In the crowded field of geopolitical thrillers, Humphrey Hawksley enjoys one considerable advantage: he knows his subject. A former BBC foreign correspondent, he brings to his fiction an understanding of international power struggles, military brinkmanship and the murky compromises of intelligence work.
Operation Icebreaker, featuring Alaskan operative Rake Ozenna, opens spectacularly in Greenland, where a devastating attack on the American military installation at Pituffik plunges the base into chaos. What initially appears to be terrorism soon reveals a conspiracy involving political manipulation, betrayal and dangerous ambitions within the American establishment.
For Ozenna, the stakes are personal. The murder of his brother Jessie transforms a hazardous assignment into a pursuit of justice stretching from the frozen Arctic to Washington's corridors of power. Along the way, competing loyalties blur conventional distinctions between friend and enemy.
Hawksley excels at depicting the Arctic. Treacherous ice, murderous temperatures and unforgiving isolation become formidable adversaries, while the action sequences possess an immediacy suggesting considerable research. Greenland's uneasy relationship with American strategic interests also lends the narrative timely political resonance. Especially when you consider the agreement reached between America and Denmark over Greenland this September.
Not everything works smoothly. The succession of confrontations occasionally strains credibility, while certain villains advertise their intentions too plainly. Nevertheless, Hawksley's command of pace generally overcomes these shortcomings.
A muscular, intelligent and thoroughly contemporary thriller, delivered with considerable authority.
