“Beyond the Ice Limit” by Preston & Child. Grand Central Publishing. 384 pages. $27.
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s latest Gideon Crew thriller is a sequel to “The Ice Limit.” At the end of that novel’s ambiguous ending, a ship was torn apart, a meteorite was submerged in the ocean and hints of doom were raised. Now it’s up to a new vessel to visit the wreckage and assess the damage in “Beyond the Ice Limit.”
Gideon Crew has little time left to live due to his medical condition, and when he learns the truth behind his recruitment by Eli Glinn, he’s a bit surprised and terrified.
Glinn was one of the original members of the meteorite retrieval team, and he feels responsible for the sheer number of deaths since he let things go beyond the point of no return. He tells Crew the meteorite that was recovered was an organism, and when it sank, it planted itself like a seed at the bottom of the ocean floor. It continues to grow, and if it’s not destroyed soon, the entire planet could rupture.
Glinn wants Crew to utilize his expertise with engineering and nuclear weapons to visit the site and kill the organism. When the new team members arrive at the location of the meteorite, they’re both shocked and horrified by what they discover. Their worst fears are mild compared with the truth.