Valerie “Val” Chesterfield never expected to receive an email from Wyatt Speeks. He was the last person to see her twin brother, Andy, alive, and she has not forgiven him for his untimely death. Val is a professor and highly trained linguist with a specialty in dead Nordic languages. Wyatt is a climate scientist currently stationed on a remote island off the coast of Greenland --- the very place where Andy died. He did not even return to the States for Andy’s funeral as he could not leave the research center unmanned.

Wyatt and his partner, Jeanne, have made the most bizarre and impossible of discoveries --- a young girl buried in the ice. Once they dig her out and bring her back to the research center, they find out that somehow she is still alive. When she wakes up, she speaks in a language they do not understand. This is where Val comes in, as the email contains a 28-second audio clip for her to play and try to decipher the language.

"GIRL IN ICE is a novel of secrets. It is also an allegory for what human beings are doing to the natural world and the terrifying possibility that Mother Nature might one day strike back in unpredictable ways. All in all, this is a memorable and literally chilling read."

Thus begins the chilly premise of Erica Ferencik’s latest thriller, GIRL IN ICE. Val ends up contacting Wyatt, who books her on the next flight to Greenland. She meets briefly with her 91-year-old father, who is in a nursing home, and informs him of the situation. In no uncertain terms, he tells her not to come home until she has learned the truth about her brother’s passing. Andy had been found unclothed outside of the research center frozen to death, and no one knows why he left the building.

Wyatt and Andy had been researching a subarctic wind that was appearing out of nowhere and freezing people to death. The first case was that of a group of hikers in the White Mountains of New Hampshire; initially they were hiking in manageable weather, but then suddenly they were frozen to death. I have to admit that this is one of the most frightening ways of dying that I have read about in quite a while.

Accompanying Val to Greenland are researchers Nora and Raj, a British couple who are doing aquatic experiments. Val immediately tries to get acquainted with the girl and figure out some basic linguistic words she uses so they can communicate. Throughout this time, Val continues to pry into the circumstances surrounding Andy’s death. All Wyatt will say is that they are in an area where no one comes, and it is natural selection for people who want to leap off the edge of the world.

Eventually, there are small breakthroughs with the girl. Val discovers that her name is Sigrid, and she is speaking some ancient language that is a rare combination of different Norse languages and something she has never heard before. They even have an opportunity to step outside together. Sigrid opens up more and shows Val some truly magical things, which she does not want to share with Wyatt as she seems to be afraid of him. The most alarming discovery for the team is yet to come and will feature some images that readers, myself included, will not soon forget.

GIRL IN ICE is a novel of secrets. It is also an allegory for what human beings are doing to the natural world and the terrifying possibility that Mother Nature might one day strike back in unpredictable ways. All in all, this is a memorable and literally chilling read.