This book is described as “A Classic Cold War Thriller” and I guess that’s what it is but it is a little different. There are no CIA / MI6 / FBI / Security Agency conspiracies and while the Russians figure in the plot it is not about the KBG or the “Evil Empire”. It is not set in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Korea or any of the usual political pressure spots that figure in most Spy/Thriller novels and its not all gloom and doom either. If anything there is a very significant thread of humor thought out the story. In fact I would suggest that is one of the strengths of the book. Another would be the story’s location. It is set in Iceland. Now, how many novels have this cold but exotic location for a story? So, it has humor, a good use of language, a good plot, a great location and when you add in an interesting cast of characters you have a worth while read. There is an Icelandic beauty queen who causes some hormonal disturbances in a number of male characters. There is a tabloid journalist who ends up as an amateur spy. A significant number of American, British and Icelandic personalities, and a Russian gay spy who would “simply die” if he was ever sent back to Moscow. Iceland seems to be a interesting place where American and Russian interests collide. Despite the novel’s press release, there is no real scenario where the prospect of war is a possibility. The novel is more about Icelandic political independence, the presence of the American military base on the island and the low level off shore soviet naval presence and how these factors impinge on the characters in the novel.

Here is the publisher blurb in Amazon:

“If you’ve never come to in the middle of the night to find yourself approximately halfway between New York and Moscow, right up on top of the world, standing outside a block of flats wearing nothing other than a ladies’ silk dressing-robe – and that decorated with large scarlet kisses – allow me to describe the sensation. Confused. That’s the word, I think. Confused, and cold around the knees’. Stranded in Iceland, journalist turned spy Sam Craven wakes up to the greatest adventure of his career.

Sent to Reykjavik to track down the model Solrun, in whom British intelligence have taken a sudden interest, Craven finds himself caught up in a vast power-play between two superpowers on the brink of war – and with only his wits to rely on. Trying to stay alive, and one step ahead of a band of ruthless killers, Sam is skating on black ice. One slip and he’s dead.

‘Black Ice’ is a classic Cold War thriller, certain to appeal to fans of Jack Higgins, Len Deighton and Ian Fleming. ”

Yes, this a novel well worth the time of day and some lost sleep.

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