DEEP FREEZE by Michael C. Grumley

5 stars

A major crash with a bus plummeting into dark icy waters, with John Reiff, a retired Army veteran, helping others aboard to escape before becoming trapped himself. Fast forward two decades to a lab set up with an elaborate machine that has managed to resuscitate frozen animals, moving from small mice, rabbits, dogs and finally up to monkeys. The day has finally come to try the technology on a human to see if it will work. With this comes all the ethical dilemmas of who provides the funding, who controls the outcome, and what rights does the revived human have: especially if as in here prior permission from John Reiff has not been obtained.

There’s been much scientific discussion over the past couple decades about Cryogenics and the ability to resuscitate bodies in the future when medicine has progressed far enough to both cure illness and rejuvenate to counter aging. There’s also been many wealthy individuals who have paid high prices to have their bodies after death put into a deep freeze in hopes of such a day arriving in time to bring them back from the dead.

Here, Grumley plunges us into an engrossing thriller that combines fighting for the survival, greed, nefarious investors, cover-ups, murders, and the acute moral dilemmas that arise with new technology and medical advances. There’s also the mystery of apparent clairvoyant skills possessed by John as he recovers post freeze, along with little info on his past. So hoping that this leads to a follow-on book!!

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group, Forge Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.