Reviewed by Gerard Healy
This unusual but interesting story is set in Antarctica, with most of the main events happening many years from now. There are elements of science-fiction (alien invasion & extreme genetic engineering) mixed with a love story or two.
Tom Rob Smith, the book’s author, is probably best known for Child 44, a dark tale of depravity set in the old Soviet Union. Here he has created an odd fictional world that is part throw- back to a simpler time and a bleak futuristic society.
In the future, an alien invasion force of immense power arrives over planet Earth and gives us an ultimatum: move to the largely unoccupied southern continent or face extinction. A hurried scramble ensures as governments pull out all stops to evacuate as many of their citizens as possible, along with the vital cold weather material needed to survive.
Something that puzzled me here was, why wouldn’t governments launch attacks against these visitors, including nuclear strikes, before conceding defeat and evacuating? Surely the enormous disruption to society of moving to Antarctica wouldn’t be considered until every alternative had been exhausted. Anyway, just a thought.
We then follow the fortunes of various characters who make the hazardous journey south and then try to establish a viable society on the ice. There’s American woman Liza and her Portuguese boyfriend Atto, who marry and try to start a family. After several failures, they agree to genetic interventions and have Echo, a cold-adapted child with amazing skills. These offspring have an unusual relationship with their human parents, being part of but separate from them. Years later their loyalty will be tested.
Another key character is an Israeli soldier named Yotam, who becomes a vital member of the scientific program to breed cold-adapted children. As this program becomes more radical in its goals over time, Yotam becomes the guide/ mentor to a creature named Eitan (after a boyfriend he left behind). I say creature because Eitan, the most advanced and powerful of all these so-called ‘Cold People’, bears little resemblance to humans in appearance or attitude. If Child 44 had humans with monstrous tendencies, then Eitan is a monster with human tendencies.
An important element of this story is genetic engineering. This is done with the aid of genetic scientists who are given carte blanche by the newly formed authorities desperate for humankind to survive. They believe that with limited resources and dwindling numbers in such an inhospitable environment, humans can’t survive without help from cold-adapted children. But how adapted should such “children” become? Some of these characters are a fraction too far-fetched for me with abilities that rival a Superman/ Mr Invisible cross.
It is instructive that these experimental offspring are kept in very secure lockups deep under the ice and far from prying eyes. The knowledge of them is also closely guarded, hinting at the authorities’ concerns that these programs are highly controversial.
Smith seems to have done his homework on a wide range of technical/ scientific matters; ice-bound animal characteristics; early explorers to Antarctica; food sources in extreme cold; advanced naval and military equipment and genetic research of course. These elements of the story sound convincing, to this layman anyway. Perhaps the extreme creatures he unleashes at the story’s climax stretch the credibility quota, but it makes for an exciting finish.
There are also some thoughtful comments on our societies along the way. For example, world leaders now longer need to be groomed for TV appearances or photo ops, so they’ve let their hair grow and done away with make-up. Also, since everyone is important for survival, everyone is valued and rules are less rigidly enforced. There seems to be a consensus that doing the right thing by your neighbour is good for you as well, so there’s apparently little crime and no prisons. Hello Utopia, you’d think. However, the reality is that life is brutally tough, especially during the long winter months, and the troubled minds that succumb to ‘cabin fever’ are another grim reminder of how bleak life is.
Smith writes in a fluent and confident mode with the story developing in a logical and mostly believable manner. He injects the occasional content-rich section on say, early explorers, quite seamlessly with the general flow of the bigger story. His minor characters also reveal some interesting back-stories; the security guard who protected the ancient ruins, the African ship captain’s humanitarian streak or the South Korean chef’s humble background. These stories flesh out the human mix that’s found itself struggling to survive. I also noted how, as a screenwriter, Smith left open the possibility of a sequel to this tale.
I didn’t think this work was as good as Child 44, but nevertheless would recommend it to readers.
Tom Rob Smith was born in South London in 1979 to a Swedish mother and English father (both antique dealers). He went to Cambridge University and then worked at the BBC. As a TV writer he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for best limited series for American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. His Child 44 (2008) won the CWA Steel Dagger Award and sold over 2 million copies. He is also a screenwriter and producer.
Cold People
(2023)
by Tom Rob Smith
Simon & Schuster UK
ISBN: 978 147113 311 4
$32.99; 462pp