Rating: 
Summary: Cold Murder and Icy Theories
Review: Reclusive, cranky, Seth Peterson is not an engaging protagonist. Okay, so he rescues a woman from a burning car in the first ten pages. But he doesn't really like people, particularly in crowds-say two or three ort more. Make a presentation to a group of scientists? Forget it. Do a stint in front of the camera-fainting time. But stick with Seth Peterson and you begin to find him sympathetic, engaging and more importantly, involved in some serious stuff. He grows on you.Peterson is a researcher for something in Washington D.C. called The National Ice Center. He and his fellow scientists study frozen water. Doesn't sound too interesting or very important but the fact is, if the polar ice caps melt due to global warming or any other phenomenon, the resulting rise in ocean temperatures would be catastrophic. Consider Miami under 200 feet of ocean water. What's more, it wouldn't take the liquefying of all that ice around north and south poles to bring on major disaster. Seth Peterson knows that. He knows that if one shelf of ice separates from the south polar glacier, it would be a major disaster. He believes he's found a method to predict such a phenomenon. A significant forewarning might allow the world's scientists to do something to reduce or eliminate the disaster. But what if certain forces in the world want to keep that information from the world? That's the basis for this very engaging novel. Bonn Jonnes has crafted a scary and very interesting scenario. He takes a potential global event and carves it down to human terms, bringing together the forces of good as represented by a lovelorn, flawed individual with important knowledge, struggling against his own inadequacies and a mysterious force that wants to destroy him and his knowledge. Regardless of a few coincidences, and an over-the-top chase scene, once readers get to know Seth Peterson they'll root him on to the final resolution. The last two or three chapters are fine. A fun, engaging novel.
Rating: 
Summary: BIG ICE, BIG STORY
Review: Seth Petersen, a scientist with the National Ice Center, thinks he has discovered a way to predict where the next ice breaks will occur in the Antarctic ice sheets. He's also discovered a fault in one, if it breaks off, the water displacement would cause enormous floods all around the world, with coastal cities and islands disappearing, in fact, the end of the world as we know it. Seth's boss wants him to give a lecture about his findings to a
conference. There's one big problem, Seth has a phobia aobut people, he's absolutely terrified of them and he has a panic attack at work, when it was only his colleagues he had to give a presentation to, how is he going to manage at a conference? Confiding his problem to his boss, Seth gets out of attending the conference as a speaker, and his colleague, Bill gives the talk instead. Unfortunately for Bill, a group of eco-terrosists don't want Seth's findings to be made public, and Bill is gunned down at the conference. The last thing Seth wants is attention, but that what he gets, first from the media who call him "The Shy Samaritan" after he saved a woman from a burning car, but failed to stay around for any thanks, and now from the terrorists who are trying to kill him. The book is a real page turner, with enough plot twists and turns that you have to keep reading. Seth is not your typical hero, he doesn't have a perfect life, he is just an ordinary guy with problems which he has to overcomce. In my mind that just makes him all the more endearing and easy to relate to. Seth's phobia is handled very well, very realistically (I suffered from this same phobia and the author has got it exactly right.) An exciting tale that doesn't let up. A great read. Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Drowning Rapunzel and Shadows of the Rose.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific suspense
Review: Seth Peterson works for the NIC (National Ice Center) studying the movements of antarctic ice shelves, hoping to predict possible future motion in order to prevent disaster. His research, however, is going to cause trouble for more people than he can possibly have imagined. After rescuing a woman from a wrecked car in the middle of a snowstorm, Seth becomes the unwitting participant in a media circus, being named The Shy Samaritan for his unwillingness to appear before the cameras. You see, Seth has a secret. But that's not even his main problem. It appears as if some people are trying to kill him because of his research. And if that's not enough conflict, Seth hides out in his hometown and has to deal with some past mistakes he has made with his family and the woman he left at the altar. Jonnes builds the suspense in Big Ice from the get-go, with the rescue scene being a particular highpoint. I felt as if I were experiencing every moment with Seth and I didn't want to put the book down. His flair for description is also remarkable, making it easy to visualize the details in every scene. Jonnes has a talent for suspense and obviously loves to work with the language. The first quarter could have been more tightly edited, and the title is misleading (the ice is the motivation for the plot, not an actual participant), but these are minor complaints. Christopher Bonn Jonnes is a writer to watch and I look forward to reading his first novel, Wake Up Dead.
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