'Renko,' Volovoi read, as iffamiliarizing himself with a problem. 'Chief Investigator. Dismissed. Expelled.from the Party.Psychiatric rehabilitation. You see, I have the same file as the captain has. Assigned to labour in the eastern section of the Russian Republic. Siberia.'

Arkady Renko is exiled on the Polar Star, a Soviet factory ship which trawls the freezing waters from Siberia to Alaska:current status seaman (second class), his movements shadowed by those who know his past.

Then Renko is given a chance to reclaim his freedom - by investigating a lonely and very mysterious death . . .

Plan of the Polar Star

  Plan of the Eagle

  Acknowledgements

WATER

EARTH

ICE