On a frigid morning in Alaska, early in 1873, Junior Mackay’s boss gives him the job a lifetime: take seven hundred tons of ice by steamship to Panama City, where people want their drinks cold and meat fresh. With his best friend Gideon Bell at his side, Junior sails farther than he’s ever been and lands in one of the wildest places left on earth. It doesn’t take long for their plans to go awry, and Junior and Gideon have to fight their way through a deadly jungle to Panama’s other coast, before their precious cargo melts into water.
Description
Award-winning author Howard Shrier has long been acclaimed for his eye for location and ear for dialogue. Both are on display as never before in The Icebox, the story of an epic trip from the new American territory of Alaska to Panama in 1873.
Based on a true story, The Icebox takes you on the adventure of a lifetime, as two young men take seven hundred tons of ice from Sitka, Alaska to Panama City, where plans for a canal are underway and foreigners want cold drinks. Shrier brings the decade to vivid life in scene after scene, whether on board ship, in booming San Francisco or steamy Panama.
Critics from leading publications in the US and Canada have hailed Shrier’s memorable characters, explosive plots and killer sense of humor. Read an excerpt of The Icebox or any of his other stories to see why.
