Colony is a horror story. It is also a story built around adventures in a land that has hardly been explored. It is a love story and a story about natural selection run amuck producing a species that is too prepared to be allowed to flourish. Finally, and most important it is a well researched and well written story that is a prime example of an all nighter and a book that will keep the reader glued to the pages panting to learn just what is going on. Callum Ross is a man that has been estranged from his wife and maintaining contact with his son mainly via telephone or by Zoom as he is able. His ex-wife makes it obvious that she does not consider Callum a good father and would love to completely cancel the relationship. Callum holds on and intends to take a break from work in order to spend more time with the boy. Due to an expertise that he has he is invited to spend a few days working with a group of Russian business men who have found a 4000 year old nummy at a remote location on a Russsian island in the arctic. The opportunity to examine the mummy is fascinating and the fact that it is only for a few days makes a good reason for Callum to take on the assignment. Of course, the few days stretches out as the find leads to the reason that the mummy was killed 4000 year ago. Callum cannot leave the area as rapidly as he would like to. He finds a new love among his coworkers and he is terrorized by what has evolved in the area over millennium, and also terrorized by a plot to thwart the efforts of the group set up to survey the find who it seems has someone or something very interested in not allowing the exploration at that point. Mr. Cross presents a good reason for another novel utilizing the people and the circumstances to go on, and that would be a welcome situation for the interest created by this book. Let us certainly hope it does become the case and another showcase for a new literary talent emerging.

I was lucky enough to be given a review copy of this book by the publisher and I loved it. The prologue drew me in and I was at least half way through before I came back up for air! The story is set on a remote, misty island not far from the north pole, where an environmental team are undertaking survey work. For reasons I won't give away, they get stranded and all hell breaks loose when they discover a mysterious new species lurking within the island's many caves. Pretty much the second half of the book follows the group as they try and keep themselves (and each other) alive against all odds. The storyline is intriguing, with many a twist and turn, the characters are surprisingly deep for the genre, and the action sequences are intense, moving from the rock-strewn shores, into the freezing arctic ocean, and down into the stifling pitch dark caves that extend deep under the island. There are scientists, soldiers, helicopters and even a frozen prehistoric corpse. The author's archaeological background shines through and his research on the military and technological elements appears thorough. Finally, I have to say that to me the author's writing was a clear cut above what I would normally expect from a book of this type. In other words a commercial page-turner rather than a work of literary fiction. Some of the more descriptive passages are very well composed indeed, especially the descriptions of the island itself, and it's really the unexpected quality of the writing that gets this very impressive debut novel its fifth star from me. Would highly recommend.