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Antarctica Storm
Price slashed for a short time! Antarctica STORM is a stand-alone addition to the Aggressor series. It can be read without having to read the rest of the series.
"Terrifyingly plausible, with an icy, atmospheric twist..." KC Finn, Readers Favorite, 5 STARS
WINNER READERS' FAVORITE BEST POLITICAL THRILLER 2025
EDITORS' PICK USA PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BOOKLIFE MAY 2025
A world recovering from a crippling Pacific War. Are America's adversaries beaten, or preparing to rise again?
A power source so potent that 0.1 ounces could flatten Manhattan.
A US research program so secret it has been hidden under the most remote base on the coldest continent on the planet.
An unidentified spy deep inside the program who can expose it to America's adversaries.
Adversaries so desperate they are willing to risk a new war to disrupt it.
A page-burning thriller from FX Holden about the next arms race. And here's the it has already begun.
Brilliant US physicist, David Lau, and his team have been working under the ice at Antarctica’s Concordia Station to tame a new technology that could either take mankind to the stars, or end life as we know it. He holds the key to a Pandora's Box, but what will he find inside; hope, or chaos?
Captain Karen 'Bunny' O'Hare, Antarctica flight leader for private security contractor, Aggressor Inc., picks up a mysterious radiation spike high over the continent. She's convinced it's proof that a very cold war is about to turn hot. Is she overreacting?
Aboard Aggressor Inc.’s AC-130X Outlaw, Captain Rory O’Donoghue and his crew are on final approach to Concordia when they are warned the station is being evacuated and they should prepare to take off again as soon as they land. A catastrophe under the ice looms, but is it an accident, or sabotage?
Chinese Antarctic Research Center specialist Liu Zhen has just flown 600 miles from China’s Qinling Station to establish a mobile weather station on Antarctica’s Dome C, one of the coldest locations on the planet. When he arrives, he finds a Russian research team already at the site. Coincidence, or the sign of a coming Antarctica storm?
"FX Holden is a skilled storyteller who delivers a military tale brimming with geopolitical conflict in an unforgiving setting. The world of Antarctica Storm is akin to a character, using the unpredictability and peril of the natural world as a parallel for human actions." Ruffina Oserio, Readers Favorite.
Military and techno-thriller readers love FX "FX Holden is the Nostradamus of military fiction writers..." US Readers Favorite."Clancy fans will be pleased..." US Publishers Weekly"Full-throttle action..." BookLife Editor's Pick"In the spirit of Tom Clancy! Well done. I’m very techy, retired military. An engaging fast paced story. ..." Amazon reader"Tom Clancy type excitement and military geekiness right here." Amazon reader"Nothing has come close to Jake Grafton until now. If you love high tech fast military action, in the skies, with more than a little attitude, then you should love this read." Amazon reader
"Terrifyingly plausible, with an icy, atmospheric twist..." KC Finn, Readers Favorite, 5 STARS
WINNER READERS' FAVORITE BEST POLITICAL THRILLER 2025
EDITORS' PICK USA PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BOOKLIFE MAY 2025
A world recovering from a crippling Pacific War. Are America's adversaries beaten, or preparing to rise again?
A power source so potent that 0.1 ounces could flatten Manhattan.
A US research program so secret it has been hidden under the most remote base on the coldest continent on the planet.
An unidentified spy deep inside the program who can expose it to America's adversaries.
Adversaries so desperate they are willing to risk a new war to disrupt it.
A page-burning thriller from FX Holden about the next arms race. And here's the it has already begun.
Brilliant US physicist, David Lau, and his team have been working under the ice at Antarctica’s Concordia Station to tame a new technology that could either take mankind to the stars, or end life as we know it. He holds the key to a Pandora's Box, but what will he find inside; hope, or chaos?
Captain Karen 'Bunny' O'Hare, Antarctica flight leader for private security contractor, Aggressor Inc., picks up a mysterious radiation spike high over the continent. She's convinced it's proof that a very cold war is about to turn hot. Is she overreacting?
