The Apollo Murders: 1

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Meanwhile, the Soviet Union isn't sitting idle. The Russians launch the Almaz Space Station, an armed spy station with enough resolution to see everything America does. 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. The Apollo Murders releases on October 12, 2021. It’s available in print here. The audiobook version releases the same day and can be found here. Enjoy reading Space Explored? 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. 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.

In reality, the last manned mission to the moon was America’s Apollo 17, but the jumping off point for this story is that there was actually an Apollo 18 done as a secret military operation. How do you keep a space mission involving thousands of people a secret? 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.

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 The Soviets were frustrated when the United States was the first to land a man on the Moon, and closely followed America's subsequent space program, especially Apollo 18 - which was to be America' s last manned Moon flight, scheduled for Spring 1973. All flying machines were essentially the same; you just had to figure out how to get them started and how they wanted to kill you. Hadfield draws on his expertise as an astronaut to add authenticity and realism to his debut thriller. Fans of Clive Cussler and Andy Weir will enjoy this genre-bender combining military fiction, the detective novel, and techno-thriller." - Library Journal (starred review) All this results in a cat and mouse game between Apollo 18, the United States, and the Soviet Union, with each trying to outmaneuver the other.

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. I really wanted to love this. It had everything going for it, but in the end I think the what had me excited about it (an action book in space written by an ACTUAL astronaut!!!) All eyes and ears are on the transmissions of Apollo 18 and its crew, as they seek to find needed answers swiftly and concisely. Holding their collective breaths, Washington and Moscow await news, putting aside their differences for a moment, but refusing to melt the chill in the air! A stellar piece of writing that pushes the Cold War to new limits! 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.I loved this book, everything about it; the science, the tech, the murder and intrigue and the history. Hadfield's writing feels so personal that at times I even felt as if I were reading a memoir. His knowledge, experience and skill set makes the Apollo Murders credible and authentic.

I found that Chris Hadfield gave overly technical explanations at the beginning, such that, I skimmed past them. Having said that, like magic, the writing got much better, less technical, more action. WOW again! 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. But even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue. 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. 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.

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. Hadfield manages to find a balance between the narrative tension involved in a thriller with the technical details space enthusiasts will be looking for.