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Ice Age
US research station, McMurdo, Antarctica: the oldest of the scientists the rescue team discovers is forty-five, and yet, physically, all are bowed, wizened, white-haired. Autopsies reveal that their bodies have aged like those of ninety-year-olds. A desperate world-wide, rivalry-riven search involving amongst others the British, Americans, Russians and the French begins for a cure to the unknown ageing disease, believed to be a prehistoric virus uncovered by the thawing of the polar and Greenland ice caps. An international crisis committee starts an equally desperate and politically influenced attempt to cover up the findings and keep hidden from the public a horror that could cause international panic.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2002
51 people are currently reading
308 people want to read
About the author
Brian Freemantle
106 books68 followersAka John Maxwell, Jonathan Evans, Jack Winchester, Harry Asher and Richard Gant.
Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.
Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.
Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.
Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
March 28, 2012
This book was OK. It had a lot of scientific info in it for a fiction piece. A lot of technical terms, which were explained, but still quite a bit to take in. And then the ending was TERRIBLE. My Kindle tells me how far I am percentage-wise through the book. When the plot did not seem anywhere near and ending and the Kindle said 96% I got concerned. I thought, 'is this going to be one of those books that the author did not know how to end it so just boom, it ends?' The plot line itself I found believable, the characters somewhat believable too. But the ending had me saying to Freemantle, "You don't write a book, just so you can write a sequel..." And that's what this felt like. It also felt a bit like he wrote it with a movie script in mind. Overall, a two star book in my opinion. Good enough that it passed my 50 page rule; but not good enough to make it to three stars. Maybe if it had a different ending it could've been a three.
December 30, 2017
Review: ICE AGE by Brian Freemantle
The author specifically advises that this novel is not intended as a polemic against global warming; yet the story speaks for itself, and the situation is too near-future to qualify as science fiction. Rather, the premise is unfortunately a very possible "could happen." The protagonist, climatologist Jack Stoddart, is a long-time environmentalist who has for years cautioned about destruction of the planet. Seems he's now being proved accurate, as conditions of temperature rise at both Poles release a disease--possibly viral, possibly genetic--which emulates in adults the disease of Progeria which occurs only in children: intensely advanced aging.
I enjoyed this novel, including the various scientific speculations involved. I did think too much politicking and political maneuvering was included, specifically in the U.S., the UK, and Russia. Perhaps that was intended as a behind-the-scenes glimpse; certainly it's no wonder nothing important is ever accomplished. However, for readers who like stories with strong female characters who are important in their chosen fields, ICE AGE has a good selection.
The author specifically advises that this novel is not intended as a polemic against global warming; yet the story speaks for itself, and the situation is too near-future to qualify as science fiction. Rather, the premise is unfortunately a very possible "could happen." The protagonist, climatologist Jack Stoddart, is a long-time environmentalist who has for years cautioned about destruction of the planet. Seems he's now being proved accurate, as conditions of temperature rise at both Poles release a disease--possibly viral, possibly genetic--which emulates in adults the disease of Progeria which occurs only in children: intensely advanced aging.
I enjoyed this novel, including the various scientific speculations involved. I did think too much politicking and political maneuvering was included, specifically in the U.S., the UK, and Russia. Perhaps that was intended as a behind-the-scenes glimpse; certainly it's no wonder nothing important is ever accomplished. However, for readers who like stories with strong female characters who are important in their chosen fields, ICE AGE has a good selection.
April 29, 2012
I've just read an article on the upcoming breaching of Lake Vostok in the Antarctic. This freshwater lake, below 2.5 miles of ice, has been sealed from the rest of the world for 14 million years. Other, similar, lakes are facing core drilling. The relevance to Freemantle's Ice Age is the possibility that one or more of these lakes contains some bacteria, virus, or other life form (term used loosely, obviously) to which the rest of the world has not been exposed. The deeper importance, though not tied to this novel, seems to me to be that this lake, protected for 14 million years, inevitably will be contaminated, in some way, by the scientific thirst for knowledge. Doesn't seem right to me.
In any event, it could be this article that had me totally intrigued by Freemantle's book, which begins with a slew of dead scientists in the Antarctic. I can't figure out why it has low ratings. Freemantle gives us a mysterious, swift killer of unknown origin, political intrigue at the scientific, national, and international levels, interesting characters and even a bit of love. This is a great read.
