I really like the eerie quality of Sarah Moss’s books, at least in the ones I’ve read (Ghost Wall, Summerwater and The Fell). And so when I saw that the synopsis of this book included ghosts, a mysterious pandemic and an Arctic setting I was sold. For the past three weeks, it’s been so cold here in northern Delaware (not a day anywhere close to above freezing) that snow and sleet that we got during a winter storm three weeks ago is still covering the ground. It seemed a fitting time to read Cold Earth, which is actually Moss’s first published novel.

The main character, Nina, has been invited by her archaeologist friend, Yianni, on a dig in Greenland, the goal of which is to excavate a Viking burial site. Soon after arriving, they lose contact with the outside world. Prior to being cut off, there had been some news that a mysterious infection was appearing to quickly morph into a global pandemic. At the same time, Nina begins seeing and hearing ghostly visitors, who she claims are the Vikings whose bones they are digging up, and the Vikings aren’t happy about being disturbed. Is Nina correct or is she going mad? There’s a sense of cold dread in this book, as the isolated members of the team slowly come to realize that perhaps Nina isn’t insane, and that they may be trapped on the land in which they are unwelcome intruders.

I read Dark Matter, another ghost story set in the Arctic, at the beginning of January, but I found Cold Earth to be much more unsettling.