I'd had a copy of this for a while and was prompted to read it by seeing a trailer for the soon-to-be-released film. I was shocked to discover that Julia Ormond plays Smilla — she was stunning but unrecognizable (to me) in the trailer. The novel is a fast-paced thriller, full of suspense, with much psychological insight into the very intriguing main character presented in its first half. The ending smells a bit of Michael Crichton ( Sphere, I think), but the book is good, particularly in the first half.