| Title | : | Polar Vortex |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published January 13, 2019 |
| Awards | : | The Miramichi Reader's The Very Best Book Awards Best Novel (longlist) (2021) |
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?
Polar Vortex Reviews
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I was pleasantly surprised by this book, since I had no frame of reference from goodreads friends’ reviews which I generally look up too. This started off as a mystery novel but then became largely a survival story, and a pretty good one at that.
Mitch Matthews has switched careers and is now a writer, who is yet to see commercial success. He is set to fly from Hong Kong to New York over the North pole with his daughter Lilly. His wife Emma has been uneasy about this trip, and cautions Mitch to be careful and also take care of their daughter who has asthmatic attacks frequently. While Mitch had earlier intended to take a different flight, he switches to this one at the invitation of Emma’s half-brother Josh who will pilot this flight – Allied Airlines 695, a Boeing 777 with 378 people onboard.
On the flight, Josh invites Mitch and Lilly to the flight deck to chat. Josh is pained by his divorce proceedings and voicing his frustrations to Mitch. But they get around to discussing other things, and taking in the stupendous view outside. Josh tells him that due to a storm they are flying a little off course, and will be passing by the North Pole shortly. It is also time for Josh and his co-pilot to be relieved and the next set of pilots to take over. Mitch and Lilly are tired and soon doze off as they leave the flight deck with Josh and his co-pilot.
Mitch next gets up only when there is a loud sound, jerking and him and everyone else being tossed around as the plane crash lands on ice. His nose is fractured and he frantically looks for Lilly and is relieved to find her safe and relatively unharmed, though an onset of an asthmatic attack sets in. Soon, many of the passengers realize that the plane has split into two and there are survivors in both parts. Josh is strangely in the flight deck and is severely injured. There are various theories – did the Earth’s magnetic field reverse, were they shot at by Russians, was it sabotage, a pilot suicide attempt, a malfunction or a bomb onboard? There are interesting people onboard – a supposed militant, a Russian millionaire, a biologist, a climate activist and others & also items – a biological sample, valuables, and a large consignment of batteries. It is not clear where they have crashed – it seems most passengers were sleeping for the past two hours and during that time they should have been well past the North Pole and probably over Canada, and yet it appears from the weather that they are in the polar region. Some of them try to make an estimate based on the sun, moon, stars and the weather but there is no consensus.
As hours turn into days, they are perplexed as to why no one has found them yet. Does the outside world know where to look? With today’s technological capabilities, how can nobody realize where they are after days? And it is now a question of survival with limited food supplies and the most hostile weather you can imagine.
The description of the weather conditions is extremely good. I liked many of the characters in the book and the dialogues, as they try to carefully piece together what could have happened while at the same time not entirely trusting others.
If you like survival stories with a touch of suspense as a bonus, this is a pretty good read which finishes quite well. -
This story tries to merge heartstrings featuring kids and a puppy with a diabolical plot at the north pole poorly. 2 of 10 stars
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How long can someone survive after a plane crash in the Arctic? The journey of Mitch and daughter, Lily started out as a four star for me. It was exciting since I LOVE survival stories. I LOVE cold climate thrillers. It was suspenseful because all passengers fell asleep so what's a deeper story behind the crash of flight 695. Who, what, why? Too bad, I wish I feel more connection with other passengers. I don't think I cared enough. The ending was okay, was not what I expected.
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Wow this story had me on pins and needles the whole time. It's a non-stop thrill ride. If you like stories about survival, airplanes and the Arctic, you should read this one asap!
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3.5 stars. I've mentioned before that I'm drawn to stories set in cold climates so when I came across this book I jumped straight in.
Mitch Matthews and his daughter Lily are on a flight home to the US leaving Mitch's wife behind for now. Because his brother-in-law is a pilot for the airline, they get bumped up to first class. That would be nice, something I'll never experience. Sigh. Anyhow somewhere over the arctic the pilots lose control of the plane and it crashes onto a floating polar ice floe. Yikes. The plane seems to have broken in half with the economy end separated from the nose of the plane by a narrow strip of seawater. There are some dead and injured but by and large most of the passengers are fine. They just need to sit tight and await rescue.
