The Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive in 1934 in a remote part of Alaska and find a scientific expedition investigating a strange citadel in the ice, and the dark horrors it contains. As is traditional the companions get separated from the Doctor and make their own discoveries about a medical institute and the strange writer who lives there. Meanwhile the Doctor gets to make a few nice in-jokes about his literal cliff-hanging act in the TV story Dragonfire.
As with many Big Finish stories the clue to this one is in the title which sounds like something written by H.P. Lovecraft. The writer of weird horror stories about Elder Gods and nameless terrors appears here in thinly disguised form, and this tale has his fingerprints all over it. There is indeed some dark horror lurking in the dark, icy wastes which will threaten all life on Earth unless the Doctor can stop it. Think about the Cthulhu mythos and you will have a fair idea why the scientific team led by the determined Emerson Whytecrag should probably not disturb whatever lurks in the terrible Citadel.
I really enjoyed the writing on this story, all the Lovecraft references, and the nods to continuity from the television series. Unfortunately what I didn't enjoy so much was the accents chosen by some of the actors. Even Michael Brandon who is American attempts a regional accent to sound like whatever Lovecraft himself sounded like. Unless the story specifically calls for a particular accent then I would rather they didn't bother. Accents have to be really, really good or I just find them distracting.
Apart from that bugbear of mine this is a fairly good Big Finish story but possibly just a linking piece between the terrible events in A Death in the Family and what is to come in the Black and White mini-series. It gets a solid 3 out of 5 Tentacles.
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