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Until the Ice Cracks

"Well, what a humdinger of a book this turned out to be."

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LoveReading Says

Available in Paperback and on Kindle form Amazon.

Well, what a humdinger of a book this turned out to be. A mash-up of dystopian, futuristic fiction and Nordic police thriller, with a dash of the supernatural. It’s set 50 years in the future in Eldisvik, a Scandinavian city where you’re all right if you’re in the Free Zone, but venture outside its borders and you’re in increasing danger (and even the police won’t enter the Double Red Zone without some serious protection). The initial premise of the story is that a Decoy (sort of undercover agents aided by packs of vixens – I know, I know . . . .) has gone rogue and the police, led by Nero Cavello, have to investigate. There’s a second storyline of a young student, Bruno, who is kidnapped by the rogue Decoy who wants to use Bruno’s telepathic abilities. Alongside all this, we have political chicanery, corruption and possible infiltration of the police. Oh, and Nero also has telepathic abilities, just like Bruno. The descriptions of the technological advances felt realistic – just advanced enough from where we are now to feel futuristic, but not unbelievably so. However, I really wanted to know how things had got to be as they are. Why have the police lost control of the outer zones? What’s happened in the rest of the world? There are a few hints of catastrophes elsewhere – the city seems to be a real multi-cultural mix and there are references to lots of people being refugees. It took me a while to really engage with the book – there were too many things going on and I could have done with the characters being fleshed out more; I didn’t feel particularly invested in any of them until quite a way in. However, the characters eventually came to life and once that happened the story fairly hurtled along. The ending was a real cliff-hanger – rather too much so for my taste. Of course, you don’t want all the loose ends neatly tied up, otherwise, why read the rest of the series? But hardly any questions at all were answered. Nevertheless, I’m well and truly hooked. It’s rare that I reach the end of a book shouting “Oh no” as I realise it’s finished. I look forward to my next visit to Eldisvik.

Bernadette Scott, A LoveReading Ambassador

LoveReading Ambassador

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Primary Genre Thriller and Suspense
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Reader Reviews

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Set in the future, this murder mystery grips you from the beginning. The cold, harsh Icelandic landscape sets the scene wonderfully and the well constructed characters are interesting and believable.

Set in the future, this murder mystery grips you from the beginning. The cold, harsh Icelandic landscape sets the scene wonderfully and the well constructed characters are interesting and believable. It has a Blade Runner feel that I really liked and the dytopian tone oozes grit. The writing is punchy and pacey and there's some great lines in there.... Read Full Review

Nikki Telling

t has a futuristic feel to the story as well as a hunger games approach where the hunt is on but the hunter cannot be truly understood. An engaging story that makes you want to read the second part!

The book takes a little time to get going and then starts to include a lot of characters that raise questions to their loyalties and true involvement to the issues and commitment to the investigation. It has a futuristic feel to the story as well as a hunger games approach where the hunt is on but the hunter cannot be truly understood.... Read Full Review

Cathy Small

Until the Ice Cracks is a Scandinavian crime thriller set in Eldisvik on the edge of the Arctic Circle in the year 2068. It introduces the reader to Inspector Nero Cavallo who is brought in to find a rogue agent in a dystopian world with genetically-engineered killer foxes

Until the Ice Cracks is a Scandinavian crime thriller set in Eldisvik on the edge of the Arctic Circle in the year 2068. It introduces the reader to Inspector Nero Cavallo who is brought in to find a rogue agent in a dystopian world with genetically-engineered killer foxes. A second character, a telepath named Bruno is introduced, and his story runs in tandem, albeit there is not really an awful lot to know how these stories impact on each other until the characters actually meet towards the end of the novel. I found it a fairly easy, but confusing read, that was slow to start but picked up pace well. For me, the world of the future needed more fleshing out, the zones of the city were meaningless, and it was difficult to have evoke empathy with any of the characters.... Read Full Review

Lynn Johnson