Purgatory Road

The tense atmosphere of Reiss' novel owes much to his skillful depiction of the wild, dangerous, isolated conditions of the Antarctic. His story opens with a prologue: Disobeying orders, crackerjack researcher Jack Amirault sets out in a storm to rescue daredevil environmental activist Robyn Cassidy, a mission which costs the life of his best friend and his sister's fiance, Brian. A year later, recovered from a breakdown but still haunted by guilt and regarded with unease by his fellow scientists, Jack is back. And so is Robyn Cassidy, determined to complete her trek and derail an international treaty carving up the continent. Reiss depicts Jack's reluctant, painful attraction to Robyn with steamy intensity, leaving the reader uncertain of her feelings and motives. With all the pieces in place, the plot line actually begins with the death of Jack's sister. Drunk after a party, she had inexplicably wandered outside and fallen into a bay inhabited by dangerous leopard seals. Jack, not convinced of an accident, finds evidence someone was with her. But with his own mental state suspect, he is forced to investigate alone. The suspense builds as accidents begin to plague the base. Things go missing, tempers fray, a howling storm cuts off all communications with the outside. The action never flags, culminating in a battle with the Antarctic elements and human evil, and Reiss doesn't neglect his characters either, pulling the reader into the mind of his protagonist and bringing to life the in-your-face frictions of an almost claustrophobic lack of privacy. Rivetting action-adventure.