Man on Ice

March 19, 2018
British author Hawksley (Security Breach) strains credibility with this near-future thriller and series launch. On the Alaskan island of Little Diomede in the Bering Strait, Dr. Carrie Walker, a trauma surgeon, treats a sick 15-year-old girl, Akne Ondola, who has gone into labor. With Carrie is her fiancé, island native Rake Ozenna, a member of an elite infantry unit known as the Eskimo Scouts, whom she “met over a car bomb in Kabul.” A Russian medical helicopter arrives from Siberia, ostensibly to help Akne, but in fact it’s part of a daring act of Russian aggression days before the inauguration of a new American president. When the Russians’ intentions become clear, Rake shifts into full Die Hard mode and starts taking them out one by one, even as the situation threatens to escalate into nuclear war. A silly plot and awkward prose (“America’s values, based on our values, have allowed you, a watchmaker’s son from Yorkshire, to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain”) don’t bode well for future entries. Agent: David Grossman, David Grossman Literary Agency (U.K.).

April 1, 2018
In this political thriller, Little Diomede, a remote island in the Bering Strait, becomes the scene of an intense struggle between Russia and the U.S.?a struggle that could lead to nuclear war. Inuit army officer Rake Ozenna and his fianc�e, trauma surgeon Carrie Walker, come to Little Diomede partly so that Carrie can meet Rake's family, but also to help Rake's kinswoman with a difficult birth. But in a shocking twist, Rake and Carrie arrive to find the island being invaded by Russian troops. The Russians claim the island is theirs because the border was drawn incorrectly at the time of the 1867 Alaska Purchase. Carrie and Rake?along with politicos in Washington?are sure the Russians are planning to make trouble just as a new president is being inaugurated in the U.S. As the situation worsens, the Russians seem ready to pursue their endgame, whatever the cost. With Washington wrestling with the problem, it's left to Rake and Carrie to stop the Russians, whatever it takes. Knuckle-whitening suspense, bloody violence, dirty tricks, and plenty of surprising twists make this a gripping, can't-put-it-down read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)