It slowly starts to dawn on them that they don't know where they are as cell phone GPS is showing them in Hamburg, Germany which clearly they are not. There is no sign of rescuers and no way of communicating with the world. Are the searchers even looking in the right place?
The plot was great and the lead character was simply heroic. It should have been four or more stars but it took quite a long time to get all the characters sorted in my head, hence the slight deduction. I think too many characters were thrown at us too quickly and then, as suspicion started to form that one of the front end passengers may have sabotaged the plane, the suspicion moved from person to person at such a rate my head was spinning. It was a bit much. It seemed that each of the passengers possibly had something to hide or some reason to be dastardly. So no one trusted anyone else and it was all very tense. Having said all that, it really was a good story and I would read more from this author as he really packed a punch in the the action/high drama stakes. -
How in the UNIVERSE does this book have so many five-star reviews?
Just. How.
I mean ... just ...
Ok.
Let's start with a quick recap:
Man and daughter are on plane. Plane crashes somewhere in the polar region. It's fucking cold. Daughter has asthma. They didn't bring a second inhaler for some extremely stupid reason. Father must protect daughter from the cold, rescuers who might also be assassins, and possibly polar bears. Other stuff happens.
So, the whole story reads like one looong love letter to this dude who is the most self-sacrificing thing EVER - oh boy, what he won't do for his daughter!
And, I mean, parents really, really, caring for their kids - that's nice, it really is, but when, in pretty much every single difficult situation, the main character is like, "Everything is so impossibly hard right now and I'm freezing and in so much pain and three seconds from passing out but OH - MY DAUGHTER, I CAN DO THIS" (I paraphrase), it gets really irritating, really quickly.
Cause, I mean, being self-sacrificing is good and all, but it is written in such a way that the focal point, far from being on the daughter and her life, is painfully fixated on the Dad and how extremely fucking brave he is.
It's just ... way too much.
Yeah, I'm sure you did, bro, now shut up about it.
Ok, seriously, though, if it were just for this one thing, this book wouldn't have been so frustrating.
But the narrative is also a jolly romp through cultural stereotypes (not helped by the fact that the narrator, Tom Taylorson, is absolutely awful at doing accents). The Russian is obviously on the run and involved in some shady stuff, the French lady is a no-nonsense researcher, the Asian kid is the most zen thing that ever did exist (), the young computer geek guy is a mentally ill conspiracy theorist, and the Norwegian is, obviously, a nature guy who regularly spouts semantic gibberish.
As you might also have noticed, this tale, like so many of its kind, is a sausage fest.
But, back to the way people from different cultures are portrayed:
This is a huge problem in a lot of North American literature. It tends to be worse with Americans, but here, Mather has proven that Canadians can also portray other cultures with magnificent inaccuracy.
So, quick bit of info for those that don't know me: I'm Norwegian.
Hi, nice to meet you.
So, perhaps unsurprisingly, I experienced some particularly intense frustration at the completely inaccurate portrayal of Norwegian culture and language. The Norwegian (I can't remember his name - was it Bjørn something?) regularly spouts complete and utter nonsense that Mather apparently thinks Norwegians actually say. None of these "idiomatic expressions" are actual Norwegian sayings except one: "Midt i smørøyet" - literally translated, "In the middle of the eye of the butter" - and this is used incorrectly.
In a time before the internet, before we were all so connected, I miiiight have been willing to overlook this. But Norwegians are, these days, literally just an e-mail or a facebook message away, and had Mather consulted anyone who actually speaks the language, these glaring mistakes would have been easily corrected.
And, I mean, why does he have to have his character speak in Norwegian anyway? None of the other characters randomly switch to their own languages in the middle of a discussion.
But I know why: It's because Norwegians are outdoorsy and quirky. Those are our characteristics.
Naturally, the Norwegian can't just speak normally. That would be weird.
Scandinavians are very often portrayed like this, and it's actually a harmful stereotype, because it makes it that much harder for people who don't know us to take us seriously.
