However, I found The Arctic Event to be an exciting, fast-paced thrill-ride of a story, and I was quite happy to be on it.

It also doesn't hurt that the narrator is Jeff Woodman, who has to be one of the most outstanding narrators around. His ability to do convincing female voices along with the varying accents of the different characters is nothing short of astounding.

Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith heads up a Covert One team headed into the Artic to Canada's Wednesday Island. A Russian bomber has been lying there, downed on the ice, since 1953. The Russians have asked for the American President's help in getting to the bomber because they know it was carrying a payload of weaponized anthrax.

Jon Smith is an Army doctor who has specialized in working on cases of biological agents being used as weapons against USA troops. So he is the logical choice to lead the expedition. His team consists of two women, one a professor and weapons expert, the other a CIA operative who was the sister of Smith's dead fiancé. (Apparently a casualty of an earlier mission.) The Russians have sent along their own representative in the form of a Russian Air Force major.

Of course, since this is a covert mission, nothing can be simple. Smith and his team are also going to have to deal with secret Russian forces put on Wednesday Island by a submarine to try to ensure that the Americans don't find out what the true mission of the bomber is. Then there's the weapons merchant who's also on his way to get the anthrax so that he can sell it and make a fortune.

The women are incredibly beautiful, smart, and deadly. The men are honorable and brave. Well, except for the bad guys who are truly ruthless and evil.

The plot sometimes has holes that you could fly that Russian bomber through, but nonetheless, the audiobook is lots of fun. It's definitely a case of being the right kind of book for a long drive when you just want something to break the monotony, but not something that requires you to work your brain too hard.