A Cage of Ice

by Duncan Kyle

Dr John Edwards, a British surgeon living and working in New York is drawn into the world of power politics and espionage when he accidentally receives a plea for help from a defecting Russian scientist. At first treated with suspicion by the CIA, Edwards is reluctantly recruited into a multi-national team tasked with the rescue of Professor Komarov and the secrets he holds on a climate engineering project which could devastate the Western powers.
The only problem is that to rescue the Professor, the team has first to traverse two hundred miles of the frozen Polar sea and then break into a secret Soviet installation – and former nuclear proving ground - on the island of Novaya Zemlya inside the Arctic Circle.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Adventure

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

A pseudonym used by John Franklin Broxholme.

Reviews

[Miles Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic action thriller with a bunch of tough guys going out to complete an impossible mission behind enemy lines. The narrator is the novice to these missions, but rises to the occasion magnificently. Since behind enemy lines means Novaya Zemlya in the Russian Arctic, it is also a tale of endurance and Ski-doos. Interestingly for a book written in 1970, there is a discussion of CO2's and the greenhouse effect. Otherwise it is a tightly written, well informed, cold war thriller with the inevitable ice-cool blonde (also inevitably referred to as "the girl" throughout).

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This thriller by a new-to-me author starts out with some of the most suspenseful and page-turning chapters I can remember reading as the protagonist is hunted mercilessly through the streets of New York by dark and murderous forces. Later, it turns out into an Alistair MacLean-inspired men-on-a-mission adventure set in the frozen wastes of Greenland, and the pacing never lets up. While it doesn't quite recapture the vividness of the first pages, overall this is an engaging page-turner with just a few moments of weak plotting that denotes it was the author's first novel.

[Elly Stroo Cloeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik las dit boek in het Nederlands: Ontvoering in de poolnacht. Het komt uit de bibliotheek van mijn ouders en is uit 1971, dus ik verwachtte dat het erg gedateerd zou zijn. Maar dat viel erg mee! Een vlot verhaal, goed verteld, een fijne hoofdpersoon, een iets minder plausibele uitwerking (een amateur die zomaar meegaat op CIA-missie?) en een nog steeds relevante dreiging: het smelten van de poolkappen.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read. Reminded me of Alistair MacLean. I will be looking for more Duncan Kyle.

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in Norwegian. 3 plus to 3.5 stars. Good intense thriller.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical espionage/action thriller written and set during the height of the cold war during the 1970's. When the American's set out to rescue a Russian scientist from the heart of the Russian Arctic, who has plans for a dastardly Russian plan to melt the Arctic pack ice and open the northern Russian ports to open water 12 months a year and so destroy the western world. A tightly written set of tough guy characters, and the quirky amateur that spend a lot of the novel heading out and back across the frozen Arctic pack ice on fast moving ski-doos, accompanied by the ice cold blonde.

A cold and fast moving novel that has aged well, over the last 46 years. It even touches on the subject of global warming that hadn't even begun to rise its head at that point. Overall an enthralling read.

[Blake Prosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel. The first part doesn't let you breath with our main character being targeted and escaping multiple assassination attempts. Afterwards he gets recruited by the CIA to go on a mission to rescue a defecting Soviet scientist.

There is chapters and pages dedicated about the mission crossing on a snow barren wasteland and it doesn't get dull! Solid action novel, I could see it working well as a film. There were a few moments where the actions and intelligence of the characters were questionable. Fascinating plot and story.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the book very much. The suspense built nicely and the protagonist had an enjoyably smart-alecky tone. Parts of it were a little hard to follow though because I did not know all the terms he used regarding ice and machinery. A Satisfying read though overall.

[Phil Geusz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over and over as a teen. It's very typical action/adventure spy stuff, set during the period in the 1970's when an imminent glacial advance was feared. The long trek across polar ice via Ski-Doo is not to be forgotten.