Ice Reich [Hardcover]

William Dietrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist pens an electrifying and absorbing debut thriller pitting an American adventurer against Nazi scientists in the frozen hell of Antarctica.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The terrifically quirky start of a speed-read action adventure in exotic locales with fascinating scientific facts dips too soon into breathless romance to achieve a clear voice. The result: a cinematically layered novel with an identity crisis. Bush pilot Owen Hart, an early failed Antarctic expedition member, is recruited by German diplomat Otto Kohl as pilot/consultant for a prewar 1938 Nazi expedition (sponsored by Goring himself) to Antarctica in search of the natural resources needed for the war effort. Hart falls for SS officer Jurgen Drexler's girlfriend, biologist Greta Heinz, and the dramatic potential of a trip on an air carrier, facing down Norwegian whalers amid an iceberg-bobbing sea, is undermined by the adolescent antics that he and Jurgen perform for Greta's benefit. The discovery of a deadly plague bacterium and a nearby organism with antibiotic effects leads to Hart's separation from the Nazis and his capture and forced return to the island with Jurgen and Greta near the war's end to retrieve the plague germ as a last-ditch super weapon to save the Reich. With Hart's smarts, Greta's pluck and the help of Antarctica's denizens, they strive to outwit a submarine full of stormtroopers in the desperate finale. Dietrich won a Pulitzer for his science writing on the Exxon Valdez episode; any prize for his fiction, however, are still on ice. Audio rights to Time Warner.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Rousing, Indiana Jones - style debut thriller with scheming Nazis, hair-raising escapes, sweeping scenery, and romance in a volcanic cave. Seattle Times journalist Dietrich (Northwest Passage, 1995, etc.), who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the Exxon Valdez disaster, goes to the last place left on earth for a WWII-era adventure: Antarctica, where, Dietrich adds in an afterword, Hermann G"ring actually sent a group of German explorers in 1938. In Dietrich's fictional account, the Germans take with them American flyboy Owen Hart, whose previous attempt to fly across the South Pole ended in a humiliating failure. Owen, whom we first meet in Alaska after he crashes his plane, knows nothing of the Third Reich's dark side. Eager for adventure, he goes to Berlin, where he meets G"ring, plays with G"ring's electric train set, and falls for the beautiful and brainy Garbo-ish biologist, Greta Heinz. Alas, Greta seems to be pledged to the expedition's commander, the compulsively Hitler-hailing SS Major Jurgen Drexler. Following an uneventful voyage to a continent Dietrich likens to a ``dream that stung,'' the ship is crippled after ramming an ice pack during an impromptu battle with a Norwegian whaler. The ship ties up for repairs at an uncharted volcanic island, where Owen encounters the creepy ruin of a Norwegian ship whose crew has been killed by a hideous infectious disease. Owen and Greta explore the island, discovering the disease's antidote just as the Germans begin to become infected. After a tryst in a slime-filled cave, Owen and Greta are separated - she fleeing with Drexler, he forced to return with a bunch of suspicious Norwegians. The story then moves to the closing days of WWII, with Greta and Owen (now reunited) racing back to the deadly island to stop Drexler from using the disease against the Allies. A merry, melodramatic patchwork of adventure films that, when it isn't evoking predictable cinematic thrills, rivals the page-turners of Alistair MacLean. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; 1ST edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446523399
• ISBN-13: 978-0446523394
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,299,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a novelist and non-fiction author, with a series on American adventurer Ethan Gage in the Napoleonic era that has sold into 31 languages. My newest novel, a Nazi thriller, is "Blood of the Reich."

I began my writing career as a newspaper reporter in 1973, published my first non-fiction book, "The Final Forest," in 1992, and my first fiction, "Ice Reich," in 1998, completing a first draft on an Antarctic research ship. I share a Pulitzer for covering the Exxon Valdez oil spill while at the Seattle Times and then taught for five years at Western Washington University's Huxley College of the Environment. While there I authored "Green Fire: A History of Huxley College."

