Ice Tomb
Deborah Jackson
Invisible College Press, Oct 2004, ISBN: 1931468192
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

In 2015, volcanologist Erica Daniels believes she will be named as the crater impact specialist on NASA's mission to establish moon base. To her chagrin, her bitter rival David Marsh, who stole her thesis when they were academic lovers, gets the assignment.

However, Dr. Albert of NASA offers Erica a different project where he believes her expertise is badly needed. In Antarctica, a hotspot inside the ice has been found and investigated by scientists at the McMurdo Station, several are missing and apparently dead; global warming has been ruled out as the heating seems to come from a machine that one of the doomed scientists claimed is similar to a gigantic MRI. Accompanying Erica on this quest is archeologist, Allan Rocheford, who plans to prove Atlantis existed, but he is also known for selling his finds to the highest bidder. Erica's mission is to learn how big a threat to the world that recently included China, as a member of the growing democracy club is this phenomenon.

ICE TOMB is a terrific science fiction that works on several levels because the scientists seem real as jealousy; intellectual thievery and ambition get in the way of solid research. The story line is fast-paced with aggressive Erica bullying everyone in sight providing much of the first person perspective. At times the plot switches to David on the moon. This occurs especially when he knows he must face the lioness he betrayed for her opinion on what he as found. Readers will enjoy this strong thriller.