SOJALS rating:

Awful (1/5)

I first read this on the 30th February 2004.

Nuclear war breaks out between the US and the USSR. Other countries are quickly involved and within days, all is over. Civilisations lay wrecked and their people dead.

The Antarctic has avoided the destruction and the fallout. Here in this remote region there are a few survivors.

On the Soviet motorship 'Primorye', Captain Andrei Kollontai, Alexsandra Bukharin, Major Ilya Zinoviev and Dr Ney are planning the future of their world. But Dr Ney is determined simply that, in this society at the end of everything, he must be in control. He doesn't care how many people he kills to get on top, how many people will still be alive for him to rule over, as long as he rules.

Eduardo Rios blames the Soviets for the murder of his country and the world. Now he's on his way to the Soviet Bellingshausen Station to kill any that still live.

Michael Starr, John O'Connor and three other scientists are are wintering over at Palmer Station on Anvers Island. They listen to the radio, hearing the last sputtering and fading transmissions.

Julie Wilson, Anne Rizzo and Floyd Robinson are studying penguins thirty miles from Palmer Station. They still don't know what has happened.

Airship Nine floats calmly above the ice, The crew on board are far from calm and the same old human frailties may bring it crashing down. Captain Lou Whittaker and co-pilot Ray Madigan just may not have what it takes to keep their crew and passengers alive.

The few survivors, scattered across the Antarctic, find it easy to continue the slaughter.

A thrilling but very old fashioned book. I'm sure it was written in the late sixties but saved until 1984. Luckily it was published before the end of the Soviet Union.