Anyway, rant over.
Finally, I'd just like to state that I also found the story itself predictable and dull. The character you thought was going to be bad, was bad. The Dad was a big-old hero. The set-ups (missing asthma inhaler, zen Asian kid, shifty security guy) were all very obvious. Also, though parts of the story were clearly well researched, other bits were clearly not researched at all.
I've already talked about culture and language, but the air accident investigation itself was clearly missing some key info.
So ... yeah. As you can probably gather, I was not a fan of this.
On the bright side, I read this as on audible, and fortunately they allow you to return books you didn't like. So I didn't end up wasting money on this.
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It was just ok, drug on far too long, the final payoff was out of nowhere and made no sense. Too many moving parts and little to no backstory for the characters.
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By the numbers:
1. The child did not annoy me. She was everything she needed to be.
2. The protagonist was interesting enough and I did want to see him survive.
3. The pacing was pretty good after the second chapter.
4. Parts of my mind still doesn’t understand why things really happened.
5. The action scenes were pretty good.
6. The atmospheric setting was strong.
7. I’ll accept the ending. -
I enjoyed
CyberStorm, and I love Air Disasters on the Smithsonian Channel, so I thought I would love this. Initially I did, but the farther I went the less interested I was.
Still, technically it was not bad. Lots of dad power, climate change politics, and conspiracies. I just did not enjoy it. -
DNF at 65%. It's pretty unusual for me to quit on a book that late in the game. I kept waiting for things to fall in place or improve. No luck, so I bailed.
The writing style is plodding, linear. There are a few odd sections called “Transcript Audio” that serve as breaks in the main story. These breaks are airplane crash guys trying to figure out what's happened. These sections are so under-developed and ineffective that it's kind of weird.
The plot is a plane crash in the arctic circle. There are lots of mysteries setup by the author about why they crashed. But none of it ever feels real or urgent. And importantly, I never felt the arctic cold or the desperation of the survivors. Lifetime movie alert: the main characters carry a puppy around through all the freezing mayhem. (blargh)
QOTD
Stark shadows swept along the walls like ghosts driven from the raging storm.
The wind abated from a roar to a low rumble.
“Det blæser en halv pelican,” Bjorn said. “It is blowing half a pelican out there."
- Polar Vortex
Polar Vortex caught me off guard. I thought a meat-and-potatoes book like this would be enjoyable. Alas... not a good read.
thanks... yow, bill
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I wasn’t entirely sure what type of book this would be when I bought it. For some reason I saw it on a website that talked about post apocalyptic books...this isn’t really one of them. It’s an amazing, fast paced story about survival and the human spirit. I thought all of the characters were written well. None of them were annoying at all. Characters that I can’t connect with or that bug me are always instantly mood killers for me. I can’t get into a book if I hate the characters. Luckily all of the characters in this book were interesting and the dialogue was amazing. There was never really a dull moment through the entire book. Also, I was constantly guessing about what would happen next and I was never right. This story had just the right amount of twists and turns and I’m glad I bought it. My only gripe, and it’s a small one, is that I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending. We never got the complete truth about what happened but I guess that’s what happens in real life in these scenarios. That’s probably just me wanting to have all the answers, but overall this was an excellent read and my favorite book I’ve read in a good while. Recommend completely!
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Thank goodness we have authors like Mather to carry Crichton’s mantle
Great science fiction is hard to find. Mather is as good as Crichton and maybe better! The line between reality and fiction is hard to find in this novel. I found myself searching for different terms as early as the first third of the novel. I wanted to know more about the real science behind the fiction. In and his afterward, Mather says he wants to get the world talking and I think that that’s a really noble goal because it doesn’t really matter if we are right or wrong only that we talk to each other. We need to find our common ground, agree to disagree on the rest and concentrate on the actual science. Only then can we work together to do the best we can for all humans. -
The will to survive.
When put to the test in an extreme situation many will fail, but a parent’s love for their child often reveals an inner strength that knows no bounds. This is the situation in which Mitch Matthews finds himself when his flight goes down in the Arctic.
