Polar Terror. Reuben Shupp. 2024.
Debut. Young adult. Horror. Thriller.
A boy who survives a winter plane crash in Alaska—along with a handful of adult crash survivors—must find a way to stay alive while they await rescue in the remote wilderness. But what starts a straight-forward survival story quickly takes a dark turn when evidence is uncovered that their plight may not be accidental.
Polar Terror, written by Canadian author Reuben Shupp, starts as a typical YA man-vs-nature story but morphs into a horror story just past the midpoint. This twist makes Polar Terror unique in an unexpected way.
The prose is well-executed. The characters are interesting. The protagonist is relatable and has a reasonable amount of agency given his situation as a youngster amongst a plane-load of adults. Written as a thriller, the author spends little time on description in order to keep character development and the plot moving crisply forward.
Identified as a novel, this work is also short enough to qualify as a novella. It is suitable in every way for YA readers, but it does come with warnings for scenes of violence, body mutilation, and cannibalism,
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.
REMINDER – If you follow my reviews, you already know this. I have a policy about reviewing debut novels. Provided I finish them, I always rate debut novels with maximum stars, regardless. When I don’t finish a debut novel, I don’t review it. No exceptions. And I don’t review books I don’t pay full price for.