Suspense

Val Chesterfield, a scholar of ancient Nordic languages, lives a sheltered life. Suffering from depression and anxiety, she relies on medicine, and the occasional drink, to get through the day. The apparent suicide of her twin brother, Andy, a climate scientist conducting research on an island off the coast of Greenland, leaves her bereft and suspicious. But then Wyatt, one of her brother’s research colleagues, calls with the unbelievable news that they have discovered a girl frozen in ice, likely for hundreds of years, who has thawed out and is now alive. Would Val come to Greenland and try to communicate with her? Despite her phobias, Val agrees, as much to learn about Andy’s death as to meet the girl. Sigrid, as the girl comes to be called, is a medical anomaly; humans can’t survive being frozen. Typically, this is the point when I would put the book down and walk away. But Ferencik does such a stellar job of selling us on Sigrid, creating a relationship between the girl and Val, and depicting the growth of language between the two that I read on, riveted. All is not well on their little island, it turns out. Wyatt acts more like a cult leader than a scientist, two other researchers meet unanticipated challenges, and Val realizes that Sigrid is sick, possibly dying—and it’s up to Val to figure out how to save her. Ruth Ware fans will appreciate both the tension and the claustrophobia.—Brian Kenney