As a thriller this ticks all the boxes for me, it is high octane with the added emotional turmoil of Mitch having to keep his daughter safe in this deadly environment. The subject matter behind the storyline also left me thinking, it seems that there is a lot going on in the world that more of us should be aware of. -
Great adventure story
This novel kept me riveted straight through. Truly a master of setting and suspense. I plan on reading his next novel as well. -
Great story but a little slow moving.
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“Polar Vortex” is a high-octane thriller that opens as Mitch Matthews and his daughter five-year-old Lilly are caught in a struggle to survive after Allied Airlines flight 695 mysteriously crash lands in the frozen Arctic tundra. Part of the plane floats on a sheet of ice across the water from the first -class section where Mitch along with ten other survivors fight to stay alive on water bottles and snack foods from the galley, hoping for rescue.
But, as the hours pass, his brother-in-law comatose after landing the plane, no search and rescue in sight, Mitch begins to piece together a mystery that begins with the flight being off course, a Russian defector on board, five hundred pounds of lithium batteries in the hold, a mysterious redheaded woman guarding a secret package, and the talk of diamonds hidden away. Trusting no one, and intent on protecting his daughter Mitch searches for answers, desperate to find a way out of the growing danger.
Well-developed and intoxicating intensity and suspense continually escalate with a crack in the ice floe, violent storms, and a suspected terrorist on board. Twisting and turning as the plot heats up, the action builds when help arrives only to have Mitch and the other survivors fleeing their part of the aircraft. Yet amid all their troubles with the stink of the toilets, the rising cabin temperature and gun fire, compassion and warmth are shown with the saving of a young dog and the hacker Howard as well as words of wisdom from a young boy.
Bringing the story to life are unforgettable, realistic and compelling characters like resourceful, determined, and protective Mitch Matthews; the mysterious and conniving sky marshal Otto Garcia; the calm, wise chubby kid Jang; and smart, compassionate Isabelle. It is these personalities and others that infuse the plot with tension and excitement as the plot flows quickly to an explosive, surprising ending.
Gripping from the first to the last page, “Polar Vortex” is a novel you can’t put down until finished and I rate it highly. -
Character List below. 3.5 stars for an engrossing story —if a bit much at times. Also, decent audiobook narration. I liked the characters, including the kids and the puppy, but the “for my daughter” was a bit overdone. I didn’t guess the motivation behind the plane crash, so that question kept me thinking.
Plane flies over arctic circle from Hong Kong, bound for NYC. Mitch Matthews is a financial analyst turned hopeful writer. He and his 5-yr old daughter Lilly board the plane while wife/ mother Emma stays in Hong Kong to care for a parent. Mitch tells his 1st person POV of the plane crash in the arctic. He keeps a journal. Meanwhile, in some chapters, two NTSB investigators read his journal: Richard Marks and his newly appointed partner, Peter Hystad.
As the book unfolds we learn clues about the crash. A mix of suspense and polar survival skills, with themes of global warming, espionage, astronavigation, etc. It feels a bit like Agatha Christie’s wonderful plot
And Then There Were None. Who is the killer in their midst?
Other characters as self-described:
Captain Josh Martin— pilot, step-brother to Emma, Mitch’s wife
Capt Irene Harding — secondary pilot
Bjorn — “homeless Viking” Norwegian climate researcher for Greenpeace
Roman - rich fat Russian plutojerk, former GRU, hoards the food
Adrian — the cabin manager
Jang and Shu — Chinese? The boy is Jang age 5, seated with Shu, a big guy
Otto Garcia — guy with tortoiseshell glasses, the Air Marshal, former Navy seal
Howard - a teenager/ young man, a hacker on meds, bipolar?
Mr. Rasheed Tumeris , Vera Zelenko, and Manu Bermudez had seats around Lilly and Mitch.
