The Apollo Murders: 1

Product Information

With space exploration still in its infancy, two political superpowers seek to earn the title of ‘master of the outer realm’. The Americans and Soviets have been fighting a cold, but focussed, political war on land and sea for years, but the battle to explore space is a new frontier. This is the premise of the novel, which takes readers as deep as they could possibly go. After Apollo 18 launches into orbit, three astronauts receive word of their extra mission and are tasked with trying to neutralise Soviet spy power. It will be a delicate mission and no one is entirely sure how easy it will be to get the needed answers. Still, it is a must to protect America and every astronaut knows the importance of their patriotic duty. The astronauts repeatedly practice in NASA's simulator, as well as in planes and helicopters, to prepare for their mission. The next part is where it really gets messy, but I’ll keep it vague to avoid spoilers. Let’s just say that things don’t go well when Apollo 18 tries to sabotage the Soviet station, and there is absolute chaos for a few minutes as well a high probability that the space capsule has been damaged. A bunch of other shit has gone wrong as well, but despite it all, the astronauts go ahead and hit the Go-To-The-Moon button to do their burn for lunar orbit. Even when NASA gets involved again, they learn that the capsule has so many issues that it makes the Apollo 13 mission look like a cakewalk by comparison.

It’s not uncommon for retired astronauts to take pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and write a book. Most are memoirs about how they became astronauts and highlights of astronaut careers. Some turn their attention to other topics, like spaceflight or issues related to or inspired by it. A few even try their hand at fiction, like Buzz Aldrin, who teamed with John Barnes for the sci-fi novels Encounter with Tiber and The Return. Chris Hadfield, the former Canadian astronaut, is the latest to venture from fact to fiction. The author of the well-received An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth about his life and the lessons learned from his spaceflight career, he’s now written what would best be described as a historical spaceflight thriller in The Apollo Murders. Such a book could easily go disastrously bad, but Hadfield pulls it off. He manages to find a balance between the narrative tension involved in a thriller, with multiple characters and plot lines coming together for the climax, with the technical details space enthusiasts will be looking for. Hadfield offers plenty of such details, whether it’s flying a Cessna or a high-performance jet or a lunar lander. He also mixes in actual historical figures among the fictional ones, like Gene Kranz, Alan Shepard, Sam Phillips, and Vladimir Chelomei (an author’s note at the end lists those actual figures.) Hadfield pays great attention to such details and others throughout the book; it might be overlooked or simply underappreciated by some readers, who simply want to get on to the next part of the plot, but such details never really drag the pace of the action.The writing was 100% to blame. The author simply didn't have the storytelling skills yet to make a story like this work. It was full of conveniences, constant head-hopping, useless characters, annoying stereotypes, unnecessary detail, inconsistent pacing, bizarre character motivations, bland dialogue, too many subplots, no character development, and boring prose. It's no surprise an editor couldn't save this amateur attempt at a novel. Colonel Chris Hadfield, former commander of the International Space Station, is now an overall promoter of space exploration. YouTube includes his viral performance of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the ISS. The Apollo Murders is his first venture into fiction. His credentials are, shall we say, stellar. a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny module, a quarter of a million miles from home. A quarter of a million miles from help. The designated Apollo 18 astronauts are Tom Hoffman, Luke Hemming, and Michael Esdale, and the benign goal is for Tom and Luke to walk on the Moon and collect samples while Michael pilots the lunar orbiter. Full of the fascinating technical detail that fans of The Martian loved, and reminiscent of the thrilling claustrophobia, twists, and tension of The Hunt for Red October, The Apollo Murders is a high-stakes thriller unlike any other. Chris Hadfield captures the fierce G-forces of launch, the frozen loneliness of space, and the fear of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour as only someone who has experienced all of these things in real life can.

