Confrontation in the Arctic

Press, 25 June 1983, Page 18

Confrontation in the Arctic

The Ice Raid. By Richard Cox. Hutchinson, 1983. 319 pp. $25.50. Detente thrillers have come and gone. Among thrillers-writers, the Cold War is on again, confrontation is the game, and the Russians are once more the enemy. Confrontation in the Arctic circle is the theme of this very credible thriller by Richard Cox, writer of such other attention-riveters as “Sam 7,” and “Operation Sealion.” When the United States puts Cruise missiles on some of its ships patrolling near Greenland, Russia responds by seizing the Arctic island of Svalbard, until then administered by Norway, but where Russian miners have access under a 1920 treaty. The treaty forbids the use of the island for any “warlike purpose,”, but the Russians plan to put in longrange radar which will give them vastly improved warning of any United States air or missile activity. Norway and the United States appeal to their N.A.T.O. partners for help:

N.A.T.O. dithers. While a Russian spy seduces a N.A.T.O. secretary and learns something of what the alliance does eventually plan, the Russians tighten their grip on the small Norwegian community, start their radar installation, and dare the rest of the world to challenge them. The Americans, Norwegians and British secretly prepare and land a small raiding party to destroy the radar, while armies throughout the world go on alert. Infra-red detection by aircraft and satellite, and the services of the gullible N.A.T.O. secretary, warn the Russians that raiders are on the way, and the scene is set for disaster. There are some similarities to the Falklands affair which, indeed, rates a brief references as an example that armed take-overs of territory do not always go unchallenged or unpunished. The story is both plausible and well-told. — Tony Petre.