Deep Storm - Lincoln Child

Deep Storm
Lincoln Child
Doubleday

Thriller

Storm King is an oil-drilling platform located roughly 40 miles south of Greenland, in the North Atlantic. When Peter Crane, a doctor, formerly a Naval officer, arrives at the rig, he gets a surprise. His real destination is Deep Storm; a research facility located some 2 miles under the surface of the ocean, underneath a beyond-cutting-edge domed structure. During his initial videoconference with Howard Asher, the chief scientist on Deep Storm, Crane learns that he’s there to diagnose and treat a growing group of individuals. The symptoms they display are divers and non-specific; anything from fatigue and loss of concentration to what look like strokes in otherwise healthy patients.

In short order, Crane learns that Deep Storm is a drilling operation, looking to uncover Atlantis and all of its secrets. The whole operation is taking place under a shroud of secrecy. But there seems to be more than secrecy going on in Deep Storm. The scientists are almost outnumbered by armed military personnel who guard The Barrier, the hatch that leads to the lower, classified decks of the facility. While trying to discover the source of his patients’ escalating illnesses, Crane comes to believe that what lies under Deep Storm is not Atlantis, but something far more dangerous.

DEEP STORM is an intelligent thriller, filled with intrigue and action. Crane is a very believable everyman hero. Not Superman, not James Bond, he’s able to use his smarts, his background, and his instincts in various situations. The rest of the characters are all given realistic backgrounds and motives. There’s some incredibly sharp characterization with tertiary characters, as they display the symptoms of the mysterious illness; the author is able to make the reader care about these people within a few paragraphs. The pace is very quick, with action sequences nicely balanced by discussions and discoveries. And the author does readers the much-appreciated favor of actually showing us what’s under the facility. There’s no ‘you’ll have to imagine it’ cop-out that so often frustrates. There’s even an interesting twist at the tail end, making this story engrossing from first page to last.

Rating: 8 ½
February 2007
ISBN# 978-0-385-51550-4 (hardcover)