My work at HarperCollins has been historical fiction that ranges from the Roman Empire to my latest tale that ranges from Germany to Washington's Cascade Mountains to Tibet. My Ethan Gage series starts with Napoleon's invasion of Egypt ("Napoleon's Pyramids") and continues on to the Holy Land, America's Great Lakes frontier, the Barbary Pirates of North Africa and (coming) the Caribbean and Haiti. I've also done thrillers for Warner Books (Ice Reich, Getting Back, and Dark Winter, now available again as E-books on Amazon) and non-fiction about the Pacific Northwest.

My award-winning first non-fiction book, "The Final Forest," was just reissued by University of Washington Press. For any Twilight fans, it's a book about Forks, Washington, written well before the vampire craze: it gives you the real Forks.

Research for my novels has taken me to the Arctic, Antarctic, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Australia, Sicily, Greece, Paris, Britain, Hungary, Tibet...hey, someone's got to do it. I've traveled on a sailboat in the South Pacific, landed on an aircraft carrier, flown in a B-52, visited the South Pole, and been terrified flying with the Blue Angels.

As a journalist, I was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, won National Science Foundation fellowships to Antarctica, and speak frequently on environmental issues. I've covered Congress, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the environment, science, social issues - even the military. I've traveled frequently for my writing, but live in the Pacific Northwest where I was born. I'm married, with two grown children.

I live in a house looking out at the San Juan Islands, surrounded by fir, cedar, and hemlock, and sometimes get to watch bald eagles while I'm writing. Connecting with readers is one of life's biggest thrills.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hot action in a cold place!, March 6, 2000

By 

D. J. Krill (Edmonton, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ice Reich (Mass Market Paperback)

Fans of WW2 adventure novels will enjoy Ice Reich very much. The story follows an American bush pilot hired by the Nazis in 1939 to explore Antarctica. However, the motive behind the Nazi's expedition seems suspect to the American. As the story progresses, the real reason for the expedition becomes clearer, and the American must make a number of serious decisions that will effect his life, his lover, and the future of mankind.

William Dietrich's Ice Reich held my attention from the opening sentence, right up until the very end. His writing is crisp, the setting wonderfully original, and the story fast-paced. Dietrich has tied in a remote and desolate setting with a tense plot and fascinating characters. I'm looking forward to reading Dietrich's next novel, and hope that his second work of fiction is as enjoyable as Ice Reich.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cold-hearted Nazis in Frozen Antartica, March 15, 2002

By 

S. Brand "sandra807" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ice Reich (Mass Market Paperback)

Because of his experience in flying in icy weather conditions, ordinary good-guy American Owen Hart is asked to serve as pilot for a German team on an expedition to Antarctica. Thinking he can keep himself uninvolved emotionally and politically, little does Hart know what he's getting himself into!

To begin with, he falls for the girlfriend of the fiendish Nazi Drexler, immediately setting himself up for problems. When they land on the Antacticic island, which landscape the author incredibly describes, they come across the wreck of a ship with dead bodies. When it is discovered that these sailors died of some bacteria on the island, a race begins to find an antidote to save themselves from death by the same bacteria.

Searching the island, Hart and his love interest, biologist Greta, end up in an underground spring, where they experience romance, and then danger. Now that Drexler is suspicious about his girlfriend and Hart, he has diabolical schemes for getting rid of him. Hart and Greta battle the Nazis at an increasing pace as danger and horrific death threatens from all angles: treks and falls through ice, deadly bacteria, Nazi weapons and deception. Increasingly, Hart must become the hero to protect himself and Greta, and ultimately the world, which could be terribly threatened by the Nazis if they get their hands on that bacteria and turn it into a biological weapon!

The vivid and unusual setting descriptions, incorporation of elements based on real historical events, diabolical bad guys you love to hate, variety of dangers faced, and several close escapes all added up to great fun!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!, November 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Ice Reich (Hardcover)

If you like Clive Clussler you will love this book! William Dietrich weaves a great tale of adventure and yes, even love. From a plane crash in Alaska, to Germany at the end of World War 2. The Author provides you a wild ride of adventure, love and suspense, that keeps you turning the pages way after midnight. A gamble on a new Author, but well worth the price.