** spoiler alert ** 
 Genre: Adventure; historical fiction. 
 Symone (Sym) is a loner by nature. Instead of bonding with and confiding in the girls in her grade, she has developed a relationship with Captain Robert Scott, also known as Titus Oates. The trouble is, Titus Oates died ninety years ago, when his expedition to the deepest reaches of the Antarctic failed, and he died of exposure, never to be found. Sym has read so much about the South Pole, and especially about Titus' journey, that she can comfortably carry on conversations with Titus in her head, although they seem quite real to her. At the same time, Sym recognizes that no one else can see or hear Titus but her, so she still has a decent grounding in reality and normalcy. 
 A close friend of Sym's deceased father, "Uncle" Victor, has nurtured her love and knowledge of all things Antarctic-related since Sym was a little girl. Now that she is 14, Victor takes her on a trip to Paris, which is actually a subterfuge to whisk Sym away to the South Pole, via a touring company. Bit by bit, Uncle Victor is shown to have ulterior motives, until finally his madness is clear to everyone around him. Unfortunately, at that point, Victor has progressed too far in his plan for Sym to turn back home, so she, and the two others that are involved, must endure under life-threatening conditions. 
 Geraldine McCaughrean's writing is excellent, and will even absorb readers who are not usually fans of this genre. The hints that things are not all quite right with Victor are evident early on, yet they are subtle, and provide just the right allure to keep the reader wanting to go forward in order to find out what happens next. The adventure portions of the journey are exciting, feel accurate, and are solid enough to elicit a true sense of dread for the characters in peril. Best of all, however, are the conversations that Sym holds with her imagined Captain Titus throughout the book. One certainly must wonder at Sym's level of sanity, yet she proves her stability and strength when it matters most. That she may attribute these positive character traits to the imagined Titus are irrelevant, for it is clear what she has accomplished. This book has much to offer the teenage reader (and others) that takes a chance with it.