Focusing on events leading to the end of the world as we know it, Bernard Besson’s The Greenland Breach is a well written corporate/political espionage thriller. Told from multiple points of view, and taking place in multiple settings, Mr. Besson’s characters are well developed and engaging. Good dialogue and an interesting mystery kept me turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next.

When partners and lovers, John Spencer Larivière and Victoire Augagneur, are offered a large sum of money for a “freelance job” by the CEO of Northland, an oil and gas company, they can’t agree on whether or not they should take the job. While John stresses the need their small consulting firm, Fermatown, has for both cash and clients, Victoire suspects their job may involve more than just “babysitting” the CEO’s daughter. After accepting the job, they are then asked to “obtain” information on what Northland’s rival, French company Terre Noire, has aboard their ship, the Bouc-Bel-Air. Soon John, Victoire and Luc, Fermatown’s computer specialist, find themselves in the middle of a global conspiracy while the world’s shifting climate begins to tear everything apart.

While slowly paced through the opening chapters, Mr. Besson’s story picks up the pace as the events taking place in both Greenland and the rest of the world heat up. John, Victoire and Luc soon find themselves neck deep in danger, with John facing the most danger when he heads to Greenland to try to get to the truth. While a silent villain, it’s clear that corporate greed, man’s lack of concern over the environment, and progress itself have brought everything to a cataclysmic point.

Will John be able to outsmart and outmaneuver the agents hired by their competition? Will Victoire and Luc be able to provide John with backup when he needs it? And what will happen to us all when two rival companies are determined to decide the world’s fate based on what they discover in the deepest ice from Greenland? You’ll have to read The Greenland Breach to find out. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Mr. Besson’s work.