Glacier Haven

by Elizabeth Means

Ice, murder, and betrayal. The full polar climate experience.

Thirty years into the future, polar ice is mostly gone and snow is a novelty. A corporation offers tourists a unique wintry adventure in their atmospherically controlled, underground attraction: Glacier Haven.

Rach is a reluctant wing-woman for her ambitious best friend’s misguided meetup in the subterranean artificial glacier. But when she and six other tourists are left behind over a long weekend, locked inside the frozen tundra, tempers flare, relationships are strained, and Rach begins to suspect one of them was never meant to leave the facility alive.

Will Rach and her party escape the deadly frigid cavern in time? And if they do, will any of them ever be the same?

If you like shows like Black Mirror, or science fiction thrillers by Michael Crichton, Blake Crouch, or John Marrs you’ll love this speculative thriller. Means will draw you in with her compelling cast of characters and toy with your emotions, leaving you wanting more. Buy Glacier Haven today!

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2021

About the author

Elizabeth Means is a Medical Laboratory Scientist and currently works in a hospital. She is a novice ballerina, avid reader and has traveled to thirty-one countries. Elizabeth grew up in Dearborn, Michigan but lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Mark, and their two rescue dogs Franklin and Henry.

Reviews

[Ta || bookishbluehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I normally hate to say, that a book is surprisingly good, because why would I pick up a book if I wasn’t expecting it to be good? However, this one was good and surprising.

The concept was really interesting. Set thirty years in the future, snow and ice are a novelty and if you want to experience it, you can book a time slot at an artificial underground glacier and feel the cold snow and wintery atmosphere.

Due to some greedy staff members and unfortunate circumstances, 7 people get stuck in Glacier Haven for the weekend. Without food or any means of getting warm the tourists try to keep themselves alive and while the temperature sinks, some of the characters show their real face.

This book was gripping from the first page through the last, I was at the edge of my seat the whole time wondering what would happen next and how they would battle their environment. The creepy and gloomy feeling never left me while reading.

One negative thing I want to mention is, that one character is a victim of abuse, both physical and emotional, and even though it was never explicitly mentioned I sometimes had the feeling that the book wanted to say: see, she is horrible, it was okay how she was treated, which is not, of course. It doesn’t matter how bad a person is, abuse is never okay.

[Lori Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received as a review copy from NetGalley, this is an honest review. What a gorgeous, twisted and an expected adventure. Set brilliantly when snow is novelty that is to cashed in on by corporations offering experiences you can't see anywhere else. Glacier Haven is one company allowing its "tourists" an expensive chance to walk among ice caves and icy rivers. It's also a place where a desperate woman hopes to escape the emotional abuse of her husband with a quick plan that hinges on one seeing a thing. Ninths background of this unfolding mystery, Glacier Haven encounters its own trouble: someone secretly is scamming the company to earn a "little" extra money; the individual's plan is slowly melting like a towering glacier. While the story is completely engaging, I would question the story's length; could be a little more tighter in getting where it needs to go bit absolutely worth the read. Highly recommended.

[Kitty Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure

First and foremost, this book held my interest. I wanted to know how it turned out. That's the good thing I could find in this book.
The book did have a few problems: First, with few exceptions, the people in this book were just horrible human beings who made weak, awful, selfish, reckless decisions. Second, this was supposedly a futuristic setting where the climate had become a problem yet nothing really had changed. Why create this setting and do nothing with it? Overall, in spite of its readability, this book just irked me.

[Ginger Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The concept for this novel is very original. I think it could have been a much better book with some better writing. A couple of things really bothered me. Even though the book is set 37 years in the future the pop culture and technology references do not seem futuristic. There was no character development and there was at least one unnecessary tangent storyline. The ending was very disappointing and the twist at the end just seemed unnecessary.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did enjoy reading this book. It was by no means perfect, but it was so enjoyable, with some good twists, that it seems churlish to take a star away.
I also liked that it was a cross between a mild thriller/scifi, with dystopian elements, yet it was actually A COMPLETE STORY IN ONE BOOK! So no necessity to buy a whole series to get the conclusion. So rare nowadays, it almost deserves a point to itself!