GIRL IN ICE by Erica Ferencik

Val’s twin brother Andy has just died of an apparent suicide doing research on a remote island above the Arctic Circle.  Now Wyatt, Andy’s friend and colleague, has invited Val to bring her linguistic skills to that same island.  Apparently, Wyatt has thawed a young native girl from a crevasse near their research station, but she is speaking an undecipherable language.  Val, whose mental health is already teetering on the edge, decides to accept Wyatt’s offer, but her main objective is to find out what really happened to Andy.  I would classify this novel as an adventure/thriller, in the same vein as The River at Night, but I thought this book was a major improvement, primarily because Val, despite her vulnerabilities, is admirable, likable, and believable, even if the plot seems a bit farfetched.  Although not a mother herself, Val becomes a mother figure to the unfrozen girl, whose name turns out to be Sigrid.  Val is caring and protective of Sigrid, especially since Wyatt may or may not be trustworthy.  I found this book to be well-written and extremely suspenseful, although its first person narrative indicates that Val will survive.  For me, that helpful hint is not a bad thing.  I questioned more what was going to happen to Sigrid, as Wyatt’s motives become increasingly more suspicious and Val’s ability to shield Sigrid from Wyatt’s experiments appears to be insufficient.  Even here in Florida I feel shivery after reading this book—partly from the action and partly from the constant reference to the frigid weather.  Isolation is scary enough, when the few people around Val are nefarious characters, but the subzero temperatures add an additional fright factor.  Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the advance reading copy.