It's 1848 and the ships Terror and Erebus are entering a second year frozen in the ice near the magnetic north pole. The extreme cold, along with isolation and poorly preserved food is starting to takes its toll on the crews of the ships. As if that were not bad enough, they are being stalked by some sort of creature from the ice that is brutally killing the men one-by-one.
The story that ensues is chilling in every respect, and plays out as a sort of mash-up of the Shackleton story, the classic horror films "The Thing" and "Alien," and a Herman Melville or Patrick O'Brian novel, mixing terrific historical details with horror with Eskimo mythology. The Arctic provides an appropriate setting to put man in conflict with his fellow man and with nature, even as the future comes into conflict with past.
The story is based on the real-life Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage (you can read more about the expedition on Wikipedia and VictorianWeb). -- John L.
Request The Terror from the Saint Paul Public Library.
Want a second opinion? János also reviewed this book.
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