So Kaz became an expert in space-borne electro-optics and is currently the crew military liasion for Apollo 18, America's first all-military spaceflight. I’ll never feel the same way again looking up into the sky at night, knowing that somewhere up there there could be people like Luke, Chad even Svetlana looking down on Earth going about their duties.Imagine if there had been an Apollo 18 mission. Hailed as the last of its kind, it would be fraught with peril and steeped in secrecy. Set during the Cold War era, three astronauts must make the journey for the good of country and science. But when things start to go wrong, who can they really trust a quarter million miles from home? The author, Chris Hadfield, is an actual astronaut! So this book is as close to reality as you can get, for a fictional story on account of moon-landing that is. Setting aside those issues, The Apollo Murders is an enjoyable read, with plenty of plot twists and technical details. Hadfield had already demonstrated he could tell good stories through social media. Now he’s shown he can write good stories in fiction as well. Clearly, Hadfield has extensive knowledge of equipment and operations employed during the Apollo era, which he employs to give absolute credibility to the story and make the reader feel all is actually true. As a tale about space adventure, this is a story beyond compare—for both the truth and the fiction.

A nail-biting Cold War thriller set against the desperate Apollo mission that never really happened…or did it? It's a very rare book that combines so many things I love, from taut suspense and highly realistic action, to the golden age of space exploration. I couldn't put it down." - James Cameron, Academy Award-winning writer and director of Avatar and Titanic Ron Rash is renowned for his writing about Appalachia, but his latest book, The Caretaker, begins ... Though Riccardino gets increasingly meta, in the end it is a moving finale to this peerless series. So many acronyms and numbers. I kept forgetting what TsUP and LM and the various other abbreviations stand for.

The Apollo Murders

Having just recently watched in awe at William Shatner blasting off into space and always having a fascination in our solar system, I couldn’t wait to read this highly anticipated space thriller. I knew going in that this is one of those books that relies on the author's name recognition to sell copies, but even with my low expectations, this wasn't good. It's a silly story, told poorly, with not much else going for it. I feel like I learned quite a bit, but I can't quite say I was entertained. This book was an interesting mix of extremely detailed and specific technical jargon and science beside a whole lot of action that doesn't just need suspension of disbelief, but rather abandonment of it. The pacing was great, it felt like a decent thriller. I had issues with some characters and their motivations. Leaving it there because of spoilers. The Apollo Murders has a little something for everyone. A daring spaceflight, political intrigue, a spy thriller, and a good ol’ fashioned whodunnit all rolled into one exciting story! This may be Chris Hadfield’s first foray into fiction, but I certainly hope it isn’t his last.

Is it 1-star bad? Probably not. There were a few sections that were quite fun if taken in isolation. A couple of plot points were also interesting, like what the Russians found on the moon and the constant one-upmanship between the 2 nations. Other than that, though, it was an unfocused mess. Chris Hadfield’s experience as an astronaut comes through in this piece, which is full of great information about the space program. From a detailed narrative about the preparations for time in space to the explanations of procedures needed to survive outside of the Earth’s orbit, Hadfield presents a piece that educates as much as it entertains. The story is stunning in its detail and delivery, leaving me eager to keep reading as I discover things I had no idea existed. I can only hope there are more books to come in this vein, as I could not get enough.

Gerard K. O’Neill Space Settlement Contest

Only someone with first hand experience could write a novel as rich in detail as this one, from the characters to the technology, The Apollo Murders is, in many ways, a masterpiece. Hadfield uses his expertise and experience to guide the reader through unfortunate circumstances and triumphs. He spares no technical or scientific detail yet skillfully writes in a manner that keeps the reader’s attention. His descriptions are so rich that one feels they’re onboard the Pursuit. This blend of plausible history reflects our greatest fears in the Cold War and places them in the great expanse of outer space. He pulls from different perspectives as he highlights characters from both sides of the Cold War, which gives the reader a look into the systemic differences that between the two superpowers. From arming the spacecraft to political espionage, we are fortunate that such a story never came to fruition. My one slight issue was the overly technical explanations that peppered the plot sometimes to the extent I skimmed past it-however for those who are really into outer space and all that goes with it this would definitely be a plus so a subjective downside.