Dan Simmons, The Terror

The Terror

Dan Simmons

Little, Brown, January 2007, $25.99

ISBN 0316017442

A few years earlier, Captain Sir John Franklin and James Ross found the previously unknown continent of Antarctica. In the mid 1840's, John leads a two ship expedition through the waterways of Northern Canada seeking the Northwest Passage. However, instead of glory and having bays and land masses big and small named for him, in 1845 his ships, the Terror captained by that bitter jealous Francis Crozier and his immediate command the Erebus are stuck in the ice with decreasingly chances of escape.

Two years later, the vessels remain trapped, and the tainted food supply planned for three years is dwindling rapidly. Worse, the intelligent gigantic Thing that lives on the ice has methodically attacked and killed much of the crew. Franklin is dead and Crozier is losing control, as mutiny is too weak a word to describe the rapidly dwindling survivors. Insanity and cannibalism makes it clear that this doomed expedition is all about survival of the fittest, which increasingly looks to be the Thing.

THE TERROR is an excellent historical thriller, with a supernatural like element adding suspense to the tale, with the premise based on the real lost Franklin expedition. Readers will appreciate this superior storyline that plays out on two levels: the mental and physical deterioration of the crew and Terror brought by the Thing that is impervious to human countermeasures, as the creature successfully assaults the crew. Told mostly by Crozier and some of the crew, the tale switches back and forth between 1847 and 1845, allowing readers to contrast what was and what has become of several of the cast. Dan Simmons is at his best with this superb tale of terror.