Ice Station (Mass Market Paperback)

by Matthew Reilly (Author) "The hovercraft raced across the ice plain..." (more)
Key Phrases: speeding hovercraft, big black plane, black rubber skirt, Wilkes Ice Station, Sarah Hensleigh, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
After a team of American scientists at Wilkes Ice Station discover what seems to be a spaceship in a four-million-year-old cavern below the ice, two of the divers disappear while checking out the craft. Lt. Shane "Scarecrow" Schofield and his highly trained team of Marines respond to the scientists' distress signal. By the time the leathernecks reach Wilkes, three days later, one of the scientists has killed another, six more members of the Wilkes team have disappeared in the ice cave and eight French scientists from a nearby station are for some reason at the U.S. base. Would the French government kill Americans to capture a frozen UFO? Probably: six of the French "scientists" turn out to be the members of the French special forces. From that discovery onward, this first novel offers nonstop thrills as Schofield and his team fight for their livesAand for those of the remaining American scientistsAagainst French and British commandos and a secret American spy group; against killer whales and strange aquatic mammals; and against time, for both the French and British commandos harbor "eraser" plans to wipe out all survivors in case of mission failure. Reilly's debut evokes a host of predecessors, including Jaws, The Andromeda Strain, The X-Files and the combat novels of Tom Clancy. It also echoes the work of Ian Fleming, as the outrageously heroic Schofield comes off as less a real Marine than a fantasy action figure on a par with Bond. There's not much that's original hereAeven the set-up is reminiscent of the classic SF film The Thing, about a saucer buried in Arctic iceAbut Reilly doesn't really need to be original, not at the pace at which he whips his story line past readers. Employing crude but effective prose, a nonstop spray of short, punchy paragraphs and cliffhangers galore, this is grade-A action pulp. (Sept.) FYI: Ice Station was previously published by Pan Macmillan in Reilly's native Australia, where it sold 30,000 copies.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Fans of Clive Cussler will enjoy this first novel by Australian author Reilly. Set in Antarctica, Ice Station pits a group of U.S. Marines against a host of unexpected adversaries. Buried deep in the ice, in a layer 100 million years old, is something that arouses the greed of governments around the globe. Their respective Special Forces units are unleashed in this inhospitable land in a race to claim the hidden treasure. The book moves along at a good pace, and as with all well-told military thrillers there are plenty of unexpected twists, turns, and betrayals. Reilly's characters are colorful and engaging, and his bad guys are more wrong-headed than evil. The laws of science are sometimes shunted aside to make way for improbable weaponry and impossible situations, but that's just part of the fun. Recommended for public libraries with large military fiction collections.APatrick Wall, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Spartanburg
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (September 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312971230
• ISBN-13: 978-0312971236
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (307 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,524 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well, I really enjoyed the ride!, May 14, 2004

By	Jackie Tortorella - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The things that irked other reviewers didn't bother me a bit. Sure it was unbelievable...geez...why pick up an action thriller if you want a documentary? Ice Station was definitely action-packed, and the characters were well drawn, especially for a first novel. I won't recount the story, as that's been done over and over, but will rather point out what I found enjoyable. The main character was likeable. The setting was exciting--I love arctic adventures. I felt like reading this book was a brief vacation from day-to-day life. It held my interest from beginning to end. I did notice the grammatical errors, but my purpose in reading it was to have a good time, and that I did! I notice that readers of this book also read Rollins--I'm certainly one of those. If you can set reality aside and allow your imagination to roll with the book, you won't be disappointed.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really fictional fiction, April 2, 2001

By A Customer

I cannot remember reading a book as bad as this one. I kept thinking it was going to get better, so I continued. It wasn't the writing. so much as the author's obvious reluctance or inability to do any research to verify any of his statements. His position seems to be that since he's writing fiction, he can simply make up everything, as it suits him. I began to suspect this when he started using the killer whales(Orcas) as villains to devour folks. In fact, they never, ever do that!It went downhill from there. He obviously has not even rudimentary knowledge of scuba, nitrogen saturation, etc and made no attempt to be realistic factually in any way.I have been a science fiction-fantasy fan for years, and the best is always rooted in truth as the starting place.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an action book not literature., February 4, 2005

By	G. E. Williams "Nunah" (California) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Usually, I like a book to challenge the way I think and feel. I like books to help me to be smarter or better. This is not one of those books. The author never pretends to be that kind of author. He is the kind of author you wish wrote the screenplays for action movies. He is a very young man, and writes the kind of stuff those appeals to him. Each of his books cover a very small period of time, usually less than a couple of days, because there is so much exciting action it would take a series of books to cover a week in one. Ice station is fun to read. The characters are really bad or really good the way people aren't, you always know who to hate and who to love. There are some great one liners that will make you laugh, and so much action you will finish this book in one reading. So if you want a fun action story that will not change your life, not tax your brain, but will keep you entertained... This is a book for you.