Red Arctic

Don Precosky teaches English at the College of New Caledonia in Prince
George.

Red Arctic poses an interesting question. What if evidence were found
that proved that the Canadian High Arctic, with its strategic placement
and oil wealth, actually belonged to the Soviet Union?

Once the discovery is made the plot takes off at racing-car speed, with
enough complications and conflicts popping up to keep things moving
rapidly from beginning to end. Unfortunately, at the centre of the plot
is the very badly handled mystery of the Russian spy. It’s not that it
is unbelievable that there could be a Soviet spy in Canada. It’s just
that once it becomes clear that there is a spy in place it also becomes
clear that only one character could be the culprit. Yet Rohmer has his
novel carry on with the “mystery” for several chapters before
revealing what every attentive reader already knows.

This is a short book—just under 200 pages—and more of a novella
than a novel. I found the ending far too abrupt, with the outcome left
unresolved. It looks as though Rohmer has set us up for a sequel, but
with the Cold War over (at least for now) the potential conflict that
the book creates loses its credibility and as we witness the internal
collapse of the Soviet empire we feel less threatened by it.