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Beyond the Ice Limit is the fourth book in the Gideon Crew series and the sequel to the 2000 standalone novel The Ice Limit. It was released on May 17, 2016, with a free preview of the first eleven chapters available electronically on March 22, 2016. It is the twenty-third full-length Preston-Child collaboration.

Publisher's Synopsis[]

"That thing is growing again. We must destroy it. The time to act is now...

With these words begins Gideon Crew's latest, most dangerous, most high-stakes assignment yet. Failure will mean nothing short of the end of humankind on earth.

Five years ago, the mysterious and inscrutable head of Effective Engineering Solutions, Eli Glinn, led a mission to recover a gigantic meteorite–the largest ever discovered–from a remote island off the coast of South America. The mission ended in disaster when their ship, the Rolvaag, foundered in a vicious storm in the Antarctic waters and broke apart, sinking–along with its unique cargo–to the ocean floor. One hundred and eight crew members perished, and Eli Glinn was left paralyzed.

But this was not all. The tragedy revealed something truly terrifying: the meteorite they tried to retrieve was not, in fact, simply a rock. Instead, it was a complex organism from the deep reaches of space.

Now, that organism has implanted itself in the sea bed two miles below the surface-and it is growing. If it is not destroyed, the planet will be doomed. There is only one hope: for Glinn and his team to annihilate it, a task which requires Gideon's expertise with nuclear weapons. But as Gideon and his colleagues soon discover, the 'meteorite' has a mind of its own–and it has no intention of going quietly..."

Plot Summary[]

Five years before the events of the book, master engineer Eli Glinn led a team to retrieve a massive meteorite from Chile. The combination of a storm, an attack by a rogue Chilean naval captain, and the meteorite's strange behavior itself led to their ship's destruction in Antarctic waters, sending the meteorite to the ocean floor. Its strange behavior led some of the team to conclude it was a spore for an alien lifeform (the panspermia theory).

Having barely survived and miraculously recovered, Glinn recruits a team including master thief and nuclear physicist Gideon Crew to seek and destroy this lifeform. Traveling to the site of the previous sinking, the team discovers that the "spore" has sprouted into a massive structure that they nickname the Baobab, simultaneously reaching toward the ocean surface and burrowing through the earth. Glinn concludes that because of the spore's extreme density, the only way it could be launched into space is through the destruction of a planet; the Baobab appears to be literally tearing the planet apart.

Crew begins a love affair with a scientist named Alex Lispenard, but it is tragically cut short when the Baobab absorbs her mini-submersible; Crew hears her mysteriously speak through the Baobab shortly after her death. Inspecting the wreckage later, the team's doctor discovers that it has taken only her brain. The team also detects what seems to be whale song from the creature, which they roughly translate as saying "Kill Me." Having previously detected a brain-like structure in Baobab, the team concludes that the structure somehow keeps alive and uses the brains of alien forms to guide its growth, which are then launched into space as new "spores" to infect new planets.

With another mini-submersible, Crew brings a sample of the Baobab on board for analysis, but this plan goes awry when pieces of the material break off and burrow into the brains of team members, making them serve the Baobab's purposes. Glinn and Crew, now joined by meteorite hunter Sam McFarlane from the previous novel, race against time to destroy the Baobab with a nuclear warhead before the entire team is enslaved by the Baobab's "worms." Crew, who is dying, is selected for the suicide mission, but is miraculously saved by the impact of another submersible piloted by a mind-controlled scientist. The warhead detonates and destroys the Baobab, killing all those already infected with worms but sparing the uninfected. The novel concludes with the team listening to a farewell message from the alien brain originally imprisoned within the Baobab, a song of unearthly beauty.

Returning Characters[]

Seen on Rolvaag Black Box Footage: Rachel Amira, Howell, John Puppup and Sally Britton (Britton's body is also found)

Mentioned: Simon Brambell, Nestor Masangkay

New Characters[]

  • Alexandra Lispenard (DSV Specialist)
  • Barry Frayne (Exo Lab Employer)
  • Rosemarie Wong (sonar specialist Assistant)
  • Prothero (sonar specialist)
  • Captain Tulley
  • Chief Officer Lennart
  • Antonella Sax (Exobiolody Chief)
  • Frederick Moncton (Ship's Chief Engineer)
  • Eduardo Bettances (Chief of Security)
  • George Lund (Warrant officer)
  • Eyvin Vinter (Deputy Security Chief)
  • Greg Masterson (Second Engineer)
  • Rogelio (Dr. Brambell's Assistant)

Timeline[]

  • It has been 5 years and 2 months since the sinking of The Rolvaag, 6 years since Palmer Lloyd Approached Eli Glinn and EES to begin the expedition
  • It is November 20th when they arrive at The Ice Limit and begin work, and December in the Epilogue.
  • Gideon has been working with EES for 4 months and has 8 to 9 months to live

Notes[]

  • A metafictional version of the book appeared in Still Life with Crows in the possession of Corrie Swanson–thirteen years before its actual publication. A sequel, Ice Limit III: Return to Cape Horn, made an appearance in Dance of Death and Ice Limit IV: Wormstorm in Dead Mountain
  • This is the fourth book to have an in-universe counterpart, following the appearances of Relic, Reliquary, and Thunderhead as books written by Bill Smithback.

The Ice Limit Webilogue[]

  • Sometime after The Ice Limit was published, Preston & Child released an online Epilogue they called a Webilogue. It consisted of several Newspaper clippings of supposed events that took place after the events of The Ice Limit. It details the events from the sinking of the Rolvaag, and odd environmental phenomenons from the area where the meteorite is on the sea floor, such as small to large earthquakes, resulting in tsunamis. The articles also tell of a ship, a British research vessel H.M.S. Marylebone with a crew of 38, that went to research the disturbances on the sea floor, the ship disappeared. Sam McFarlane and Palmer Lloyd speak out about what happened and their theories about the Meteorite being a seed, and that they have plans to go and destroy it.
  • Not all of the events of the Webilogue seems to have actually happened, or are not mentioned in Beyond the Ice Limit

Locations[]

Antagonists[]

  • The seed/Meteorite/Baobab/Worms

Deaths & Injuries[]

  • Death Count: 57
    • Not included in that is the death of the baobab , as well as many alien worms
    • Many Fish, Whales, sharks and other sealife are killed
      • 57 crew members of the R/V Batania died, 108 died on the Rolvaag, an unknown number died on the Almirante Ramirez Destroyer, and Nestor Masangkay so the Meteorite has claimed many more than 166 lives

Notable Deaths[]

  • Alexandra Lispenard, Barry Frayne, Prothero, Dr. Brambell, Lennart, Antonella Sax, Frederick Moncton, Eduardo Bettances,
  • The only returning character who dies is Dr. Patrick Brambell
  • most named character

Injuries[]

  • Gideon Crew suffers a broken arm
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