Aboard Aggressor Inc.’s AC-130X Outlaw, Captain Rory O’Donoghue and his crew are on final approach to Concordia when they are warned the station is being evacuated and they should prepare to take off again as soon as they land. A catastrophe under the ice looms, but is it an accident, or sabotage?
Chinese Antarctic Research Center specialist Liu Zhen has just flown 600 miles from China’s Qinling Station to establish a mobile weather station on Antarctica’s Dome C, one of the coldest locations on the planet. When he arrives, he finds a Russian research team already at the site. Coincidence, or the sign of a coming Antarctica storm?
"FX Holden is a skilled storyteller who delivers a military tale brimming with geopolitical conflict in an unforgiving setting. The world of Antarctica Storm is akin to a character, using the unpredictability and peril of the natural world as a parallel for human actions." Ruffina Oserio, Readers Favorite.
Military and techno-thriller readers love FX "FX Holden is the Nostradamus of military fiction writers..." US Readers Favorite."Clancy fans will be pleased..." US Publishers Weekly"Full-throttle action..." BookLife Editor's Pick"In the spirit of Tom Clancy! Well done. I’m very techy, retired military. An engaging fast paced story. ..." Amazon reader"Tom Clancy type excitement and military geekiness right here." Amazon reader"Nothing has come close to Jake Grafton until now. If you love high tech fast military action, in the skies, with more than a little attitude, then you should love this read." Amazon reader
434 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2025
358 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
F.X. Holden
22 books191 followersFX Holden writes action thrillers (The 'Aggressor' and 'Future War' Series) and Science Fiction (The 'Coruscant' and 'Red Legion' Series). He has been awarded two US Publishers' Weekly Stars (the Michelin Star of publishing), the US Readers' Favorite award for Best Political Thriller (twice, including in 2025), and the US Book Excellence award for Best Military Fiction!
FX Holden is a pen name for author Tim (TJ) Slee, winner of the HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Australian fiction and the US Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize for Fiction.
FX Holden is a pen name for author Tim (TJ) Slee, winner of the HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Australian fiction and the US Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize for Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 10, 2025
Not a review, since I am the author - consider this an Author Note instead!
I am, fittingly, writing this note in the city that produced one of the founding parents of quantum physics—Copenhagen, birthplace to the physicist Niels Bohr.
If you are a Star Trek fan like me, you know there is a lot of antimatter tech in that sci-fi series: it powers the infamous Warp Drive, and it is the explosive source in “photon torpedoes.” You might also remember Dan Brown’s 20-year-old novel Angels and Demons, in which terrorists try to blow up the Vatican with an antimatter bomb.
Antimatter is no longer science fiction; it is reality. And what provoked this novel was the announcement in 2024 by scientists at CERN laboratory in Switzerland, (paraphrased at the start of this novel) not just that they had produced antimatter in their Large Hadron Collider, but that they also had designed a way to transport it.
This news might have gone right under your radar, even though CERN was just awarded a physics prize in part for this work.
CERN scientists transported 100 protons trapped in an 850-kilogram cryogenically cooled box—a proof of concept for antimatter—from one side of CERN to the other, in a Mercedes van. Their next test will be with actual, potentially explosive, antimatter. With the technology proven, only two things remain to weaponize it: scale (larger quantities of antimatter) and miniaturization (smaller containment traps).
Fast forward to the timeframe in this novel: 2041, and a new Manhattan Project–style effort, like that in Antarctica STORM, could deliver these. But just because scientists can—should they?
Antimatter research is also proceeding at pace in Russia and China, and those countries do not publicize their results to the extent we do in the West. Russia currently has six publicly documented antimatter research programs, and is a participant in a new collider planned by Japan. China can already produce antimatter in its Beijing Collider and is planning to build a Circular Electron Positron Collider, which would be a massive circular collider similar in scale to the CERN collider but focused on electron-positron collisions rather than the proton-proton collisions mostly studied at CERN.
