WHITEOUT by Adriana Anders
This was a slumpbuster of a book that left me wondering why Romantic Suspense doesn’t feature more prominently in my reading. The first in a series, Whiteout is a high stakes survivor story that has our hero and heroine fleeing across hundreds of miles of frozen tundra following an attack on the research station in Antarctica where they‘ve each been nursing the wounds of past traumas.
Our heroine, Angel Smith, is a Latina chef who’s signed on for a season at Burke-Ruhe station following a life shattering event that leaves her processing grief, betrayal, and disability.
Our hero, Ford (Coop) Cooper, is a neurodiverse glaciologist who’s built a life doing research in the icy silence of the white continent. A dedicated science nerd with a painful past as a military sniper, he often comes across as cold and taciturn, but is quickly rendered sympathetic through glimpses into his deep longing and the abundance of feeling that has him isolating to avoid overwhelm.
There’s a beautiful depth and balance to Angel and Ford’s individual characterizations. Angel’s warmth and ease of expression are cut with a delightful capacity for snark and a boundless tenacity. Ford’s stoicism, stark logic, and incisive nature are softened by a surprising gift for caretaking and a quiet, selfless nobility. There’s also a satisfying balance between the two characters. She’s the sun warming his austral winter, and he’s the icy clarity reflecting her soul’s truth.
Antarctica is so vividly drawn it almost becomes a character of its own. The setting acts variously as a poetic reflection of Ford and Angel’s internal lives and as a source of external conflict.
The novel’s sub-zero setting necessitates a slow burn, but Angel and Ford’s obvious sexual tension is enough to fill a glacial plateau. Acute mutual awareness and forced deprivation create a white hot intensity long before they’re skin to skin. Once they are, the payoff is so good it prompted my instant conversion to team delayed gratification.
Also delicious is the competence porn Ford and Angel provide not just in the performance of their respective professions, but also in quick thinking and resourceful responses to exigent circumstances. Despite Ford’s superior survival and martial skills, Angel proves just as vital to their success, demonstrating extraordinary grit and determination. Rather than fall apart, both are sharpened by the extreme conditions, limited resources and ever present threat of enemies willing to kill to fulfill their mission.
While those enemies do possess the heightened evil of Bond villains, they’re also infused with a sensibility that makes them feel relevant. The big baddie is a corporate puppet master motivated by a toxic blend of grief, rage and entitlement who deploys a horde of conspirators ranging from scientists to paramilitary goons.
The secondary characters are engaging and provide promise of deeper exploration in the remaining books of the series. While Angel and Ford do get a satisfying HEA, the epilogue teases with a cliffhanger for some of the maverick veterans I assume we’ll be following into the next book. I can’t tell you how furiously I tried to wish those pages into immediate existence on my Kindle, and will definitely be reading my way through the next adventure as it releases.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
CW: gun violence, trauma, murder, war, abduction
Disclaimer: I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
