"North of Danger", by Dale Hollerbach Fife, is a World War II story about a 12-year-old boy living in Svalbard who has to hide in a coal mine to avoid being captured by the Nazi invaders. The Commonwealth Club of California called "North of Danger" the best juvenile book of 1978. "Bear Island" is a 1971 thriller novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It is about a movie crew who travels to Svalbard. When the group arrives in Svalbard, members of the crew start to get killed.