Girl in Ice

 By Erica Ferencik

Gallery     2022

304 pages     Thriller

It is 2023, just a year from the present, but climate change has increased its activity. One of the strange happenings is what the scientists are calling "ice wind," a strong freezing, sudden wind that immediately freezes any animal or human that is caught in the blast. On a small island off the coast of Greenland within the Artic Circle, a group of scientists led by Wyatt Speeks are trying to understand this climate phenomenon. They discover a young girl in the ice on the island, bring her back to the station, and thaw her out to try to learn whatever they can about her and the ice wind. Unbelievably, the girl thaws out alive. She is trying to talk to the scientists, but they can’t understand her language, nor can any of the indigenous people who bring supplies to the station.

Val Chesterfield is a brilliant linguist specializing in extinct Nordic languages. Wyatt sends for her, thinking that she might be able to decode what the girl is saying. Val has another connection to the science station: her brother Andy, also a climate scientist, committed suicide at the station. Val accepts Wyatt’s offer because she is tremendously curious about the little girl, but also because she hopes to solve what she believes is not a suicide by her brother, but more than likely a murder.

There are a tremendous number of details to unravel, and Ferencik has an amazing grasp of the setting, of the science involved, as well as the language difficulties being explored. I spent the first half of the book in awe of her expertise in all things Greenland as well as the Nordic languages she explores. I was so intrigued by how she wove all these details into an almost believable plot. Because of all the climate-driven science explored and explained by Ferencik, I read slowly through the book’s first half. However, when the action ramped up, and Val starts to understand what little Sigrid is trying to tell her, and Wyatt gets crazier, I really tuned in and hurriedly read to finish the novel. Unfortunately, the conclusion, itself, was a bit off, rushed, and inconclusive. One reviewer said that it appeared that Ferencik drafted a few options and “randomly decided to go with this version of the choose-your-own-adventure.” I felt let down after I had spent most of the novel being in awe of the subject and the plot.

Girl in Ice was at its best when Ferencik was developing the relationship between Val and little Sigrid. Sigrid, of course, is suffering greatly from PTSD, and no one understands what she is trying to say or explain. Val bonds greatly with her, because she herself is suffering from tremendous anxiety, and because she identifies so completely with Sigrid and her needs. The relationship felt very real as Sigrid tries to explain herself to Val, and Val is struggling to understand what her random words mean and what her enigmatic drawings are illustrating.

The NY Times reviewer calls it “hauntingly beautiful,” and Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review. Their reviewer says, “Trenchant details about catastrophic climate change bolster a creative plot featuring authentic characters, particularly the anxious, flawed Val. Ferencik outdoes Michael Crichton in the convincing way she mixes emotion and science.”

Here is Ferencik’s website