The Ice Limit

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At 4,000 tons, this treasure seems impossible to move.

New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them.

©2001 Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (P)2010 Hachette

Critic reviews

"This is a big-boned thriller, one that will make a terrific summer movie as well as a memorable hot-day read." ( Publishers Weekly)

interesting story with engaging characters

Preston and child do not disappoint! This is another installment with a captivating story. Bravo

A very fun read

I really enjoyed this book up to the end, although I was a bit frustrated by the ending. I had to knock off a star from my rating because the authors went way beyond their expertise when it came to superconductivity and electrophysics; there were a few really big groaners in this area speaking as an electrical engineer. The story and narration were so good, any small plot holes were entirely forgivable and I ended up staying up way into the night listening. Well worth a listen!

Cut out the romance attempt

I have read four Preston & Child books, I have liked all of them, but not loved any of them. I am still waiting to read the book that I just can't put down, as I feel they have it in them to write that book. This book has cool theories and adventure and science. It starts out with a prospector discovering the world's heaviest meteorite (or is it a meteorite? and where did it come from?). It is located on an island off the south tip of Chile. A cold bitter land that Darwin visited on his voyage. The first half of the book is about the richest man in the world getting together a team of losers, along with a Mr. perfect to recover this rock without Chile finding out about it. I really liked the first half. In the second half, we get into a couple of love stories (kinda). The love stories are time consuming, not very loving and a total distraction from the story line. Then toward the end we have a ocean chase scene like in Master and Commander and it is very intense and a fast read. This scene leads to an extreme climax, all very intense and pretty cool. I could have given this five stars if they would have cut out the attempt to add romance to the story. Stick to science and adventure guys, like Crichton and Rollins.

As far as the narration goes, I have never liked Scott Brick's narration, he always sounds the same no matter what he reads. He makes every sentence sound dramatic and sarcastic. Having said that I felt his tone actually worked well for this book. All the characters in this book are sarcastic. He does not do humor very well.

It certainly grabbed me.

The unraveling of this mystery was a great piece of writing read by a master of his craft. I wasn't familiar with the authors but I intend to buy more by them.

Titanic expedition

Preston and Child did it again. Excellent delivery and character build up..The story is with never ending thrill chase. Scott Brick is the best he made the characters came to life.

CHILLY THRILLER

On the cover there is a quote by Nelson DeMille. I agree totally. The first half of the story had me wanting to do nothing other than read. The second half of the story kept me up until 4:30 am. Seriously, it's that good. And thanks to the authors there is a denouement worthy of almost another hour of time because otherwise I don't think I could have calmed myself down enough to write this review. How the authors do it -- draw me in and hold my attention for days in a row is always amazing to me. Read it!

Way too long and predictable

I don't blame the narrator for lapsing into sing-songy tone at times because this book just drew its at best 200 page story out into an eternity. I've enjoyed stories about lost worlds and off the beaten track adventures since I cracked open my Grandfather's Edgar Rice Burroughs books, and this book had a good premise. However the main characters in the story were such caricatures that they could only behave in a predictable fashion. So after listening to about 1/3 of the book I skipped ahead through the markers to the end.

Just tremendous

Having listened to two of the authors other offerings -- "Relic" and "Thunderhead" -- I was expecting another brush with the supernatural or occult. What I got instead was a suspense thriller about a couple of egomaniacs trying to solve a series of enormous engineering, psychological and political challenges. Managing to pull everything off would mean moving the world's largest meteorite from a desolate island off the tip of South America to New York. Once back in the U.S., one of the egomaniacs would use the meteorite as the centerpiece of his new museum. Along the way, the listen feels a bit like a really good road trip movie, one in which the characters come to know and trust one another and learn more about themselves in the process. We do get our bout with the supernatural toward the end of the book, when it seems like the ride is sure to end -- the authors surely can't pull us around more hairpin turns, can they? But they do. Buckle up, this is 17 hours of pure adrenaline.

Fun read

This book is well written and performed - with good plot and character development. If you read (listen to) a lot of books you will find it fun during the reading but easily forgotten as you don’t learn much from it. Kind of like the cliché about Chinese food; Enjoyable but not fulfilling for very long. I would put this book in a summer reading category..

Entertaining but farfetched

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. The narration holds your interest from start to finish.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Ice Limit?

The chase by the destroyer.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

The ship's captain.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

? "tag line?