Out of the Ice

by Ann Turner

Out of the Ice by Ann Turner is a deliciously creepy mystery set in Antarctica, and while I loved the first 80% of the book, I found the ending to be a little compressed and unbelievable. That said, it was enjoyable and chilling enough that it made for a Bad Decisions Book Club moment and I stayed up finishing it until 1:45 a.m.

Laura Alvarado is an environmental scientist stationed in Antarctica. She’s selected to pair up with a German scientist to evaluate an abandoned whaling station near South Safety Island to determine if its possible to reopen it to human habitation without overly disrupting the local wildlife. Except her partner gets flown out for emergency surgery and Laura has to go it alone.

Enter super creepy abandoned whaling town. As Laura (and her eventual replacement partner, Kate) survey the village they find odd things. Some of the houses look as though they’ve been frozen in time since 1957–down to long frozen coffee in cups and cigarettes in ashtrays. Others were clearly packed up. So why did some residents seem to know they were leaving and others not? Also the local penguins, who should have had no human interaction, are oddly aggressive, attacking the women as though they’ve met and had bad experiences with people. To top it off, Laura sees a teenage boy out of the corner of her eye, making her wonder what’s truly going on or if she’s hallucinating from being isolated so long.

I really liked a lot of this book. When Laura isn’t at the whaling town she’s staying at another scientific encampment where it’s clear she isn’t welcome by the (mostly) men who live there. I think a lot of women have been in situations where they are the only woman in a group of men, and they feel uneasy, othered, and threatened. It kept me on my toes as a reader because there’s no sanctuary for Laura to return to, and I sometimes wondered if she was safer in the scary-as-shit whaling village that might be haunted.

Also this book features a lot of women supporting women. In fact the only characters who do believe Laura and assist her, with the exception of one love interest, are other women. And, while a small detail, I loved that Laura and Kate forgo separate rooms to sleep in the same bed because everything was really spooky. It’s exactly what I’d do in that situation and I liked that the characters were able to admit how vulnerable they felt.

I felt the final resolution to the mystery was a little too big to wrap up in the pages given, and it also felt fairly implausible to me. That said, the journey getting there was delightful and creepy, and I’d highly recommend this book to other mystery lovers.

– Elyse

By the bestselling author of The Lost Swimmer, a tense, eerie thriller set in the icy reaches of Antarctica

When environmental scientist Laura Alvarado is sent to a remote Antarctic island to report on an abandoned whaling station, she begins to uncover more than she could ever imagine.

Reminders of the bloody, violent past are everywhere, and Laura is disturbed by evidence of recent human interference. Rules have been broken, and the protected wildlife is behaving strangely.

On a diving expedition, Laura emerges into an ice cave where she is shocked to see an anguished figure, crying for help. But in this freezing, lonely landscape there are ghosts everywhere, and Laura wonders if her own eyes can be trusted. Has she been in the ice too long?

Back at base, Laura’s questions about the whaling station go unanswered, blocked by scientists unused to outsiders. And Laura just can’t shake what happened in the cave.

Piecing together a past and present of cruelty and vulnerability that can be traced around the world, from Norway, to Nantucket, Europe and Antarctica, Laura will stop at nothing to unearth the truth. As she comes face to face with the dark side of human progress, she also discovers a legacy of love, hope and the meaning of family. If only Laura can find her way . . .

Out of the ice.