Why a Booktrail?
Can you ever really escape the icy reaches of the Arctic north?
The Stranger on the Ice
What you need to know before your trail
Tour guide Valerie Blaine has always been haunted by the tragic death of her mother during an Arctic expedition thirty years before—unsolved, hushed up, and for Valerie, an unsettled part of a past she’s never been able to escape. Its grip on Valerie is tighter than ever, now that she’s been hired to lead a tourist group across the same desolate terrain where her mother died.
But when a woman’s frozen corpse is found outside a quiet Inuit village just as they’re about to depart, and a friend of Valerie’s mysteriously disappears, Valerie’s suspicions grow; her disquiet is only eased by Clem Hardeven. A man of adventure and roughneck charisma, he’s drawn to Valerie—but he knows nothing of the mysteries that consume her.
As their search takes them into the icy reaches of the Arctic north, Valerie starts to fear that it’s all tied to the darkness that befell her own family long ago—a dangerous puzzle whose pieces have remained elusive to her. Until now.
Travel Guide
The Arctic north
Stranger on the ice (c) map from the book
The author has travelled the same route as her heroine Valerie Blaine. It’s an unforgettable journey she says which she recommends!
The communities along the road, especially Dawson City, Inuvik and Tuktoyatuk, inspired the novel. The settings are real but the characters of course are not. Of course the descriptions of the communities can differ from what locals might recognise.
Inuvik for example is a real multicultural community with all sorts of inhabitants and Bernadette is keen to point out how this remote Arctic town is so remarkable
The explosion of the arctic is based on real fact. The author read a story in a Canadian newspaper which described an explosion out in the middle of the Arctic at the end of 2008. Several Inunit hunters claimed to have observed it from the tip of Baffin Island. What did happen in the arctic that summer? It remains unexplained to this day – but the book explores some fascinating theories.
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
What a great book! The setting, mystery based on true facts and the brilliantly nuanced plot with overriding sense of foreboding throughout.
There’s a lot to like about this story and the fact the author has done the exact same trail as the main character really fascinated me from the off. It’s a mega trail too so very impressive. I found that as well as the mystery I learned so much about the Inunit communities and way of life at the same time. Boy, it was a remote and chilling experience reading it and being there but what an experience it was. the book is evocative and the words cut like blades of ice.
The fact that a frozen body is found really sends the chills up the back of your neck. When ice and the icy north completely controls where you go, how you live and sometimes how you die, to spend time there, even fictionally can really cause serious burns it would seem! I did like this one. It had everything a good thriller should have and more. More please and how I would love to meet the author! Get us a cup of hot coffee each and pick her brains further on the setting and her inspiration,. The story behind the story is almost as interesting as the book itself. More please!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Stranger on the Ice
Destination : The Arctic, Canada Author/Guide: Bernadette Calonego Departure Time:1985
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