It's 1847 and the Franklin Expedition's two ships, the H.M.S. Erebus and the H.M.S. Terror, are trapped in the ice just off the coast of King William Island. The summer thaw never came and, as the men face yet another winter in the ice, scurvy and starvation begin to set in. As if their situation were not already dire, a monstrous beast is lurking out on the ice and picking off the Expedition's men in horrific and gruesome ways. 
 The book is huge, over 700 pages in my edition, and the majority of it is fluff. What we know of the Expedition's fate is horrific enough to have have stood without the inclusion of the supernatural, and been better for being shorter. 
 The writing style was okay, but did leave a lot to be desired. Simmons apparently struggles with dialogue, so that, for example, Doctor Goodsir describes Captain Fitzjames as speaking "not condescendingly" about twenty times in the space of a two page dialogue. 
 Crozier is described as having "second sight." Unfortunately, this is introduced while he's in a delirium brought by withdrawal from alcohol, well into the story. This was used to cover irrelevant things (like the Fox sisters), as well as some of the future rescue attempts. I realize that Crozier had to have "second sight" for the ending, but the way it was introduced felt far too contrived - shoe-horned onto the character rather than an integrated part of him. 
 However, despite its flaws, Terror did offer me the opportunity to find out more about the Franklin Expedition, and reading about the real details in a story format helps me remember them. Overall, I'd say that this is a book I'm glad to have read, but that I didn't very much enjoy the process of reading.