Why does that matter? Quite simply, electron-positron collisions have the potential to produce more antimatter than proton-proton collisions. This is not a coincidence.
People are suddenly worried about the threat of AI to humanity because it is now visible to them. I am more concerned about the unconstrained abandon with which our scientific community is pursuing antimatter research, and how invisible that research is to the average person. Some of that research is published, but given the terrifying potential of these weapons, we must also assume that much is not.
So in Antarctica STORM, and its follow on novel, AFRICA STORM I want the reader to be able to imagine a world in which antimatter weapons are a reality, because it is right now that we need to sit up and pay attention.
FX HOLDEN
COPENHAGEN MAY 2025
PS Publishers Weekly BookLife just dropped their review of the novel and I include it below since it was named EDITORS PICK for May 2025...
This high-tech and even higher stakes geopolitical thriller from Holden, a standalone set in the world of his Aggressor, Inc. mercenary series, wastes no time plunging readers into the icy heart of a near-future global conflict. Set in 2041, in a frigid, post-Pacific War world still licking its wounds, Antarctica STORM centers on a game-changing energy breakthrough buried beneath the ice at Concordia Station: an antimatter reactor with the potential to either launch humanity into a new era—or trigger another devastating war.
As usual with Holden, the novel delivers a best-in-class blend of tense missions, cutting-edge tech, widescreen action, and rousing squad camaraderie. He deftly juggles a broad cast from varied backgrounds without losing momentum or clarity. Among them is physicist David Lau, a brilliant mind haunted by the moral weight of the Pandora’s box he may be opening. There’s also Captain Karen “Bunny” O’Hare, a hard-nosed Aggressor, Inc. pilot whose paranoia proves disturbingly prescient. Equal parts skeptical realist and heroic loose cannon, O’Hare’s chapters crackle with tension. On the ground, Captain Rory O’Donoghue brings visceral action—from gunfights on icy runways to white-knuckle aerial standoffs—while Chinese researcher Liu Zhen, supposedly on a benign weather mission, emerges as a quiet but pivotal figure as dread steadily builds.
The pacing is relentless, yet Holden makes time to evoke the stark beauty and lethal hostility of Antarctica—a setting that becomes a character in its own right. His vision of near-future geopolitics and clandestine tech races feels chillingly plausible, and the slow-burn saboteur mystery deepens the intrigue. A second Cold War poised to turn white-hot pulses beneath the surface. If the novel occasionally overreaches, its sheer momentum more than compensates. The explosive climax ties off a thrilling ride, even as Holden leaves a few tantalizing threads buried in the ice.
Takeaway: A sharply written, cinematic thriller blending espionage, terrifying tech, and survivalist grit.
Comparable Titles: Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station, A.G. Riddle’s Antarctica Station.
I am, fittingly, writing this note in the city that produced one of the founding parents of quantum physics—Copenhagen, birthplace to the physicist Niels Bohr.
If you are a Star Trek fan like me, you know there is a lot of antimatter tech in that sci-fi series: it powers the infamous Warp Drive, and it is the explosive source in “photon torpedoes.” You might also remember Dan Brown’s 20-year-old novel Angels and Demons, in which terrorists try to blow up the Vatican with an antimatter bomb.
Antimatter is no longer science fiction; it is reality. And what provoked this novel was the announcement in 2024 by scientists at CERN laboratory in Switzerland, (paraphrased at the start of this novel) not just that they had produced antimatter in their Large Hadron Collider, but that they also had designed a way to transport it.
This news might have gone right under your radar, even though CERN was just awarded a physics prize in part for this work.
CERN scientists transported 100 protons trapped in an 850-kilogram cryogenically cooled box—a proof of concept for antimatter—from one side of CERN to the other, in a Mercedes van. Their next test will be with actual, potentially explosive, antimatter. With the technology proven, only two things remain to weaponize it: scale (larger quantities of antimatter) and miniaturization (smaller containment traps).
Fast forward to the timeframe in this novel: 2041, and a new Manhattan Project–style effort, like that in Antarctica STORM, could deliver these. But just because scientists can—should they?
