Preston & Child’s ‘Beyond The Ice Limit’ Left Me Speechless [REVIEW]

Terror lies below the surface in Preston and Child’s BEYOND THE ICE LIMIT. (Photo by Jeremy T Hetzel, Flickr)

In Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s new novel, Beyond the Ice Limit, something is growing on the ocean floor… something so insidious that if it isn’t stopped, it will mean certain extinction for the human race. But there’s only one man for the job, Gideon Crew.

The story began six years ago when a wealthy eccentric hired Eli Glinn, owner of Effective Engineering Solutions, and Sam McFarlane, a meteorite hunter, to deceive the Chilean government and retrieve a meteorite from Isla Desolacion to install in a new museum.

Grand Central Publishing

However, nature intervened and a vicious storm sank the Rolvaag, the ship which carried the meteorite across an Antarctic ice pack. The meteorite broke free of the confines of the ship and fell, only to be implanted in the sea floor.

Now, the object Glinn initially thought of as simply a rock is growing, spreading so rapidly that it will ultimately annihilate the Earth, unless the meteorite is destroyed first. He, Sam and Gideon Crew, a multi-talented nuclear expert meet to devise a way to kill this alien life form before it is too late.

From the first page until the last, I suspended disbelief as the authors explained the many ways the meteorite adapted in order to survive. And as I finally got a glimpse at the true alien beings within, I knew that Preston and Child’s latest creatures are the stuff nightmares are made of, conjured from the darkest parts of the human psyche. They lurk in the shadows, waiting, determined to bore into our brains if we dare fall asleep.

When chaos breaks out among the crew, several scenes made me cringe, repulsed, wanting to turn away from the gratuitous violence, but I was powerless to do so. I had fallen under the spell of master storytellers who kept me turning pages in my desperate need to know how the story turns out.

Yes, Preston and Child have done it again. They have crafted a truly chilling, creepy novel that crosses the adventure, science fiction and horror genres. Beyond the Ice Limit is a clever stroke of genius and an entertaining addition to the authors’ already impressive body of work. After all, who else can breathe life into an inanimate object such as a meteorite and send readers to bed with their night lights on? Don’t miss this suspenseful, terrifying, delightful read!

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
<Photo by Deborah Feingold)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are the number one bestselling coauthors of the celebrated Pendergast novels, as well as the Gideon Crew books.

Preston and Child’s Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie.

Readers can sign up for their monthly newsletter, The Pendergast File, at PrestonChild.com, and follow them on Facebook.

BEYOND THE ICE LIMIT
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
384 pgs. Grand Central Publishing. $27.