A review by keepreadingbooks
Cold Earth by Sarah Moss

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’d say Cold Earth is a mix between Night Waking and Ghost Wall. It has several of the elements that characterise especially Moss’ longer novels mixed with the suspense and often thriller-like feeling of her later, shorter ones. 

 

To shortly sum it up, six young researchers travel to a remote part of Greenland for a dig amidst the beginnings of what will turn out to be a pandemic. Shortly after arriving, they lose contact with the outside world and attempt to carry on as if nothing is out of the ordinary – except a lot is out of the ordinary, not least the fact that one of the characters is convinced that she sees the ghosts of the people they’ve come to dig out, or the fact that the plane that’s supposed to collect them might not be showing up, or that they’re running out of food. 

 

The story is told from multiple points of view, but starts – and spends the most time – with Nina. It’s told in a letter-diary form, with all of the characters writing to a certain “you”, whether that’s a partner or relative or someone else. Fair warning, unlikeable characters abound. Nina especially becomes quite insufferable. Personally, I always find unlikable characters interesting, and in such an isolated setting that dynamic was particularly intriguing. And the story IS the characters. The pandemic just provides an unexplained and anxiety-inducing background to what plays out between the six of them. I confess that I would have liked more details about it, but I think it was purposefully left as an unidentifiable threat, even in the sort-of epilogue at the end. I had difficulties playing along with the ghost subplot though, and I never found it particularly scary (and I’m usually a scaredy-cat). 

 

One of the things I love about Moss is how much research goes into her writing, something that is evident in Cold Earth too. She bothers to learn so much about her subject that it feels as if it’s been effortless to write. In many ways it’s quite classic Moss, but her storytelling has definitely evolved since this debut. It’s still a very accomplished novel, however, with many elements that usually appeal to me, and I think I might like this one better than Tidal Zone (my least favourite of hers) and even Signs for Lost Children (the slightly unnecessary sequel to Bodies of Light, which is genius).