Antimatter research is also proceeding at pace in Russia and China, and those countries do not publicize their results to the extent we do in the West. Russia currently has six publicly documented antimatter research programs, and is a participant in a new collider planned by Japan. China can already produce antimatter in its Beijing Collider and is planning to build a Circular Electron Positron Collider, which would be a massive circular collider similar in scale to the CERN collider but focused on electron-positron collisions rather than the proton-proton collisions mostly studied at CERN.
Why does that matter? Quite simply, electron-positron collisions have the potential to produce more antimatter than proton-proton collisions. This is not a coincidence.
People are suddenly worried about the threat of AI to humanity because it is now visible to them. I am more concerned about the unconstrained abandon with which our scientific community is pursuing antimatter research, and how invisible that research is to the average person. Some of that research is published, but given the terrifying potential of these weapons, we must also assume that much is not.
So in Antarctica STORM, and its follow on novel, AFRICA STORM I want the reader to be able to imagine a world in which antimatter weapons are a reality, because it is right now that we need to sit up and pay attention.
FX HOLDEN
COPENHAGEN MAY 2025
PS Publishers Weekly BookLife just dropped their review of the novel and I include it below since it was named EDITORS PICK for May 2025...
This high-tech and even higher stakes geopolitical thriller from Holden, a standalone set in the world of his Aggressor, Inc. mercenary series, wastes no time plunging readers into the icy heart of a near-future global conflict. Set in 2041, in a frigid, post-Pacific War world still licking its wounds, Antarctica STORM centers on a game-changing energy breakthrough buried beneath the ice at Concordia Station: an antimatter reactor with the potential to either launch humanity into a new era—or trigger another devastating war.
As usual with Holden, the novel delivers a best-in-class blend of tense missions, cutting-edge tech, widescreen action, and rousing squad camaraderie. He deftly juggles a broad cast from varied backgrounds without losing momentum or clarity. Among them is physicist David Lau, a brilliant mind haunted by the moral weight of the Pandora’s box he may be opening. There’s also Captain Karen “Bunny” O’Hare, a hard-nosed Aggressor, Inc. pilot whose paranoia proves disturbingly prescient. Equal parts skeptical realist and heroic loose cannon, O’Hare’s chapters crackle with tension. On the ground, Captain Rory O’Donoghue brings visceral action—from gunfights on icy runways to white-knuckle aerial standoffs—while Chinese researcher Liu Zhen, supposedly on a benign weather mission, emerges as a quiet but pivotal figure as dread steadily builds.
The pacing is relentless, yet Holden makes time to evoke the stark beauty and lethal hostility of Antarctica—a setting that becomes a character in its own right. His vision of near-future geopolitics and clandestine tech races feels chillingly plausible, and the slow-burn saboteur mystery deepens the intrigue. A second Cold War poised to turn white-hot pulses beneath the surface. If the novel occasionally overreaches, its sheer momentum more than compensates. The explosive climax ties off a thrilling ride, even as Holden leaves a few tantalizing threads buried in the ice.
Takeaway: A sharply written, cinematic thriller blending espionage, terrifying tech, and survivalist grit.
Comparable Titles: Matthew Reilly’s Ice Station, A.G. Riddle’s Antarctica Station.
April 20, 2025
Ironically America’s the bad guy this time
This novel showed the aspect of power that a true superweapon can be when a Gov’t see only a future they envision with it’s use and not how other nations will precise it from jealousy to FEAR has nations will fight and die to keep there power now this book will set the tone for the future has nuclear weapons set the course for America into the 40 - 70’s AM weapons will once more give the world a learning curve in to power changes
This novel showed the aspect of power that a true superweapon can be when a Gov’t see only a future they envision with it’s use and not how other nations will precise it from jealousy to FEAR has nations will fight and die to keep there power now this book will set the tone for the future has nuclear weapons set the course for America into the 40 - 70’s AM weapons will once more give the world a learning curve in to power changes
April 27, 2025
Unbelievably Intense!
