Cold People: From the multi-million copy bestselling author of Child 44

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Anyway, without going into all the details, he ends up on the ‘Cold People’ program, essentially the last remaining advocate for genetically modified things – I say things, because at this stage anything human like has been thrown into the proverbial katabatic winds. Ordinary-born people have to eke out an existence in the harshest environment on the planet, surviving minus-40-degree weather, six months of darkness a year, and scant resources. Yet people begin to do what they do best. New cultures emerge; teenagers fall in love and dream of a better life; and all the while, beneath the ice, something new is growing with dreams of its own. So? Are the cold people unemotional, or aren't they? Was this a continuity issue in the writing process?

I found this novel to be a highly imaginative conceptualisation of a world thrown into utter chaos by the freak invasion of a mysterious alien species. We don’t get to learn much about the aliens, but we examine in fine detail the consequences of their takeover of Earth. Did the scientists succeed in creating a hybrid human that will perpetuate the human race, or did they simply create yet another monster of ambition, vainglorious selfishness and greed? Nothing changes, it seems.

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I gave up about 20% in. It’s really, really bad - almost criminally lazy writing from an author who can be better. We get an idea of the chaos of this limited mass exodus and then the narrative then jumps 20 years into the future where what remains of humanity has formed a few settlements and are just trying to survive living in the most inhospitable location on the planet. One of the ways they're looking to the future and preservation of mankind is through genetically engineering the next generation to be better able to withstand the icy climate. Dun, dun, dun! (I mean, rarely in fiction is genetic engineering introduced when all goes smoothly, right?) Cinematic... Natural selection is magnificent in the abstract, when it works over millennia, but seeing it sped up to take place in a single lifetime, as Smith vividly imagines, exposes its brutality’ Washington Post Arrival and Survival: those who successfully reach their destination have to find a way to live in this virtually uninhabitable place. I adored this so much about this book and it does lean towards many different genres. The way people organise themselves, govern and also find new ways to manage and exist. Antarctica has research facilities so it is a given that there are going to be scientists and experiments involved, these are so intriguing and they start to add a more sci-fi and thriller edge to an already gripping story.

Next came Child 44, later made into a movie on the big screen starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace. I gave this 4 stars in my review and went on to become the first Australian blogger to interview Tom Rob Smith.You did feel sorry for Cold People, and there's the rub: they are often described as being unemotional. And yet..... there are scenes where Eitan is loving, euphoric, and even expresses grief. Although each chapter was headed with the place and time period, I would have preferred a more linear timeline. The 20-year gap in the storyline omitted facts about the struggles in the development of communities. There were some thought-provoking moral and ethical issues. The finale concludes with difficult decisions and erupts with conflict, danger and destruction.