In any event, it could be this article that had me totally intrigued by Freemantle's book, which begins with a slew of dead scientists in the Antarctic. I can't figure out why it has low ratings. Freemantle gives us a mysterious, swift killer of unknown origin, political intrigue at the scientific, national, and international levels, interesting characters and even a bit of love. This is a great read.
March 27, 2012
Wow, I'm glad that I'm finally finished with this book! I can usually read a book in 2 or 3 days but this book was so horrible that it took me almost 3 weeks to finish. Where do I start? First, the plot was not what I thought it was going to be. I like science fiction and this book had very little in it. I am a scientist, myself, and I found that many science principles were completely wrong or fallible. Second, I do not like political books and this one was full of politics. The actual grammar used in the book kept throwing me off. There were verb tenses that were wrong as well as other basic grammatical mistakes. The actual plot was drawn out and boring. The characters were not developed enough to enjoy reading about them. The list goes on and on.
February 18, 2012
This was not worth the dollar I paid for it, nor was it worth the afternoon I wasted trudging through it. The fundamentals of grammar, sentence structure and even spelling were so jumbled and were ultimately the reason I abandoned the effort. On such an uncertain foundation, the plot was precarious, and the characters were mere caricatures.
February 26, 2012
It's not often I stop reading a book halfway through, but I couldn't keep going on this one.
Brian Freemantle's "Ice Age" has a promising idea: An ancient virus trapped in the polar ice is set free by global warming. The virus causes its victims to age rapidly and die within days. Knowing the lethality of the virus, first-world nations rush to get in on the research and, ergo, the potential glory of finding a cure.
It's not that far-fetched. Too bad it's not well-written.
I kept going past the amateurish first chapter, hoping the author would ease into a more natural way of describing situations or characterizing his cast. When reading it started to feel like work, though, I gave up. I don't have much free time, and I hate to waste any of it on something I'm not enjoying.
I can tell you one thing, having gotten as far as I did: Brian Freemantle really, really, really does not like politicians. Every character in this book - with one, possibly two exceptions in a large cast - is constantly thinking about how their actions will play in the political realm, and they're all scheming about how to use events to further their personal goals. It's tough to enjoy a story when I find myself wishing the majority of the characters would just catch the virus and die already.
I'm glad I only paid 99 cents for this one, but if you're on the fence, I'd skip it even at that price.
Brian Freemantle's "Ice Age" has a promising idea: An ancient virus trapped in the polar ice is set free by global warming. The virus causes its victims to age rapidly and die within days. Knowing the lethality of the virus, first-world nations rush to get in on the research and, ergo, the potential glory of finding a cure.
It's not that far-fetched. Too bad it's not well-written.
I kept going past the amateurish first chapter, hoping the author would ease into a more natural way of describing situations or characterizing his cast. When reading it started to feel like work, though, I gave up. I don't have much free time, and I hate to waste any of it on something I'm not enjoying.
I can tell you one thing, having gotten as far as I did: Brian Freemantle really, really, really does not like politicians. Every character in this book - with one, possibly two exceptions in a large cast - is constantly thinking about how their actions will play in the political realm, and they're all scheming about how to use events to further their personal goals. It's tough to enjoy a story when I find myself wishing the majority of the characters would just catch the virus and die already.
I'm glad I only paid 99 cents for this one, but if you're on the fence, I'd skip it even at that price.
March 17, 2012
I bought this book before checking out the reviews. I find strange diseases and the ideas of pandemics interesting, so I thought I'd give this book a try. It was a bad decision.
This book is, frankly, awful. The writing is sloppy and hard to follow. The sentences are ridiculously long and sometimes fill an entire paragraph. Many characters are hard to believe and the author clearly has a problem with Russians, as the main Russian characters are cartoonish.
And, above all, the science is flawed. I plugged through the book, hoping that the ending would make up for the beginning and middle...and was sorely disappointed. The author expects us to believe that "microscopic ticks" survived frozen twelve feet below the surface of Alaskan soil...for two million years. And after they were thawed, they were still able to infiltrate the nasal passages of the scientists who dug them up.
This was truly a terrible book. Besides everything I mentioned before, it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts that made me want to throw the book in frustration.
