Right off the bat, The Atlas Fracture is a different thriller. A novel set in Antarctica is a rare creature. And for good reason: Antarctica is a land of extremes. The frozen continent is the coldest, driest, windiest and highest of Earth's continents. Cold: Even in the Antarctic summer the temperature at the South Pole averages a chilly -15° F. (The action in the Atlas Fracture takes place along the Antarctic coast where the temps are a balmy 30° or 40°F in summer!). Dry: Antarctica is so dry, it is technically a desert. Due to the cold what little snow falls, never melts. Windy: Katabatic winds blowing down the high ice sheets regularly reach hurricane force. High: the continent's massive ice sheet is an average of one mile thick and sits atop the Antarctic land mass like frosting on a cake.
It is in this distant, dangerous land that DARPA agent Perry Helion must battle a gang of terrorists intent on making use of a unique feature of Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. If the terrorists succeed, their diabolically ingenious plan will wreak havoc with world weather, freezing Europe and releasing much of Antarctica's ice sheets into the world's oceans. In the empty reaches of the frozen continent, Perry can expect no help other than scientist Ellen Kaminev, a tough and lovely young microbiologist who has been tricked into participating in the deceptive Antarctic expedition. Together, Perry and Ellen must outwit the terrorists and derail their twisted plan.