Who Goes There?

Terminal Freeze
By Lincoln Child
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Doubleday (February 24, 2009)
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

On the surface, Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child resembles "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell writing as Don A. Stuart. Campbell's story of a small team of scientists in the far north who uncover a creature entrapped in the ice thinking the creature has been dead for thousands of years was published in Astounding Magazine back in 1938. Terminal Freeze was published about 7 decades later. In both stories, the scientists are proven wrong - dead wrong.  Inside, the details of Terminal Freeze are far different than "Who Goes There", and perhaps even more exciting.  The initial concept is a good one, good enough that two movies have been made from the older story (one in 1951, and another, which more closely follows the initial story, in 1982,) and a third movie based on that same story is now in production... and yes, Termial Freeze does read as if it was meant to be a movie...

In fact, having seen the two films made from the older story, I couldn't help but see some flashbacks from the 1982 film while reading Terminal Freeze... how the team of scientists in this novel allowed the same mistakes to happen as happened in the other story... only in this case, blame can be laid squarely in the lap of the film crew, who were sent to cover the discovery of this creature buried in the ice... and that's where a lot of the differences come in.

Lincoln Child had to put his own stamp on the story and include his own twists, which, I'll admit were interesting in their way. Terminal Freeze is a page-turner, written for those of us who enjoy thrillers with some science fictional content. It's not too likely I would have bought this book because of it's resemblence to "Who Goes There?" but I am glad I read it...

Recommended for those who like thrillers with some scientific background.  This review has simultaneously been posted on Amazon.com, Dragonviews and LibraryThing.