This book is, frankly, awful. The writing is sloppy and hard to follow. The sentences are ridiculously long and sometimes fill an entire paragraph. Many characters are hard to believe and the author clearly has a problem with Russians, as the main Russian characters are cartoonish.
And, above all, the science is flawed. I plugged through the book, hoping that the ending would make up for the beginning and middle...and was sorely disappointed. The author expects us to believe that "microscopic ticks" survived frozen twelve feet below the surface of Alaskan soil...for two million years. And after they were thawed, they were still able to infiltrate the nasal passages of the scientists who dug them up.
This was truly a terrible book. Besides everything I mentioned before, it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts that made me want to throw the book in frustration.
March 6, 2012
I didn't actually finish this book, so a review almost seems unfair. I just got too bored. It was not very well written to begin with and there was entirely too much politics - but not even interesting politics. And some kind of weird double-speak where the people say things but then we are told in italics what they really mean. I just didn't know where it was all leading.
It started out well. I liked first few chapters, but then it bogged down and I just couldn't bother wasting any more time with it. Maybe it gets a lot better later, but I guess I'll never find out.
It started out well. I liked first few chapters, but then it bogged down and I just couldn't bother wasting any more time with it. Maybe it gets a lot better later, but I guess I'll never find out.
February 24, 2012
Couldn't finish this one. I liked the idea but the storytelling was just off. Scenes were not well-described so it felt like I was watching everything through a foggy window. I found it hard to distinguish between the characters, to the point where I would get lost within conversations. And the editing was really bad. Typos all over the place.
March 29, 2012
I did finish it to find out what happened to the characters, however I didn't enjoy the book very much. It was poorly written and I found myself skimming a lot of it, especially when it went on and on about the political scene. The author tried to fit so many stories into this book, it just ended up being confusing.
May 2, 2012
The action parts of this book and the basic plot was great. The whole rambling aspect into the inner political workings were just down right boring. Maybe if you are into that sort of inner workings, you will find it better, but I wish the author had spent more time on the main plot points of the book.
December 1, 2015
Two stars is precisely what I feel I should award. The book is mostly clumsily written and split into two POVs, the political and the scientific. Unfortunately, the political is not Jeffrey Archer and the scientific is not Michael Crichton. The characters are mostly flat, and the science trails behind as a prop to the panicky appeals about global warming. So-so.
February 24, 2012
Much more about the political inter-workings of science and government than the actual pandemic described. Kept my attention but I kept waiting for something to happen other than meetings... Bizarre ending.
April 13, 2012
I never give up reading a book. Well this turd starts a new era for me. The premise had promise, but the delivery is so boring and horribly written the promise is never kept. My lurid teenage fiction reads better than this drivel. Avoid!
February 21, 2012
From the beginning this book failed to grab me. Very disappointing especially since the premise is very interesting. It has been done before and better. Not worth it & could use some editing.
February 27, 2012
This was a cheap kindle book that I had to force myself to finish. I ended up skimming a lot because the politics was so boring. Not my favorite book.
March 14, 2012
Actually, this was so bad I did not get past the third chapter. Beware of Kindle Daily Deals!!
May 4, 2012
This will be short. This book lacks interesting characters, a logical progression of ideas, a proper amount of editing, and a satisfying ending. The only thing I liked somewhat was the premise.
September 24, 2019
I was not a fan of this book. Too much political maneuvering and antics for me to get into this. When you start this book you don't know that there must be another book coming???? But you don't find that out until the last 100 words. Interesting twist. The book is a fine book if you're interested in science fiction and political books. International intrigue and all that with interacting governments. No British slant at all - snort - I jest. Not for me. Thanks.
Read
April 16, 2022Dnf. Ugh! Stopped on page 83 out of 438. There are so many characters and some of the longest sentences. Just no!
August 25, 2025
Horrible
February 28, 2017
Too much political intrigue for me.
A lot of politics, a lot of science, a lot of new age propaganda.
There is a little bit of a good story.
Way too long.
A lot of politics, a lot of science, a lot of new age propaganda.
There is a little bit of a good story.
Way too long.
July 25, 2016
Ice age is part techno thriller, part political thriller, with medical and environmental themes.
