The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • More Books
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Privacy Policy

The Abominable

December 13, 2013

The Abominable by Dan Simmons
Publication date: October 22nd 2013
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
two-half-stars

abominable

 

Our valley is in darkness, but Everest blazes far beyond and above us in a cold, powerful, self-contained isolation. That strikes me as terrifying. 

In 1924 the British alpine climbing community was dealt a serious blow when George Mallory and his partner Sandy Levine disappear high on Mount Everest. At the same time a lesser known but titled Brit disappears and his mother hires three climbers to head up Everest the next year to find him. Yes, find him. Despite his last being seen hit by an avalanche somewhere around twenty-five thousand feet she believes he may still be alive. With her deep pockets and the drive and determination to summit Everest, so begins The Abominable: A Novel by Dan Simmons. A Frenchman, Jean-Claude Clairoux; a young American, Jake Perry; and a British WWI war hero, Richard Deacon are friends who have climbed some of the world’s most well-known mountains.

If you’ve ever been intrigued by Everest and the myriad of books, television shows, and movies then The Abominable will be a thriller to read. It has espionage, murder, and conditions that will push the hardiest of souls to the breaking point. What it does not have is a plot involving the abominable snowman (or yeti). That is not a spoiler, the topic comes up once in the first four hundred pages and only briefly after that, largely as a decoy. The good news is that there is enough going on with altitude sickness, injury, unexpected members joining their group and the simple physics of climbing the highest peak in the world for the first time in history (it’s never been established that Mallory summited). Remember, this is 1924. There are Sherpas and oxygen tanks are newly available, but there are no guide ropes or ladders left in place by previous climbers. Every single step has to be hacked out of ice, snow, and rock. Jean-Claude, Jake, and Richard each bring their own expertise as well as their own secrets.

Simmons is one of those authors whose research and writing skill means he can manipulate history and still make you want to keep reading. He thickens the plot by adding a female climber to the team who is expected to be a hazard and by setting the story at a time when the relations with allies England and France towards Germany are still fragile. The first to reach the top of Everest will do much to restore their country’s morale. These details, layered on top of the perils of climbing to such heights are much like snow on top of ice—seemingly innocuous and unimportant but slippery and deadly dangerous underneath. The Abominable may ultimately be improbable but it is still good winter reading from the safety of a warm home.

two-half-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 2.5 Star Books
  • By Dan Simmons
visionist
The Visionist
like lions
Like Lions by Brian Panowich
doctor sleep
Doctor Sleep: A Novel
War of the Words: Amazon vs. Hachette
pleasure
A Pleasure and a Calling
stager
The Stager: A Novel
cygnet
Cygnet by Season Butler
fates
Fates and Traitors
eight
Riots I Have Known
bowlaway
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken
bits
Books: Bits & Pieces
tea
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
unmarriageable
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
version control
Version Control
another
Another Side of Paradise
it's
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Little Brown and Company, Mount Everest, mystery, suspense

Comments

  1. Andi (@estellasrevenge) says

    December 16, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    My inner #coverho is coming out. I absolutely adore the cover, and your review is awesome!

    Reply
    • Catherine says

      December 17, 2013 at 11:12 am

      Pretty cool, right? I like all things Everest!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Indiebound and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in