Customer Reviews
A 1940s nothern adventure - Lugers, traitors and mineral deposits! - By: Henry The Navigator, 25 Feb 2008 
The Blue Ice is a solid, well-paced example of its genre - that is, the gritty post-war adventure novel typified by authors such as Nevil Shute. The plot flows at a measured rather than hurried pace, & the background of late 1940s Norway, beset by allegations of war-time collaboration, is beautifully defined.
The plot is roughly as follows: mineralogist Bill Gansert comes into possession of a rare mineral ore - found inside a lump of whale meat from Norway. Quickly he connects this to a colleague, George Farnell, who disappearedin Norway during the war. Gansert assembles a motley team who all have some connection with Farnell & sets offin a search of George Farnell's past & thus the location of the vital mineral deposits. This leads him first to an isolated whaling station, then up into the Norwegian mountains. But others, both within his circle & without, are after the minerals' location too.
The Blue Ice has many good chapters & gets better as it progresses. Innes has a flair for description, & the tensions that frequently spring between the miscellaneous crew of Gansert's boat, the Diviner are well written. His use of the Norwegian languagein the place names & snippets of conversation add credibility to his tale, as does his convincing use of historical events such as the Malöy Raid.
However,in my opinion the author uses an overlarge cast of characters who lack sufficient depth. Bill Gansert, the narrator & main protagonist of the book is excellent at the first role, but rather ordinary at the second. This is probably the biggest weakness of the novel - the second being the rather half-hearted & cursory attempt to introduce romance into proceedings.
Yet this book has many redeeming qualities &in short, is a persuasive adventure novel of its kind, filled with treachery, plot-twists & broodingly bleak landscapes. It's just unfortunate that the characters aren't more memorable. Definitely worth further investigation.
