This is set in the not too distant future, the Ice cap is melting and the Polar bear is becoming extinct and this starts on a ship venturing to capture a sight of one of the last ones but they get more than expected. They find a body in the Ice and it seems to be Tom Harding who was lost on an expedition and his body could not be retrieved at the time. A lot of the book takes place back in London where we are introduced to his fellow businessman Sean Cawson who Tom was hoping to open an exclusive resort in the arctic but while Sean survived the expedition Tom did not and although there was a lot of gossip and finger pointing no one would know the true story....until now.
I liked the book very much but I did find parts a little hard going but I would suggest you read until the end as it was worthwhile.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of the book.

A cautionary tale about global warming. Fantastic setting and wonderful characters. Recommended.

In the near future the Artic is big business. As ice caps melt business leaders are looking at new ways of exploiting the area. A cruise ship expecting to find ever rarer sightings of animals in their natural habitat, instead find a dead body.
This is a great mixture of eco concerns, big business and a crime thriller mixed into one great read with cleverly crafted individual characters and a dramatic ending.

Absolutely loved this book, a real page turner and I didn't want to come to the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for this copy of The Ice for an honest review.

In the near future the Arctic is in rapid decline. But while big businesses look to profit from the new frontier tourists travel to see the disappearing wildlife. And it's on one of these trips that the tourists get more than they bargained for.....not the polar bear they desired but a dead body. The body turns out to be Tom, one of the architects of the new frontier. With his long time friend Sean he had been central to plans to develop the area. Bur Tom wasn't your typical business man. He was ex Greenpeace and his desire to save the world is at odds with his partners desire to rule it....

This is well written and insightful but it has to be said a bit on the slow side. But it's worth persevering with. It's not a long read but every word counts so make sure to set aside some quiet time and give your full concentration to The Ice. It really deserves and requires your attention.

The Eco message is delivered loud and clear in 'The Ice'. This is how the future might possibly look if we choose to ignore the signs of global warming. The author doesn't try to force the message down our throats, but it takes centre stage in this storyline.

The Arctic sea ice has melted, and Sean Cawson ( a somewhat unscrupulous businessman ) and his long term friend and environmentalist Tom Harding, purchase Midgard Lodge on the Midgard Glacier near Svalbard. Their intention is to provide an exclusive retreat for those able to afford it, while at the same time encourage these clients to look at the environment in a more sympathetic way. However, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, so expect some surprises.

The story begins with the discovery of Tom Harding's body who had died in an accident near Midgard Lodge 3 years previously. A chunk of the story takes place in a courtroom to determine exactly how Tom died. However the location in the Arctic plays a major part, and the author takes you right there with her beautifully descriptive powers. You can feel the majesty and power of this beautiful landscape. It has that raw, savage, feel where nature dictates the terms not man.

It's also a story about greed, power, and politics, and forces you to think about the environment, and the exploitation of natural resources. The characters were well thought out, though most of them were not particularly likeable, but of course that gives them a somewhat magnetic appeal. A very different but enjoyable read.

* Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins 4th estate for my ARC in exchange for an honest review*

A beautifully written thriller based on the Arctic. Thoroughly enjoyable as having recently visited Greenland, Svalbard and longyearben the wonderful descriptions brought back all the wonder and spectular atmosphere of this corner of the world.

A great story that unfolds in a dramatic way. Couldn't put it down.

Laline Paull is quite a writer. There are so many levels to The Ice and each works with pinpoint precision. As with her first (and Bailey's award nominated The Bees) there's an environmental theme at the heart of the story but this is no Day After Tomorrow overnight eco-catastrophe this is simply our current trend of climate change and (lack of action) transported a into the not-too-distant future. London is experiencing the effects of sandstorms in the Sahara, the UK is developing a monsoon season, it feels like summer in February. Elsewhere the consequences are more dramatic but still distant enough to sweep under the carpet, riding waters levels are devastating the Maldives and key to the story, the summer sea ice in the Arctic has vanished opening up new potential shipping routes and exploitation of natural resources.

At the opening of the book we meet Sean Cawson, he's a self-made man, rich, successful, on track for a knighthood and he has a passion for the Arctic but these three factors don't always compliment one another. Rather than the polar explorer of his boyhood dreams he has become the ambitious CEO of an exclusive Midgard retreat that caters to the wealthy and the influential and manages to maintain a privileged position in the thorny, acquisitive politics of the Arctic. But a more personal shadow has fallen over the Midgard Glacier. In a tragic accident several years before Sean's friend and colleague Tom Harding, a renowned environmental activist, was lost and presumed dead. His body has just been recovered. The threads of Paull's narrative are artfully woven as we follow the present events and the fraught inquest into Tom's death as well as several other points in the relationship of these two complex and intriguing characters, their meeting, their friendship, the germination of Sean's business interests in Svalbard and, of course, the circumstances of the accident that left one of them dead and the other increasingly prone to flashbacks and panic.