Liz / Isabelle — had medical training, a biogenetic researcher and missionary, keeps close hold of her small backpack
- a puppy
- Gunnar and Jules
-Jimbo
-Corporal Fuzani Curtis / Fuzz
- The Frozen Chosen -
2.5 STARS
This book reminded me a lot of "When They Find Us" by Jenifer Ruff. Plane crash in the Arctic, superhero main character.
Plane crash/survival stuff is normally right up my alley, but this seemed to drag on too long. The longer it went on, the more unbelievable it became. At some point it's just too much suffering, how are these people not dead yet? It felt like the author was writing this in hopes of scoring a movie deal, rather than just writing a book.
Mitch, for all he was "just a regular guy trying to protect his daughter", really turned into Superman at the end. -
Boring and far fetched.
Did not care for any of the characters. -
Polar Vortex
5 strong stars
I was captivated by this novel from start to finish. Part survival story, part mystery, and a strong dose of psychological thriller combined for an intricate and increasingly interesting plot. A handful of well-drawn and ever more mysterious characters formed the nucleus of the story. Mitch Matthews is the protagonist and narrator of the tale; he and his young daughter awake in their first class pod beds just as their plane crashes somewhere in the Arctic. There starts the saga. It is a compelling tale and the brutal Arctic weather is as much a character as the other passengers. I had just recently reread the polar adventures of Sir Ernest Shackleton, so knew that survival on the ice under brutal conditions is possible, but requires ingenuity and fortitude. Author Matthew Mather has written a credible story about survival, or not, on the ice and added in a few characters who may have something to hide or who are not behaving exactly as expected. The book captured my interest and kept me up late at night, reading on to find out what would happen next. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a survival story in arctic conditions, with intrigue and an increasing element of high stakes risk thrown in. -
Meh. Did not finish. Got through first few chapters and decided not to carry on. Characters, plot, and writing were too bland for me to want to continue.
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"The twentieth century had been about oil, but the twenty-first was going to be all about water."
Mitch Matthews and his daughter Lilly board an airliner going from Hong Kong back to their home in New York City. Emma, wife and mother, just found out she's pregnant and is staying longer in Hong Kong to take care of her mother who has cancer.
Emma's brother Josh is the pilot on the airliner and gets Mitch and Lilly into first-class pods.
There are some strange happenings on the flight from the beginning but questions abound when the airliner crashes on the Arctic ice. The plane breaks into two pieces and Mitch and Lilly are stranded in the terrible cold with the other first-class passengers.
This was a tale of survival and the will to live. Conspiracy theories abound among the passengers but they need to try and figure out a way to rescue themselves because it doesn't look like help is on the way.
I loved this story - part thriller, part adventure story, part survival tale. I'm a sucker for stories in the Arctic or Antarctica and this one hit all the right buttons for me.
I highly recommend this new tale by author Mather. -
One of the best reads of 2019
Once every four or five years there comes along a book that goes beyond the "can't put it down" realm. Mitch and his daughter Lilly are boarding a flight at the beginning of the book and you, the reader, know that they are about to start some sort of adventure. The thing us, after reading hundreds of books and watching countless movies, it's seldom I am surprised any more with the way things turn out. This boom happily changed that for me. There were no weak spots at all in the story, the characters are all well thought out and memorable. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants a nice, self-contained story that does not let you down. Now onto the next book that Mr. Mather has written. He has a new reader. -
An awesome action packed, roller coaster ride book about a man who will do anything so his daughter can survive, after the plane they were in, flying home, crashed somewhere over the North Pole. But there are so many obstacles in their way it will have you holding your breath and up way past your bedtime to see what happens. I loved this book, it was so exciting and grabbed, and sucked me in from the start and didn't let me go until the end. Mr. Mather has a way with his characters and the way he integrates things in the news today into his books. One thing for sure this book won't disappoint.
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Stupid, eye-rolling ending. Very unsatisfying.
The ending completely spoils the story. I'm sorry I had to go through all that reading to get to it. VERY unsatisfying!
I confess I thought the story would turn a little science-fictiony. It never did. It's actually just a plane crash survival story.
I did care about the characters. That's why I read it to the end. Too bad the resolution was so stupid.
