Ice Hunt

By: James Rollins

Narrated by: John Meagher

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Carved into a moving island of ice twice the size of the United States, Ice Station Grendel has been abandoned for more than 70 years. The twisted brainchild of the finest minds of the former Soviet Union, it was designed to be inaccessible and virtually invisible. But an American undersea research vessel has inadvertently pulled too close - and something has been sighted moving inside the allegedly deserted facility, something whose survival defies every natural law.

And now, as scientists, soldiers, intelligence operatives, and unsuspecting civilians are drawn into Grendel's lethal vortex, the most extreme measures possible will be undertaken to protect its dark mysteries - because the terrible truths locked behind submerged walls of ice and steel could end human life on Earth.

©2003 Jim Czajkowski (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

Scooby Doo With Scarier Monsters

This is a fun book with a great premise, and some seriously creepy monsters.

It's also kind of repetitive, because essentially, the bulk of the book is one huge chase scene with people getting separated, finding each other, and losing each other again, against the same background, over and over.

Essentially, it's kind of like a Scooby Doo episode, where everyone's running through a haunted house, and Velma disappears, then they go looking for her and then Shaggy disappears but Velma pops out from behind the secret door and now it's time to look for Shaggy, and they find him, but Scooby and Fred have disappeared.

The first half of the book is totally great, the second half is a little draggy. The narrator was good, and all in all, I enjoyed Ice Hunt, and would certainly recommend it.

Rock and Roll

This is one of the most fast paced novels I have ever read. You start right off facing an Under Water Ice Mountain, Grizzly, then a plane crash in Alaska, Ice Motorcycles, Dogfight, Russian bad guys, Delta force, small subs, big subs, prehistoric monsters, cryogenics, mad scientists, U.S.A. bad guys, nuclear bomb, World War II, etc. If I have anything bad to say it is that over 15 hours of such fast pace action may be too much. You start to get a little numb. You can only be Wowed so much, but that is a small complaint. I enjoyed the first third and would give it five stars, the middle had science stuff I liked worth five stars, the last third was good, but got a little old with a few quickies to keep your interested, worth three and a half stars. It is well worth the money as a whole.

Great Book!

This audiobook was awesome! Action-packed, interest-grabbing, heart-stopping, breath-taking.....there was never a moment in this book that didn't keep me thinking and trying to figure things out. Surprise moment very well planned and executed. Characters are very realistic and easy to relate to....I got so into the story, that I couldn't wait to see what was gonna happen next.

A Comedic Masterpiece...

I laughed myself to tears with this book. Although written to be an action/horror/political intrigue/kitchen sink novel it continually revealed the writers lack of familiarity with the elements used in the story.

It’s as if Tommy Wiseau wrote a novel, where bears hunt in packs, and aircraft flaps go up, and the description “with this body my life had come full circle” was acceptable… when describing finding a body and comparing it to a different body of a different gender, continents apart, decades later, dead in an entirely different fashion, … So….not a circle…. Not even a tangent to a circle… well maybe a tangent because of (spoilers).

So why write a review.

If you’re a fan of watching terrible B movies (think, Best of the Worst), things where the plot and the elements in the story don’t make sense and you just have to laugh at someone’s honest floundering attempt to tell a story… and you have 15+ hours to kill then this may be a great novel for you.

But.. I was sold on a premise of a 4+star novel with a sub discovering a hidden ice base, with horror and suspense, and dark mysteries… which doesn’t show up for most of the first four hours where we fumble along through a 0.5 star “adventure”, and when we finally get there…. meh.

So… buyer be warned.

Oh and Mariner… is pronounced Mear-rin-ner…. not Ma-Reen-Err. The Mareeners are coming, the Mareeners are coming…. Lol, brilliant.

Excellent! A real page turner

I really enjoyed this one. It was intense, believable and mixed with family ties and love. It is blended together beautifully. The end of the book even has authors notes outlining some of his research and how he put things together. I definitely recommend it!

Couldn't stop listening!

I enjoy Rollins. But this was A+! Ditto to all that the previous reviewer wrote! Now I am frantically searching for the next listen, already knowing I will have difficulty matching this one!

Well Done

If you could sum up Ice Hunt in three words, what would they be?

Entertaining Science Fiction

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Mostly, it is a bit predictable in parts though

Have you listened to any of John Meagher’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

yes, he lends the narrative a sense of urgency, but the characters a sense of competency

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Chiller Thriller

Very believable cast (especially motives and back story). The most unbelievable things were some items of the ice station Gendel's backstory (some things not mentioned in the teaser [hint = involving co-operation], so I'm not writing a spoiler, just a review). I do not know much about the life sciences, but he made things sound so believable. There were some things in the end that I didn't expect to happen (but the good kind of surprised). Amazonia is still the best he wrote IMHO.

Definitely worth the 1 credit.

Fast paced action

This is a page turner with almost non stop action. It is the first book in ten that I thought was worth the credit. As in all fiction books you must suspend your disbelief a bit but most stretches of imagination are fun. You take a bit of James Bond sans Bond and throw in some pre-historic creatures and a dash of frozen undead amid a war between the U.S. and Russia and you get an exciting book. Bravo!

Good book, great reader

I have just recently gotten into audio books to make my long commute bearable. The subject of this book was enjoyable, the plot was just twisty enough, the characters were interesting.

But what really kept me listening was the reader. The quality of Mr. Meagher's voice got this Audible recording its 4th star. I will look for his readings in the future.