It's a fantastically gripping story, slow-burning and supported by complex characters, each a convincing puzzle with multiple, often conflicting, motivations. Sean is all to believable as a man whose genuine passion for the arctic has become tainted by his determination to shed his past and prove to the world that he is successful and important. Paull starkly beautiful descriptions of the arctic landscape contrast cleverly with the increasingly murky world of international politics and shady business interests. But the dark side of the far north's declining natural beauty is not new, or entirely man-made and the excerpts from the writing of polar adventurers adds fascinating depth to the history and culture of arctic exploration and exploitation.

While absolutely central to her story Paull's handling of climate change is also impressively subtle. The environmental changes, at least in richer nations, remain relatively minor, it's the same slow but inexorable development many can see now, which only makes it more frightening because it isn't really about change, it's about consistency, only the year has changed. A consistency of political and economic attitudes and a little time and Paull convincingly demonstrates how we will continue to sleepwalk into disaster. Her passion and knowledge are abundantly clear but The Ice never becomes a manifesto and her plot and characters have strength and depth that easily allows them to hold their own weight, ultimately it is a story and the unfurling of this central relationship becomes the crux of a riveting, character-driven story of ambition, idealism, compromise and friendship, but the fall-out is intense and the consequences potentially earth-shattering. Paull has achieved a rare feat in this story of a convincing, literary, character-driven thriller that cuts no corners and pulls no punches.

Wow....this really is a good read. I found it completely engaging and gripping. The setting is the Artic, and it is as life like as settings come. The characters are brilliant and full of life. I could visualise the main characters, they are that well drawn. Go a few years into the future, the Arctic is melting, the animals have all but gone. The rich cruise the area to spot polar bears, but end up spotting something more sinister. The melt has opened the Artic up to competition and trade.....the Artic is open for business, and all that brings. Take some politics, a mystery, a thriller, greed, love, hate and forgiveness and the result is a book that gets harder and harder to put down. This one does turn it's own pages. I'm not going into further detail because I don't want to spoil this one for anyone. I'm convinced that this is a film of the future...so read it soon.

An amazing book! It taught me a lot about the Arctic, it's a thriller, a treasure trove about obscure and fascinating tales from pole expeditions, a pamphlet about climate change in all it's aspects, and all mixed into a story that you really want to finish now. Wow.

The wonderfully evocative imagery of the Arctic and the pre-chapter excerpts from real life polar expeditions were the things I most enjoyed about this book. Sadly, the story didn't do much for me and seemed to take a long time to warm up. The history between Sean and Tom is well-written and both engage you as characters. However I felt that the mysterious Kingsmith and secret goings on at Midgard would have made for a much richer story had they been included more. I am not sure whether this book is being used as a set up for future developments in these areas but I was left sadly wanting at the end.

Had difficulties ploughing through. Great descriptions of the ice but very intense and hard work.

Thank you to net galley and the publishers HarperCollinsUk for the ARC in return for an honest review.

"There he worked out the answer to the question he's always pondered, about fairness and beauty and ugliness and justice. It was wealth"

Wealth and the assumed entitlement that wealth endows are very carefully woven into this carefully researched and plotted novel about Sean Cawson and the role that he had to play in his friends death.
Sean comes from a deprived childhood and has worked hard to elevate his social position and personal wealth. It is clear to the reader, if not Sean, that this makes him wilfully naive to the different agendas of his mentor, his business partners and his gorgeous girlfriend.
His university friend Tom comes from a far more privileged background and pursues a career as an environmentalist.

As the novel starts the body of Tom is released by the ice, and an inquest must be held to determine the cause of death. This means that the novel jumps between flash back and the current day, as both the reader, and to a large extent Sean himself, begin to unravel the mystery of what led to the moment of Toms death.

The scenes that are set in the Arctic are wonderful, and so perfectly described, that I felt myself reaching for a blanket as I shivered from the cold. The Arctic is what brought the friends Sean and Tom together with their shared obsession for the explorers of the past, but it is also the Arctic and their different views on how to manage the land that they have bought that tears them apart.

This is an intriguing novel and impossible to characterise into a particular genre. There is mystery and political intrigue. an ecological warning and also an exploration of the individual. It is beautifully crafted so that the novel never feels as though it is sermonising or demonising anyone.

Each chapter has a beautiful illustration and ends with an excerpt from a account of an Arctic explorers struggle with survival in the harsh environment, or a legend of the indigenous people. This was interesting, but I found it distracting from the novel.

An utterly fascinating and moving read and a wonderful follow up to The Bees.

A captivating novel about friendship, betrayal and hunger for power.

