cover image Cold Sea Rising

Cold Sea Rising

Richard Moran. Arbor House Publishing, $16.95 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-755-3

This first novel recalls one of those disaster movies in which famous stars huff and puff in order to save the world from calamity. The book's main problem is plausibility. Maybe a volcano could cause the Ross Ice Shelf to split off from the rest of Antarctica and drift north, threatening to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But despite Moran's best efforts to provide scientific credibility, this scenario is not convincing. Set in 1990, the narrative moves from its frosty premise into the level of superpower conflict as the Russians try to turn the floating ice into armed platforms that would bob around off the U.S. coast. Attempting to forestall the progress of the ice and a probable World War III, are a New York Times reporter with unusual clout and his father-in-law, Admiral Waldo Rankin, the foremost authority on Antarctica. Wooden characters and a lack of palpable excitement will leave readers cold. 40,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; paperback rights to Berkley. (April 29)