After having read the preface, I was very intrigued and interested to see where the author took the basis for his idea. After reading the book it became evident that the basis for the idea was not only the motivating factor for the novel, but the extent of it. If you read the preface, you have basically read the book. I would have liked if the author had built upon this idea within the novel, as opposed to using it as the entire basis. The only reason I gave the novel two stars instead of one is because the concept itself was interesting, despite the author not developing it further.
I found the title slightly off-putting. "Ice Age" refers to the Ice causing people to Age. This transparent and unenlightened naming lends perfectly to the my overall view of the book.
The story itself was paced well, with good breakups to keep the necessary suspense. However, some of the sentence structure was a little too choppy, making it difficult to read at times.
The lack of character development, both personal and interpersonal, made it hard to feel emotionally attached in either a negative or positive way to any of the figures. The interpersonal relationships were not motivated strongly by any inner or outer dialogue, or plot points, which resulted in many interactions between the characters to have little depth.
The ending was very disappointing, despite my very low requirements for an appropriate ending. I don't require an ending to be good or bad, or to have any necessary clarification, as the feeling of what-if or what-else after reading a book can sometimes be satisfactory in and and of itself.
After having read the preface, I was very intrigued and interested to see where the author took the basis for his idea. After reading the book it became evident that the basis for the idea was not only the motivating factor for the novel, but the extent of it. If you read the preface, you have basically read the book. I would have liked if the author had built upon this idea within the novel, as opposed to using it as the entire basis. The only reason I gave the novel two stars instead of one is because the concept itself was interesting, despite the author not developing it further.
I found the title slightly off-putting. "Ice Age" refers to the Ice causing people to Age. This transparent and unenlightened naming lends perfectly to the my overall view of the book.
The story itself was paced well, with good breakups to keep the necessary suspense. However, some of the sentence structure was a little too choppy, making it difficult to read at times.
The lack of character development, both personal and interpersonal, made it hard to feel emotionally attached in either a negative or positive way to any of the figures. The interpersonal relationships were not motivated strongly by any inner or outer dialogue, or plot points, which resulted in many interactions between the characters to have little depth.
The ending was very disappointing, despite my very low requirements for an appropriate ending. I don't require an ending to be good or bad, or to have any necessary clarification, as the feeling of what-if or what-else after reading a book can sometimes be satisfactory in and and of itself.
July 26, 2014
I'm not usually one to write a review, but reading so many bad reviews below, I feel like I have to throw in my "two cents" - I actually liked this book and found it interesting to read. It had me a bit on the edge of my seat to see where it ended (is there a sequel?).
Bad writing, poor character development? Not so much. Lots of time spent on the inner political workings on the various national governments - yeah, but that's kind of Freemantle's thing (and I came to this book having read many of his others). Discussions of science that actually make scientific sense - definitely appreciated that.
I get that this didn't turn out to be the type of book that a lot of the other commenters were looking for - not a disconnected-from-actual-scientific-reality sci fi thriller - but that doesn't make it a bad book. In some ways this is a more realistic "speculative fiction" (as Margaret Atwood describes many of her novels) novel than a traditional "science fiction" one - and yes, it includes deeper-than-surface-level political intrigue between quite a range of characters and an unapologetic bent toward the importance of major reductions in global warming. But if that sounds interesting to you, check it out!
Bad writing, poor character development? Not so much. Lots of time spent on the inner political workings on the various national governments - yeah, but that's kind of Freemantle's thing (and I came to this book having read many of his others). Discussions of science that actually make scientific sense - definitely appreciated that.
I get that this didn't turn out to be the type of book that a lot of the other commenters were looking for - not a disconnected-from-actual-scientific-reality sci fi thriller - but that doesn't make it a bad book. In some ways this is a more realistic "speculative fiction" (as Margaret Atwood describes many of her novels) novel than a traditional "science fiction" one - and yes, it includes deeper-than-surface-level political intrigue between quite a range of characters and an unapologetic bent toward the importance of major reductions in global warming. But if that sounds interesting to you, check it out!
November 8, 2013
I bought this book quite a while back as an offering on amazon's Daily Deal. Like many others have noted, I found the concept intriguing. But, the multiple negative reviews and the very low average rating made me put it on the back burner. In all honesty I would like to be able to rate this at 3.5 to properly reflect how I feel about the book. I rounded up, rather than down, as a counterbalance to the low rating. Another observation is that this reads more like a political thriller than SciFi.
