Cold Earth Book

I've now read Moss's complete works (well, her five novels and travel book at least; not the more academic stuff), just in time for her new novella coming out in September (Ghost Wall). This was her first book, and it's really good, a suspenseful story of six people on an archaeological dig in West Greenland: three men and three women, all English or American academic types looking for distraction at a time when the world is under threat from a distressing epidemic. From the day they arrive, they are completely cut off, and not just physically; an unreliable Internet connection means they're largely out of touch with the world and don't know the progress of the plague.

Much of the book is narrated by three of the main characters - Nina, Ruth and Jim - though brief sections towards the end cycle through the other three as well. All of the characters address their narratives to a certain 'you', which in some cases is a partner or a family member but in others is just a nameless future reader. If the worst arrives, they want to be remembered. It was a wise choice for Moss to start with Nina, a literature student who's here because of her interest in how Old Norse sagas influenced Victorian poetry. Her voice stands out because she is remarkably blunt for an English person. When she starts having nightmares about violence that occurred on this site centuries ago and hears mysterious movement and noises in the night, you as the reader are more inclined to believe her because she is such a no-nonsense character. As they unearth a burial ground, it seems hard to see these incidents as anything other than the interventions of angry ghosts.

So, this is a dystopian vision, a survival tale, and a ghost story all in one. It blends history and a believable near future in an effective way, but what I admired most was the characterization. With their disparate losses, fears and goals, these are rounded characters you care about. I didn't always think the epidemic was necessary background - the Greenland setting is enough to account for their isolation and worry - but it adds to the general aura of peril, which Moss sustains all the way up to the last chapter.