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"Chilling . . . will keep you up nights turning pages."

– The Chicago Tribune

"A riveting read, while the astonishing photographic record ... will lift the hairs on the back of your neck. The book gives a horrifying picture of the last days of those hungry, half-crazed explorers."

- The Scotsman

"A well-written, analytical, and riveting account of nineteenth-century voyages to the Canadian Arctic, the Franklin expedition's demise and of the twentieth-century investigations that identified the real culprit."

- The Northern Mariner

"Editor's Pick"

– Archaeology

"Beattie and Geiger found out the truth [about] the appalling fate of Franklin's expedition."

– The Explorers Journal

"A must-read for anyone interested in Arctic history... There is real drama in these pages... What makes this book so powerful, and so utterly readable, is that the authors not only make the science behind their discoveries accessible to all, but also put the readers on board those ill-fated ships. It is a riveting, page-turning book that touches on everything from Britain's imperial ambitions to cannibalism and plain, rotten luck."

- Edmonton Journal

"Both the account of the Franklin voyage and its aftermath and the account of the recent exhumation and autopsies are enthralling."

- New Scientist

"As Margaret Atwood puts it in her excellent introduction to this revised edition of a book which first appeared in 1987, Franklin was 'not the crunchiest biscuit in the pack', but he was resourceful and could avail himself of the very latest innovation: tinned food. Unfortunately, this meant the sailors also went mad with lead-poisoning."

- The Guardian

"A remarkable piece of forensic deduction."

– Margaret Atwood

"Simply compelling."

–  Mordecai Richler

"A cautionary tale of scholarly merit."

– William S. Burroughs

"Why had the Franklin expedition ended in disaster? Now we have the answer... I shall reread this book, perhaps in late January, when there is snow on the ground and ice on the water."

- Hon. George F.G. Stanley

"This well-written and superbly illustrated book will probably be the best-selling book on Canadian archaeology for a long time to come."

- James A. Tuck,
The Canadian Historical Review

"[Beattie] and Geiger's book is a clear, vivid, and sensitive account of a unique piece of scientific research."

- Books in Canada

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