Ice Station - Softcover

Reilly, Matt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312971230 ISBN 13: 9780312971236

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 2000

Synopsis

A fast-paced thriller from bestselling author Matthew Reilly, Ice Station.

Antarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself...

A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else...

First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice...

About this title

Review:

A remote antarctic research station, a strange alien presence and a group of hardy survivors trying to stay alive until help arrives? Sound familiar? Well, Matthew Reilly's debut novel is something of a mish-mash of several well-worn paths, borrowing liberally from movies like "The Thing" and "Die Hard" (among countless others) to create what really is the equivalent of an action movie in print. A distress call from the research station in the Antarctic prompts the arrival of a crack team of US commandos, eager to claim as their own the extraterrestrial prize discovered buried in the ice. Several station staff have already met mysterious deaths in the cavern where the supposed 'spaceship' has been found but a team of French soldiers also have their eyes on the treasure and before long all hell breaks lose as a band of soldiers and surviving scientists find themselves fighting for their life against what may be an inhuman enemy. At just over 700 pages, it's a hefty read but there is a distinct lack of padding and the plot is efficiently and tantalisingly constructed. Reilly's gifts do not lie in characterisation or believable dialogue and we are force- fed a diet of stock characters and some dialogue so banal that even Jean-Claude Van Damme would feel embarrassed to utter it. But what the book does deliver is action and plenty of it. The pace is relentless, as the reader is hit with one amazing set piece after another. Credibility is stretched to breaking point on several occasions, but that doesn't seem important. Ice Station will keep you turning the pages until the very end to create a pyrotechnic explosion of action and adventure. It is going to make one hell of a movie! --Jonathan WeirEND

Review:

"Grabs you like seeing a glock pointed at your head. If you want action--and I mean serious action--then pick up Matt Reilly's Ice Station." --Richard Marcinko

"Some of the wildest and most sustained battles in an action thrilled in a long time...non-stop action, lots of explosions--and a little bit of conspiracy." --Chicago Tribune

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312971230
• ISBN 13: 9780312971236
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 534