2006-02-05 A suspenseful novel set in Antarctica

Tired of his dull civilian life, ex-Naval officer Duncan Craig impulsively hitches a ride to South Africa in search for a job. When the South Antarctic Whaling Company unexpectedly offers him command of a ship, Craig seizes the chance.
He is to rendezvous with the factory ship, Southern Cross in the Antarctic. But what should be a routine voyage becomes a nightmare of intrigue and suspicion as Craig is pitchforked into a bitter struggle for control of the company's future. As the arctic winter closes in, Craig and the survivors of Southern Cross, now helplessly trapped in polar ice, face a battle for existence against not only the elements, but against human treachery and greed.
Excellent entertainment best to be read on a cold winter day. The reader, Mr Stephen Thorne, delivers a commendable performance and the range of the various accents in English he masters is quite extraordinary.