Zimne Wybrzeża (Cold Shores)

Spitsbergen, the Cold War era.
Six passengers arrive on the island, among them John Smith – a young man with a British passport who claims to be a scientist and joins the Polish polar station. Soon after, one of the expedition members dies, attacked by a polar bear. But is it possible that he didn’t try to defend himself?

In this isolated community, cut off from the world by the approaching polar night, tension and distrust grow. As Smith delves into the circumstances surrounding the polar explorer’s death, he becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and suspicion — and a pawn in a dangerous game that could alter the course of history. But is he really who he says he is? And what role do the Sinful Fathers, the elders from a village near Belomorsk, play in this remote Arctic outpost?

Twardoch — masterfully combining elements of a spy thriller, crime novel, and psychological drama — tells a story of loneliness, betrayal, the aftermath of war, and the thin line between mission and obsession, as well as of how history and politics can shape the fate of ordinary people.

The description comes from the publisher’s website.