In the near future, the Arctic sea ice has melted, opening up a dangerous and exciting new area of the world for business routes and the tourist trade. A cruise ship seeking out the ever-diminishing numbers of polar bears in the frozen landscape comes across a dead body, released from a melting glacier. The body belongs to the environmentalist Tom Harding, who has been missing presumed dead for three years since the collapse of an ice cave he was exploring with his friend and business partner, Sean Cawson, who survived. Sean had recently purchased Midgard Lodge, a discrete and extravagant retreat for wealthy businessmen, as part of his ongoing quest to conquer the Arctic and make a name for himself in the world and with Tom’s backing, his dream of a knighthood seemed to almost be realised. However, when Sean learns of the discovery of the body and the inquest that is to be held, cracks begin to appear in his personal and professional life. As Sean held such different ideologies from Tom and was also the last person to see him alive, suspicions begin to arise about his involvement in the accident, and for the first time Sean begins to realise how much he may have sacrificed to get to where he is. Shunned by his ex-wife and daughter and Tom’s family, Sean is unsure who he can trust and begins to learn that the price for true power may not be one he is willing to pay.

This was a very original idea that blossomed into quite a unique story. At first glance, I thought it might simply be a cautionary tale about humankind’s destruction of the natural environment but ‘The Ice’ is much more than that – it does have environmental undertones but also touches on issues of family, friendship, sacrifice and the lengths people are willing to go to get what they want. It draws the reader in from the first page and builds tension around Tom’s death in a very subtle way – without ever outwardly saying anything suspicious about the circumstances of the accident. A sense of unease is created that urges the reader on to learn more and discover the full story of that fateful day in the Arctic. The narrative alternates between the present day, where Sean reacts to the news of Tom’s body being discovered and prepares himself for the inquest, and Sean’s past, including how he and Tom became friends, then partners, and the days leading up to the accident. The two timelines ran alongside each other well, gradually revealing both the true events of the day of Tom’s death and the character and motivations of Sean without ever becoming confusing or overly complicated.

The character of Sean was expertly written, such that his obsession with the Arctic and his need to ‘conquer’ it actually came across as both human and even understandable, rather than him being just a caricature of the ‘bad guy businessman’ as many of the characters in the story see him. His reaction to the reappearance of his dear friend’s body made for an extremely interesting read, and the more you learn about him as you progress through the novel, the more strangely sympathetic he becomes. The descriptions of the Arctic were stunningly written, and the interspersing of excerpts from journals of real-life early Arctic explorers helped to create the atmosphere of terrible and deadly beauty that is associated with this unique place, simultaneously making me want to visit it and also never set foot there.

My one issue with this novel was that the ending was not conclusive, but I feel that this was done deliberately by the author and some may prefer it that way. I also found one of the characters to be a bit overdone and obviously not a good guy, but again this could have been intentional in order to engage the reader. Despite these minor faults, I thought that this was a truly excellent book that could be enjoyed by fans of all genres and would strongly recommend both this highly talented author and wonderful story to all.

Daenerys

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

One of the most fascinating things about this book was the location of much of the action in the remote Arctic region, the desolation and isolation vividly brought to life by the author's descriptive prose. However the real heart of this book are the characters, particularly Sean, an entrepreneur heavily invested in the region, fascinated by the Arctic from a young age and traumatised by the death of his friend in an accident. When his friends body is found years later, and a formal inquest must be held ,secrets start to come to light and the tale takes an unexpected turn. Moving back and forward between current events at the coroner's inquest, the early days of Sean and Tom's friendship, and the trip that resulted in Tom's death keeps the reader on their toes, and allows the story to move at a good pace.
While the book is an entertaining read, I did feel that the repeated emphasis on climate change and the loss of arctic ice felt quite heavy handed at times. I also didn't like the passages from various historical accounts of arctic expeditions etc, they felt unnecessary.

Im so sorry - I just couldn't get into this book at all. I didn't find any of the characters likable or engaging..

Found this a difficult story to get into. Sadly I couldn't summon up any enthusiasm for the characters or the story line. It felt like a poor Wilbur Smith or Harold Robbins yarn...not one for me.
T

This book was astonishing. The main character was so well developed that he felt real to me and the plot had me constantly guessing what had happened. The biggest surprise for me is how the author managed to interest me in a topic I had previously know very little about and hadn't really been interested in. She has a way of completely drawing you in to a story and not letting you go. The only minor criticism I have is that it was fairly slow paced at the beginning which made it a bit difficult to get in to. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Laline Paull's The Bees was my sneak favourite book of 2014 - it kept returning to my mind and growing more meaningful as I remembered it and discussed with other readers.

The Ice is easier to summarise, being about people rather than bees, but just as absorbing and important. A novel/murder mystery/thriller featuring international conglomerates looking to make the most of the melting of the Arctic passages, The Ice contains love stories, betrayals and a trial. I'm giving The Ice five stars for the incredible timeliness of its information on the issues involved in using the Arctic. Five stars also for the obvious love for the region shared by author and characters.

I've already started recommending this book to friends.