Ice Vector

The Trigger Man #9

by Aiden Bailey

315 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2026

About the author

Aiden Bailey is an international bestselling thriller author from Australia. Formerly an engineer, he built a career marketing multi-national technology, engineering, and construction companies. His various roles have included corporate communications with the Australian Submarine Corporation, technical writing for several defence contractors, engineering on an outback petroleum pipeline, a magazine editor and art director, and engineering proposal writer for the Royal Australian Air Force’s surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft and drone enabling works. Aiden has travelled widely in six continents and his experiences are the basis of many of his stories.

Reviews

[Ken Karcher]

I always look forward to seeing a new Trigger Man novel pop up on my Kindle, Aiden makes the torture he puts his hero through so fascinating. This book finds Mark Pierce in Antarctica, basically hiding out from the fallout of his last mission which antagonized the Russians and the Chinese which made the frozen South Pole the perfect place to stay off everyone's radar. Naturally, the end of the world isn't a safe place for Pierce, he discovers information about a Russian bioweapon and is then turned on by his Australian allies. Mark is forced too escape from his allies and make his way across the frozen Antarctic picking up an amazing cohort on the way to stop the theft of the bioweapon. This book is extremely well written, I caught myself putting on a sweater as I read about Pierce's struggle in the frozen Antarctic weather. Bailey shows in this novel that he hates his hero because he not only has governments and cartels trying to kill him, he puts him into the most inhospitable place on the planet and forces him to try to outswim a shark, and I'm not ready to talk about the crocodiles yet. I love how Aiden delights in pushing Mark far past any normal limits or opponents, making his life miserable for our enjoyment seems cruel until I remember it's a fictional character. I miss the rest of our normal cast of characters with this book but it's interesting to see Mark working all on his own.

[Abibliofob]

Do you enjoy cold weather? Well Mark Pierce does not! Ice Vector by Aiden Bailey is the ninth adventure with The Trigger Man. It all starts as an opportunity for Pierce to work together with Australian troops in the Antartic. During the boarding of a drifting ship they discover that ther's a very deadly virus somewhere in the region. Now we get a wild ride through some harsh conditions as well as some nefarious actions from at least three different countries and Mark is right in the middle of it. I found the story well written and thrilling and it all took some turns along the way I didn't expect. The last part of the book is set in a very different setting in a warm Australia with new problems to deal with. If you by some strange reason have missed this author and his series you must rectify it, this one is soon live in stores. Thanks to Inkubator Books and Netgalley for the advance copy.

[skylong]

Who knew there was a geography that tries to kill those who live in it or travel through it!
While the book is named Ice Vector, its author crafted his ninth in The Trigger Man series with the letter ‘A’: Antarctic & Agony, Australia & Allies, even Aiden & Author.
If you are a fan of this author’s stellar series and his main character, I don’t need to tell you to read this … you already have. For those of you who’ve searched this genre and have thought of buying Ice Vector, be assured it can be greatly enjoyed as a stand-alone.
Aiden’s actual adventures out in the world spark such a fine line between his imagination and reality that you’ll have moments that blur the two.
Mark Pierce, CIA paramilitary officer, is the one man with his incredible ideology and assassin assets you will want victorious over any villain or virus. Or orcas. Or crocs.
I’ve said a previous book of Mr Bailey’s was best-in-series … but this one!!! A very high bar for Trigger Man’s next mission!!”

[Mary Ryan]

This was another gripping read in a terrific series. It's different this time with the setting being in Antarctica, a bleak and unforgiving territory which is captured really well here.

Brace yourself for lots of action involving a lethal virus, Russians, Chinese, Aussies, whales and Mark Pierce. The discovery of a virus and the lengths some foreign governments will go to to capture the virus and kill everyone in their way was certainly palpable here and it makes for a great action-packed read. The behaviour of the whales was fascinating and quite scary. I raced through this as it was so easy to read. I can't believe we are at the ninth book already in the series and I can't wait for the next instalment.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Bren]

Mark Pierce faces not only a killer virus, but also being froze to death In sub zero temperatures in the Antarctica. I always enjoy reading a trigger man story cause I know it's going to be full of action, a test of his skills and a woman that he'll be attracted to plus he'll go from one kind of deadly situation right into another so the reader is never disappointed.