Positive:
This deals with a near future event which, for me, is the favorite SciFi genre.
The novel started fast to get me committed to it.
This had a "real feel" to me, unlike much of the scifi we see on TV today.
The political infighting also felt quite realistic unfortunately.
Negative:
The focus on the scientific aspects of the story was, at times, had to follow. This slowed the progress of the story in the middle of the book.
The Russian scientist was over the top as a villain.
There were, indeed, some very long sentences.
Positive:
This deals with a near future event which, for me, is the favorite SciFi genre.
The novel started fast to get me committed to it.
This had a "real feel" to me, unlike much of the scifi we see on TV today.
The political infighting also felt quite realistic unfortunately.
Negative:
The focus on the scientific aspects of the story was, at times, had to follow. This slowed the progress of the story in the middle of the book.
The Russian scientist was over the top as a villain.
There were, indeed, some very long sentences.
October 10, 2015
I have started a book and not finished it less than five times in my life but this was one. I am not even sure how I got this book but I was scrolling through my Kindle for something to read and saw this and gave it a shot. The story has kind of two parts, one a sort of medical thriller about a disease that threatens to destroy humanity while the other half is a political novel all about covering your ass, fighting for position and betraying people, with no redeeming characters. I gave up about 40% of the way through, it was just boring and I did not care. If they had left all of the political machinations out maybe it could have been an ok book.
Also the Kindle edition had a really annoying problem where dialog was routinely embedded in paragraphs of narration, but there was no opening quote so you didn't know a sentence was dialog until you got to the end of it and saw a closing quote. Poor experience.
Also the Kindle edition had a really annoying problem where dialog was routinely embedded in paragraphs of narration, but there was no opening quote so you didn't know a sentence was dialog until you got to the end of it and saw a closing quote. Poor experience.
June 21, 2014
Sept.6, 2013 this was interesting though at times, it did drag. It was is not the type of book I prefer to read and finally my husband confessed he had added it to the Kindle quite some time ago.
If you like LaCarre books, you will no doubt enjoy this genre.
While I am not finished, this book has more meaning since seals, dolphin, and other sea creatures are being washed ashore enmass or have disappeared entirely. The polar ice caps ARE melting and land animals frozen thousands of years ago are able to be cloned. what virus, bacteria, etc., unknown diseases could be unleashed as a result? Perhaps the writing could have been better, the topic is still important!n
If you like LaCarre books, you will no doubt enjoy this genre.
While I am not finished, this book has more meaning since seals, dolphin, and other sea creatures are being washed ashore enmass or have disappeared entirely. The polar ice caps ARE melting and land animals frozen thousands of years ago are able to be cloned. what virus, bacteria, etc., unknown diseases could be unleashed as a result? Perhaps the writing could have been better, the topic is still important!n
January 28, 2016
Very misleading, very disappointing. The way things were written in the what would be the back of the book made it seem like it would consistently be a science/medical related fiction novel... However the book was heavily diluted by politics and political antics which made the book practically intolerable.
I was impressed in the extensive knowledge and proper use or medial terms etc, that aspect was wonderful. I think if they just cut out all the political roundabouts it wouldve been a much more enjoyable book.
I was impressed in the extensive knowledge and proper use or medial terms etc, that aspect was wonderful. I think if they just cut out all the political roundabouts it wouldve been a much more enjoyable book.
May 29, 2012
First paragraph, "Patricia said: ‘Oh dear God! What is it?’ No one else spoke: was initially able to speak. They instinctively, protectively, pressed back against the insulating door of the out-station, repelled because they were scientists who worked by and to formulae – so far understood rules and so far unarguable equations – and there was no formula, no rational explanation, for what they were looking at."
Freemantle, Brian (2011-09-13). Ice Age (Kindle Locations 50-53). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
Freemantle, Brian (2011-09-13). Ice Age (Kindle Locations 50-53). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
June 13, 2012
I thought this was a very poor book. I thought it was going to be great, like a Michael Crichton type of book. Instead of that, it was dragged out, full of long, meandering sentances and a stereotypical baddie. I felt it couldn't decide if it was a thriller or a political book. The language used was anything but plain English and I counted a sentance of 90 words which is just ridiculous. The book started with a lot of detail about one set of characters then promptly moved on to a different set & never revisited the first set. Don't know why I finished it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews