Customer Reviews

Freezing Point

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book cover's proclaiming Karen Dionne as the "next Michael Crichton" caught my attention while simultaneously raising my "Danger, Will Robinson!" alarm bells. I'm still mourning the big man's passing, so when Penguin trotted out "Freezing Point," I approached this author's inaugural work with trepidation, as though contemplating a new puppy following the loss of the family dog. As I should have expected, the book didn't deliver a wholly comparable warm-and-fuzzy, but with a little house breaking and obedience school, there's definitely hope for this newcomer.

Like most thrillers, the book opens with a bang, or rather a splash, as Ben Maki and a group of ice ropers attempt to drag a mountain-sized ice-berg to shore. The berg turns deadly, rolling out of control and swamping the tug, nearly killing everyone aboard. During the ordeal we learn Ben's an accidental corporate wonk with a heart of green. He's working on a Soldyne company project to develop a satellite microwave ice-berg melting operation that will bring trillions of gallons of fresh water to slake a thirty world's growing demands. In the process, he hopes to do well financially while doing good environmentally.

Ben's two positions of course, clash all over the place. Ben's boss, a greedy ego-maniacal giant, physically and metaphorically, stops at nothing to sabotage Ben's plans in favor of his own proposal, some kind of exotic, but dangerous high-atmosphere technology. Meanwhile, PETA-styled activist, Rebecca Sweet, yearns to literally blast her way into the history books by blowing up Ben's project. Even on the home-front, Ben battles oppositional forces, such as when his daughter hogs the family's only shower.

We next find Ben several years later heading a fully developed microwave program, but thwarted for "first water" deployment while awaiting an Antarctic ice shelf to conveniently break free. His boss however, won't wait, and surreptitiously blows one off, nearly killing Zo, a member of a nearby research team. Her group starts to smell a rat, figuratively and literally, when, in addition to exposing Soldyne's treachery, they discover rat descendants from the pole's earliest explorers that have evolved into menacing, pack-hunting super-carnivores.

Meanwhile, Ben has flown to the surface of the newly created berg, where his crew members also encounter the rapacious rats, plus fall victim to a mysterious deadly virus. When he learns the researchers on the mainland's camp display similar disease symptoms, he mounts an ill-fated rescue attempt. Mayhem ushers forth, with scientists pitted against the forces of nature and man, and the future of the world's drinking water hanging in the balance.

Admirably, Dionne deploys reasonably solid science, with tempered conjecture to paint a picture of killer rats, space-age gadgetry, and suffocating cold. For the seasoned Crichton reader however, she occasionally strays into lapses of logic, such as when our heroes swim in sub-zero temperatures, rats catch a speeding boat, and a laboratory burns rapidly to the ground owing to the lack of any central fire suppression system. To her credit, she acknowledges her lack of scientific credentials in the jacket notes.

The plot, while inventive, hit me a bit dubiously, in that it attempts to interleave three seemingly disparate evils: corporate shenanigans, killer rats, and a mysterious disease. I could never figure out where my attention should lie, which detracted from my particularly caring about any. In contrast, Crichton tended to fix on one main challenge, and then weave in the science, social, and political aspects to drive home his point. This book would've benefited from a similar spotlight to let one of the dangers become fully expressed and resolved.

Where Dionne shines is with her characters. Ben lives a conflicted life, feeling he's sold out to corporate interests but appalled at the direction some environmental extremists take. Zo, on the other hand, passionately pursues her benevolent scientific research, but accidentally becomes an advocate for a life-saving, and financially lucrative, pharmaceutical agent. Dionne's other characters fall into more-or-less stock roles, but in every case, the reader gets an opportunity to climb into their heads for point-of-view narratives.

Perhaps unfairly, I wanted Dionne's debut novel to pick up with where Crichton's tight story-telling and scientific realism left off. Instead, we have a journeyman's solid first outing, filled with imaginative characters, settings, and action, all be they conjoined by a tousled plot and occasional leaps of credibility. Like Crichton, however, her story comes with a message - water is the world's next conflict flash-point. She resists the temptation to preach to the reader, as Crichton sometimes did, but her cautionary tale solidly propels the debate of water ownership, distribution, and access to the forefront. For a first-time author, that's quite an accomplishment, making "Freezing Point" a compelling read and a great foundation from which to launch her next contributions to the science thriller genre.

Karen Dionne's debut novel, Freezing Point, is a story of entrepreneurial skill, technology, ideals, and betrayal.

Ben Maki wants to harvest water from icebergs to solve the world's water shortage problem. Don Gillette just wants to make money off the issue. Antarctic researcher Zo Zelinski wants to help, but her dubious actions put her right in the center of things. Environmental activists have their own take on the matter: stop the iceberg harvesting altogether. As often happens when perspectives differ, egos and ideologies collide, resulting in a convoluted, action-laden tale.

Dionne book is visual and fast-paced, similar to a movie. That pace continues to accelerate right to the satisfying (if swift) end.

Freezing Pointt focuses on a real and growing problem on our planet. And since the book is such a great read, chances are we won't forget about it any time soon.

A book worth reading. Karen Dionne's writing style is fluid and on target for leading the reader into great visuals, rather than getting stuck in the narrative and not trusting the reader to 'get it'. I'm a fan of thrillers, be they science or medical or psychologically based, and this one is a good one. The characters are believable and have personalities that are consistent throughout the plot. The science is interesting and appears to be well researched, at least the writing was convincing and in fiction that is the point. Knowing this is her first book, I am anxiously awaiting her second.

Ms. Dione does a great job of getting you into the story. It's easy to know who the characters are, where they are and how they think. The book is a nice mix of thrill and science without dragging the momentum down with technical detail. I wish the book had been about 10-20 pages longer - not at the end, but throughout, to give a little more time to be scared during each bit of action.

This is one of several books written by Mrs.Dionne. She hasn't written very many books, but only because she is very busy with more important things. She is a wonderful and very kind person. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to anybody who likes suspenseful stories.

I was looking forward to reading FREEZING POINT after David Morrell's cover blurb called the author "the new Michael Crichton," and Douglas Preston said the book was "a ripper of a story!" Good enough. So I paid the admission and buckled in for the ride. I should've saved myself the trip.

First of all, this story isn't really a thriller -- there are few thrills and no suspense, very little conflict, and no intriguing mystery to figure out. The story starts off promising with some high-seas action, which has little to do with the plot. Then the story slows and loses its way (or perhaps it never had a direction to begin with). Too many conversations in closed rooms. Despite what others say here, adventure fans should be warned there is very little action in this novel.

The first two acts are devoid of any real conflict. This paperback is dominated by narrative back story with preachy essays about clean drinking water and ho-hum environmental expositions.

The "evil" solar company with the ability to melt icebergs with its space beam is a joke (the largest solar companies in the world can't turn a profit, let alone launch satellites). And what solar company owns tankers? Of course, the company's CEO is the stereotypical bad guy with no real motive except his huge, corporate ego.

There seems to be a missing section about what happens to the Australian team that gets to the iceberg first. After a lengthy setup, poof, they vanish from the story with no explanation.

To get a bit of adrenaline going later, Dionne dumps a truck-load of killer rats on an unsuspecting Antarctica. These rodents are deadlier than a pool of great whites. Where are the rat traps? Instead, these thin-as-paper characters are eaten one by one - don't worry, you won't miss them. It's ugly without generating any excitement or suspense.

I didn't believe a word of this. Even the exotic Antarctic backdrop is totally wasted on this hooey. And someone please tell me what that magic insulin has to do with anything.

By the end I felt misled and ripped off. I'll think twice before picking up another David Morrell or Douglas Preston yarn. They couldn't possibly have read the same book I did. Thanks for nothing, guys.

And none of the vague five-star reviews here mention much about the plot, which tells me that Dionne got her friends to stuff the review box without giving them a copy to read first. A desperate con game, and I'm the loser.

Antarctica. A frozen continent, desolate and inhospitable. A place where the weather alone can kill you in a matter of seconds. But it also holds the best hope for solving one of the mankind's greatest problems: finding enough drinking water for a growing population.

Karen Dionne's debut thriller revolves around a radical new way to melt icebergs and deliver drinking water to millions. The Soldyne corporation hopes to be the first to use the process, generating huge profits along with helping the world. But nothing is simple, especially not in a thriller. Not everyone agrees with their approach, and even within the company, infighting threatens to derail the project.

The two main protagonists are Ben Maki, a former activist now working for Soldyne, and Zo Zelinski, a researcher stationed in the Antarctic. Dionne has created intriguing characters here, with enough quirks to feel authentic. Their flaws end up costing them in major ways, but it never feels forced, it's just one more layer of the plot.