Somehow FX has outdone himself with this story. Incredible ending, amazing postulated physics, great battle tactics, and plausible future war make up the plot located in a harsh environment. We all know this is coming and I love the hidden weapon revealed, but not disclosed in the book. I wonder what will result with FX Holden’s imagination in the hot seat? Already I’m drooling for the next book in the series.
Somehow FX has outdone himself with this story. Incredible ending, amazing postulated physics, great battle tactics, and plausible future war make up the plot located in a harsh environment. We all know this is coming and I love the hidden weapon revealed, but not disclosed in the book. I wonder what will result with FX Holden’s imagination in the hot seat? Already I’m drooling for the next book in the series.
May 2, 2025
The story follows the elite Aggressor Inc. team as they are drawn into a deadly race to protect a groundbreaking weapon based on antimatter technology. As the team oversees a critical test of this new technology, Russian operatives launch a covert sabotage operation, threatening not only the mission but global stability.
May 5, 2025
Excellent
Another very good story about the future of war. Nations rush to build the newest superweapon, and first over the finish line gets to make the rules.
The only gripe I have with the story, they make antimatter intending to use it in power generators. Because of inefficiencies, more energy has to be used to make antimatter than it can generate through annihilation.
Another very good story about the future of war. Nations rush to build the newest superweapon, and first over the finish line gets to make the rules.
The only gripe I have with the story, they make antimatter intending to use it in power generators. Because of inefficiencies, more energy has to be used to make antimatter than it can generate through annihilation.
May 6, 2025
Fast moving Aggressor fun!
Really enjoyed a FX novel set in the Bunny world without her being the main character! The characters are so well fleshed out, yet the book never feels like it's loaded with filler details. Scary look into the near future world of "cold war" turned hot. Already waiting not so patiently for tht next!
Really enjoyed a FX novel set in the Bunny world without her being the main character! The characters are so well fleshed out, yet the book never feels like it's loaded with filler details. Scary look into the near future world of "cold war" turned hot. Already waiting not so patiently for tht next!
April 20, 2025
THIS SERIES IS,SO GOOD!!
Whooaaah!
Keep going Mr. Holden, your stories are getting better. Keep the,series alive, the characters are special people and the storyline is,so good. Excellent Series!
Whooaaah!
Keep going Mr. Holden, your stories are getting better. Keep the,series alive, the characters are special people and the storyline is,so good. Excellent Series!
April 24, 2025
Great reading! Very interesting!
April 27, 2025
Great read
Another great read from this author. Was unable to put the book down. Realnpage Turner fro start to finish. Great
Another great read from this author. Was unable to put the book down. Realnpage Turner fro start to finish. Great
July 21, 2025
Fun reading
Pretty fun book If you like military sci-fi this is a fun 1-I highly recommend you give the whole series a try See See what you think you think
Pretty fun book If you like military sci-fi this is a fun 1-I highly recommend you give the whole series a try See See what you think you think
September 8, 2025
Antarctica storm
Once again F X Holden has crafted a well researched and written story and the book is a page turner I couldn't put it down
Once again F X Holden has crafted a well researched and written story and the book is a page turner I couldn't put it down
October 4, 2025
excellent read
Yet another excellent read in this series of books and once stated was difficult to put down hopefully more in the series to come.
Yet another excellent read in this series of books and once stated was difficult to put down hopefully more in the series to come.
October 9, 2025
I liked it mostly because it dealt with something I had not read about in this type of novel. I hope that is kept, and developed, in any sequels.
October 26, 2025
Excellent
This is an Excellent Book in the Aggressor Series. Easy to follow the storylines. I cannot wait for the next Book Africa Storm to come out.
This is an Excellent Book in the Aggressor Series. Easy to follow the storylines. I cannot wait for the next Book Africa Storm to come out.
December 17, 2025
Get some
Another end to end race with non stop action. Really enjoyed everything about it and will go get the next one.
Another end to end race with non stop action. Really enjoyed everything about it and will go get the next one.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews