133. Polar Vortex by Matthew Mather

My final book of 2019
listened on eAudio
narrated  by Tom Taylorson
Unabridged audio (10:18)
2019
368 pgs.
Adult Thriller
Finished 12/31/2019
Goodreads rating: 4.15 - 2843 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting: Contemporary October in the Arctic Circle

First line/s: " 'Is this heaven?' Lilly held out one tiny hand."

My comments:  Well, this one was quite a ride!  Beautifully read and easy to listen to, I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing.  A huge airplane on a 16-hour filight from Hong Kong across the North Pole to New York City crash lands somewhere near the Arctic on the ice.  While the survivors do everything they can no to freeze or starve to death, they also try to figure out what has happened and how to get out of this predicament, because no one seems to be rescuing them.  Most of the story is told from the point of view of a man who is doing everything he can to save his five-year-old daughter, who is with him.  Very suspenseful, with lots of terrific characters. 

Goodreads synopsis:  Arctic meets Da Vinci Code in the new thriller from Matthew Mather, worldwide bestseller with over MILLION COPIES SOLD, translations in 24 languages and film development by 20th Century Fox.
          A flight disappears over the North Pole. No distress calls. Vanished into thin air.
          Mitch Matthews is a writer struggling to make ends meet when his wife's brother Josh offers them a first-class seat on a flight from Hong Kong to New York. When his wife needs to stay behind, it becomes an opportunity for some quality daddy-daughter time with his five-year-old Lilly.
          At check-in, they run into a strange Norwegian arguing with a huge Russian. A mysterious redhead is guarding a package in the business lounge. But everything is fine, until...
          Within hours of Allied Airlines 695 disappearing, a massive international search is launched. Aircraft and ships are dispatched from Russia, China, America, Canada, and Norway.
          In an area overflown by dozens of satellites from as many nations, ringed by radar and missile installations dating from the Cold War...How can a modern airliner simply vanish in one of the most heavily monitored places on Earth?