A handful of other characters of varying shades of good and bad provide more than enough room for conflict. Working in the Antarctic is hard enough without knowing who you can trust. The book has a lot of action, but it never takes over completely. For me that's a good thing. The author manages to gradually increase the tension with a mixture of action and anticipation.

The other major plot point involves an unexpected enemy within the Antarctic ice. I can't tell you more without giving it away. How's this for vague: A surprising discovery makes an already difficult situation worse. I'll also say that while this enemy is a critical and exciting plot point, it's not of the magnitude of those in other recent Antarctic-related books such as those by Jeremy Robinson, Thomas Greanias, or Steve Berry.

Freezing Point is not a puzzle thriller, it's about tension, about conflict, and yes, about escalating danger and action. The body count is not insignificant. I'd highly recommend the book to any fan of thrillers, recognizing that it has a different feel than some of the other more traditional "action" thrillers. This one leans more towards Michael Crichton, but with less science and more accessible writing when it comes to scientific details. In fact, the writing overall is excellent, and it is clear that Dionne has worked hard to create a style that is both strong and easy to read.

Finally, if I could point to one negative about the book (and I always hate to do that), it is that I could see a little bit too much of the plot coming too early. I still wanted to turn the pages as quickly as possible, but I knew the broad strokes of what was going to happen earlier than I would have liked.

While working on this review, I contacted Ms. Dionne to ask if she wanted to share anything with me that readers might not find out elsewhere. She mentioned a couple of things. First is that Freezing Point will be coming out in audio form as one of [...] "Breakout Thrillers" program.

The second thing is that Dionne is coming out with a second thriller, Boiling Point, which is scheduled for release in October 2010. I'll let her describe a trip she took to research the book:

"I traveled to Chaitén Volcano in Northern Patagonia, Chile. Chaitén Volcano erupted on May 2, 2008 for the first time in 9,000 years, and since then has never stopped. I stayed in the town at the volcano's base, even though the volcano is on Red Alert and the town is without electricity and running water, and hiked to within one mile of the lava dome, where I saw steam vents, heard explosions coming from the caldera, and felt a small earthquake."

So give Freezing Point a try. I predict we'll be hearing a lot more about Karen Dionne's thrillers in the years to come.

Not being a fan of cold places, I've still enjoyed thrillers set in that environment, so when I saw this one, the premise appealed to me.

This story is one that kept my attention right to the end. I found the writing well done with not too many "rules" broken.

I won't go into the plot here, but let's just say the icky bugs, in this case rats, were completely out of left field for me. I never would've guessed they were the deep menace waiting for the heroes, as mentioned on the back cover. Then adding the mock insulin thing was quite imaginative.

I also liked the ending and was surprised at how some of the characters turned out.

For a first novel, Ms. Dione's publishers finally got it right and printed a book that was actually well written, for a change. Highly recommended.

The reviewers here have already touched on the storyline, so I'll sidestep that and any plot spoilers. However...

As one reviewer noted, "fresh water has become an increasingly scarce luxury." Too often in popular fiction, particularly in science/techno thrillers, literary style is a scarce luxury. The science or technology, although informative, is patched in, written with all the panache of a user's manual for a TV cable box -- nonfiction masquerading as fiction. Not so here. Karen Dionne writes with exceptional grace and intelligence. FREEZING POINT is a pure pleasure to read. Pure as, well, bottled glacial water.

Then again, forget the above. FREEZING POINT is an avalanche of thrills. Slap on your scarf and snowshoes. Where's the mittens? Turn up the thermostat, and turn the pages!

This story begins as a riveting thriller. I don't see it falling into the science fiction category. As the book progresses, some of the facts that are the glue to the important story line simple fall apart. The scientific facts that supported the story line in the beginning fad and become non-existent near the end. For example, towards the end, the iceberg which is the scene of the dramatic conclusion simply sinks and slips beneath the wave because it spits in half. I would like to point out how ridiculous this is since as a whole the iceberg floated just fine. However, when the ice is cut in half, it sinks. The iceberg is good example of some of the science and events in this book that just won't fly when looked at objectively. The lead characters are also very weak as hero and heroin go. Sorry to give away a crucial facts of the story for those who wish to sit through reading it.