Fast Ice, Clive Cussler and Graham Brown, authors; Scott Brick, narrator
The narrator of this book is the only thing that will keep the reader engaged. Scott Brick is narrator extraordinaire. Unfortunately, the story itself is convoluted and lacks a great deal of credibility. It goes from a world with super technology with regard to transportation and the manipulation of the environment, to a world in which basic weaponry is used to fight the enemy that is aware of a super scientific discovery which is the basis for the novel. This discovery could change the course of history. To believe it possible, however, with the premises put forth in the book, one would have to assume that a butter knife could defeat a machine gun. Yes, it is true, brains often defeated brawn, but it would take more than that to defeat the enemy encountered in this story and it just didn’t work for this reader.
To set the stage, an expedition to the Antarctic in 1939, by Germany, revealed an alga which was able to speed up the process of ice formation by altering the temperature of the water. If that power could be harnessed, the country in control would be master of the world. When tragedy ensued, exploration ceased, and fortunately, Germany did not harness the environment to further its goal of world domination. What Germany actually accomplished before it was stopped, was horrific enough.
In the next scene, a brother, Ryland, and a sister, Yvonne (supposedly diametrically opposed to each other’s approach to science and the environment), are introduced to the reader. She wants to melt the ice caps and flood the world while he wants to cause another ice age in parts of the world. Working at cross purposes they are very dangerous, but together they are formidable. Both have a common goal, they want to prevent humans from destroying their environment which could, instead, destroy the world.
Scene two takes place when a former Numa scientist, Cora, learns about this alga that controls the water temperature in a remote area of the Antarctic, and she teams up with a fellow female scientist, Yvonne, the same woman who wants to melt the ice caps. Together they explore the possible uses of this remarkable, but also very dangerous, algae. When Yvonne learns that Cora is going to inform Numa of their discovery, she sabotages the expedition on its return. When the ship is discovered floating as a “ghost” ship off the waters off Antarctica with the bodies of Cora and all of the crew, except for Yvonne, Numa expert Kurt Austin, who knew Cora well, is called into action with his partner Joe, to discover how and why she died. Then with two additional members, the husband and wife team, Gamay and Paul, the team embarks on their dangerous journey.
In the final scenes, the team travels to different places, often splitting up, and are all often in danger as they follow the trail that leads them to the diabolical scheme hatched by the brother and sister, now also a team that could quite possibly bring about the end of the world.
The story bounces around from country to country, theme to theme, and tangent to tangent until it becomes difficult to follow at times. Battles in the sub-freezing temperatures, surviving sinking ships and avalanches, all require the suspension of disbelief as they seem like cartoon characters always bouncing back up from near death experiences. Impossible assumptions are made by the experts without credible evidence to develop them. All told, it was sometimes a tiresome read begging the reader to zone out, only to return without missing a beat. It is a good audiobook for a long ride in which the listener does not have to pay too close attention.