Freezing Point
Non-series
Karen Dionne
Jove (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-515-14536-X (051514536X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-515-14536-6 (9780515145366)
Publication Date: September 2008
List Price: $7.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): As he faces the frozen behemoth of a giant iceberg,
environmental activist Ben Maki sees Earth’s future. Clean
drinking water for millions, waiting to be tapped from the polar ice.
The Soldyne Corporation backs Ben’s grand philanthropic
vision for a better today—while making its own plans for a
very profitable
tomorrow.
Rebecca Sweet lives for the cause—an eco-terrorist who will
do whatever she must to protect the earth. And Ben Maki’s
ideas have set her on the path to war …
All of them will be drawn into a battle between hope and helplessness,
power and pride. But they are about to discover that deep within the
ice waits an enemy more deadly than any could imagine—an
apocalyptic horror mankind may not survive.
Review: Karen Dionne's debut thriller, Freezing Point,
is a terrifying, yet mesmerizing, tale of good intentions gone terribly
wrong when researchers try to tap the frozen Antarctic for pure, fresh
water.
Water, the building block for all life on earth, is being wasted, or so
it is believed by countless “Save the Earth” protesters.
Derek MacCallister has a potential solution in a patent he has been
granted providing for a method and apparatus for melting Antarctic
icebergs into drinking water. Selling the process to Soldyne Company,
he accepts $2 million in return. The process, however, requires a
native, floating iceberg, not ice attached to the Antarctic continental
shelf. Three years pass and the frozen giant has still not produced any
fresh water leaving the corporate executives worried about a return on
their investment. But it appears that global warming may produce just
what is needed: a 1250-square-mile, 650-foot-high section of an
Antarctica that may be calved as an iceberg. If it happened, it would
unleash 700 billion gallons of pure fresh drinking water –-
enough to fulfill the needs of 4.6 million families for a year. Cold
winds and storms hamper the division of the ice cap. But not for long.
Someone decides not to wait for the nature to take its course and
blasts a crevice separating the huge iceberg. Some team members working
on the mission are injured or killed. Horrendous nightmares are
subsequently caused by the separation. How many of the team will get
off the iceberg? And even if they do, how many will make it safely home?
Though clearly and firmly in the category of ecothriller with all that
the label typically implies, the author actually presents a fairly
balanced view of each side in Freezing Point.
The characters could easily have been caricatures but are not, and are
portrayed as sincerely believing that their approach is best. Solutions
to the problem of fresh drinking water are not black and white, right
or wrong, and extreme positions on either side are far from ideal. From
a plot standpoint, the author probably takes it a step too far in
relating the consequences of the iceberg cleavage, but that's part of
what puts the thrill in thriller. In short, Freezing Point is a fast-paced novel with some thought-provoking themes.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Freezing Point and to Penguin Group for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Omnimystery keywords for Freezing Point ...
Location(s) referenced: Antactica.
