in Antarctica. The time lapse in which the novel is set is quite short, which is related to the issue of character development. Some reviewers have complained about the lack of character development and the wide range of characters introduced. Rather than being annoyed by this, I thought it contributed to my ability to see life through the eyes of someone who has just landed at McMurdo-- dozens of new people encountered all at once in an intense atmosphere, huge problems to solve and no one you know well or, given the circumstances, can know well. The reader struggles right along with the protagonist to make sense of the many new people she's meeting. My major complaint with the book is that the editing was just horrible, the worst I have ever seen in a commercially published work. Quotation marks were frequently inserted, omitted or misplaced, leaving the reader to sort out what was dialog and what was not. One star for the publisher, but four or five stars for the author. I'd heartily recommend this book to lovers of mysteries and/or science.

Found this author this summer at a motel bookshelf. (Borrow a book and return it to another motel.) I love books that have a tight mystery and teach me something!

Geology graduate student Valena Walker is euphoric with the grant that enables her to perform glaciology research in Antarctica. As quick as possible she travels to the American scientific base on the frozen continent McMurdo Station. However, even faster she learns her graduate advisor, renowned rapid climate change scientist Dr. Emmett Vanderzee was arrested for the alleged murder of a journalist who died in his camp site last year. At the station George Bellamy informs her Emmett is heading north to a hearing and she will head north by the end of the week. Valena needs Vanderzee's oversight or she will not just get kicked off Antarctica, but lose her grant and her chance to obtain employment at the Desert research Institute in the States. After a restless first night, Valena begins investigating by asking questions of Vanderzee's research team and other scientists and support in hopes of proving her mentor is innocent. The incredible description of Antarctica steals the show as readers will feel the below zero temperatures of the stark ice continent. Valena is a likable protagonist, but as a sleuth she is strictly amateur compared to geologist-detective Em Hansen. Her solving the case seems implausible as the resolution has nothing to do with her expertise glaciology. Still fans will enjoy Sarah Andrews who gives a powerful tour of the only continent that has no permanent human residents. Harriet Klausner