BENEATH THE DARK ICE

When a plane crash blasts through the Antarctic ice, a cavernous primordial world is revealed. A military and scientific team, led by petrobiologist Aimee Weir and Captain Alex Hunter, enters the caves to search for survivors and potential oil reserves. Greig Beck’s first novel keeps the adrenaline pumping as team members are picked off one by one by Russian assassins and a gargantuan shape-shifting creature. Sean Mangan’s unembellished yet commanding performance allows the book’s tension to mount naturally from scientific curiosity to run-for-your-life terror. He deftly employs pauses and silence to amplify the claustrophobic sense of underground entrapment. His measured masculine voice carves the cinematic action sequences into listeners’ minds. Who needs film with audio thrillers this electrifying? J.T. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2012]