The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Ice Limit
Book Review: Four Thousand Tons of Fun!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Ice Limit. Journey to southern Chile with Effective Engineering Solutions as they take on the daunting task of recovering the world's largest meteorite. Throw in a Greedy billionaire, a crazy disgraced Chilean captain and a Indiana Jones like Geologist and you get the most expensive secretive and sophisticated salvage mission ever mounted! This is an excellent thriller that reads like a great action/SCI-FI movie. It is a fast paced novel, even though it deals with a four thousand ton meteorite. This book is scary and unpredictable with great character development. This was one of the few books I could not put down. I finished reading in only four days.Book Review: Frozen solid
Summary: 3 Stars
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a meteorite crashed on Earth near the country of Chile. What makes this phenomenon so unique is the size, weight and properties of the object. The existence of this mysterious rock has been unknown for millions of years until it was discovered by Nestor Masangkay. For some reason while the scientist is studying the rock a bolt of lightning hits and kills him. It will be a while before anyone expresses any interest to what happened in Isla Desolacion in Chile.Palmer Lloyd is the seventh richest man in the world. Whatever he wants, he gets. It does not matter what he has to do in order to get it. He will buy out, outbid or steal in order to fulfill his wishes. He is interested in the meteorite and he wants it no matter if it creates an international incident. Palmer hires a troubleshooter who in turns hires a group of disgraced professionals who see this mission as their last shot at redemption. The doomed crew will go to Chile, get the rock, and then get involved with a mad captain of the Chilean navy. The story has a lot of action and suspense but it is all for naught. The story does not finish with this novel that has an ending reminiscent of the Twilight Zone or R. L. Stine novels.
Out of all the Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child novels this one is definitely the weakest link. The characters are complete stereotypes that we do not learn much about until it is too late. Some of the characters previous acts are put into question that are not particularly cleared up. Sam MacFarlane had a falling out with Nestor Masangkay in the past and the story is not clear. The ending is open-ended leaving a chance for a sequel to pop up. It might answer some questions or not, only the authors will know. Try reading their latest work THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES. It makes up for this one.
Book Review: Fun plot, flawed characters, failed ending
Summary: 3 Stars
So far I've avoided any Preston Child novels that didn't feature Pendergast, but I decided to give this one a go. The novel was slow to get started, but once the Chilean destroyer chase sequence began, the action sped full-tilt all the way.
Other reviewers have already rehashed the plot. The characters were interesting, particularly Eli Glinn, the obsessive control freak engineer who can't face failure, and Sally Britton, the cool and intelligent ship's captain. Although Britton was introduced as a captain with a failed past due to alcohol, the authors never fully developed that element in her character beyond a few joking references to a "dry ship". The romantic sparks between Glinn and Britton were tasteful and well done, unlike the clumsy attempt at between the sheets antics between meteorite-chasing MacFarlane and scientist Rachel Amira. Rachel never rang true as a character....a cigar-chomping, peanut-cracking math genius with a penchant for sarcastic remarks was simply not a believable - or likeable - female foil for MacFarlane. As a main character, the meteorite seemed pretty tame compared to the frightening monster in The Relic (which remains my favorite of the five Preston Child books I've read so far). Overall, the book juggled too many "main characters". The dynamics among them were never fully developed and no one really emerges as a hero. While MacFarlane seems to start out as the hero, his involvement in the plot fizzles to a few stolen kisses with Rachel (between supervisor and assistant, mind you - sexual harassment lawsuit, anyone?) and is essentially nothing at the end. Like Britton, his own failed past is never resolved within the book.
The lack of closure was annoying but remedied by a trip to the authors' website. While this one lacked the thrill, action, mystery and horror of the Pendergast series, it was never dull and a pleasant way to spend a vacation day.
Book Review: Good book.....but....
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought the story in itself was really good. It was what was to be expected by Lincoln and Child in the fact that it was truly a gripper. At no point was the story boring. But I was not happy with the final ending. I thought there was an effort to put a twist at the end that was not expected, but I don't believe it made sense.
I was also sad to see some of the key players die.
Book Review: Good but not my favorite
Summary: 3 Stars
While taking place in the New York Museum of Natural History universe created in The Relic it is a departure from the usual Preston/Child fare. I'm not a big fan of sea based adventures but it was an entertaining read with a lot of the typical Preston/Child trademarks; the plot revolving around seemingly supernatural or science fiction based events usually ending with a rational explanation, strong character development, and a propensity for killing many of these strong characters sometimes for seemingly no good reason.
I enjoyed the Pendergast novels more then Ice Limit and Thunderhead but it is a fun, quick read