The Apollo Murders: 1

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a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help. Colonel Chris Hadfield is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. A multiple New York Times bestselling author, his books have sold over a million copies worldwide. He was the top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and a Cold War fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in North American airspace. A veteran of three spaceflights, he crewed the US Space Shuttle twice, piloted the Russian Soyuz, helped build space station Mir, conducted two space walks, and served as Commander of the International Space Station. He was also NASA's Director of Operations in Russia. 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!!!) 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.

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? Stars. I’m a huge fan of Chris Hadfield. He’s awesome! He’s one of our own! I’m sure every Canadian knows who he is. This amazing Canadian connected with us through social media and introduced the entire world to outer space. The astronauts repeatedly practice in NASA's simulator, as well as in planes and helicopters, to prepare for their mission. 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” is an unbelievably detailed and narrated thriller, that I’d highly recommend if you have even a passing interest in space travel and I commend the author for producing such a wonderful book based much on his own life experiences.

His writing is incredible, his characters are so believable and well-developed in their strengths, flaws and humanity and his dialogue is true to the characters. You're present with the characters whether it's in the control room, Apollo 18 or the Universal Joint. 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. Reading Paulette Jiles' revenge western Chenneville, it's easy to remember she's a poet. She plays ... Ron Rash is renowned for his writing about Appalachia, but his latest book, The Caretaker, begins ...

When things go horribly wrong out in space, thing turn from a covert mission into one focussed on rescue. New protocols will need to be created and a loose ‘friendly coolness’ develops between the Americans and Soviets. Working together will be the only way to ensure the body count is minimal, while keeping the general public out of the know of any major mishap. Kaz and many others will have to rely on transmissions and limited capabilities of the astronauts while heading for the Moon, the still somewhat under-explored part of near space. At the end, the Americans maintain their cover-up, saying nothing about how Chad murdered the original mission commander by sabotaging the helicopter said commander had flown. Hadfield could have authored a more powerful ending by showing Kaz’s personal reaction to this spin doctoring. Would he be repelled by the cover-up, angered, or reluctantly accepting as a distasteful necessity for Realpolitik?Hadfield is almost uniquely qualified to write this book, former test pilot, astronaut, and commander of the ISS. He obviously has a good grasp of space history, both Russian and American. He speaks Russian, having spent time on both Mir and the ISS and in Star City, Russia. In short, he knows how the Russian space program, NASA, and astronauts look, sound, and act. He can keep it real. Especially that “you can have emotions on your own time" ethos that seems to govern the space program. Hadfield manages to shoehorn in a couple of female characters. One rather minor one is a geologist involved in the lunar program, who becomes a love interest for the more prominent CAPCOM, Kaz. The other is a female cosmonaut who provides much of the opposition needed for the book's purpose. Hadfield manages to find a balance between the narrative tension involved in a thriller with the technical details space enthusiasts will be looking for. Still, this was an interesting read and a solid first effort at fiction by Hadfield. There's enough potential here that I look forward to reading more from him. I just hope he takes mercy on regular folks like me next time and include a little less technical info dump. The Apollo Murders - an alternative historical thriller about the launch of Apollo 18. (For non-history buffs like myself, the Apollo 18 was never launched in real life, due to budgetary constraints and the cold war.) 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

I also question that NOBODY in this story ever brings up a legal, political, or ethical concern that the US is essentially going into space to sabotage Soviet property. Since this is the Nixon administration making this call, I’m not saying that they wouldn’t try it, but it seems odd that absolutely nobody ever brings up that we’re essentially using a ultra-expensive Apollo mission that the world still knows about to commit an act of war. 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. During rehearsals for the Apollo 18 mission there's a deadly incident that results in a change in the crew, and the subsequent investigation - while the astronauts are in space - leads to suspicion of murder.

The Apollo Murders

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.

The Apollo Murders is about a fictionalized lunar mission stoked with armed conflict in outer space. This is a tale involving an unhinged astronaut, egos, operational challenges, plus heroism. Yet the most compelling aspect is Hadfield’s claim that much of the story has actually happened, leaving the reader to wonder what is really going on behind the public glamour of space exploration. 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 fact that the author himself admits that many of the characters are real life people and much of what happened in the book is true, this made it all feel so much more genuine and believable than a run of the mill thriller, no matter how well written. At the end, there is a section on who were the actual real characters, events and machinery etc and I felt the people I was learning about, I had come to know personally already. And this has all the bones of a great thriller. The premise is fantastic, the setting atmospheric, and who doesn't love a deadly cat-and-mouse game playing out in space? Since this is fiction weaved into real history, I recognized a lot of the people and events of the space program, and it adds to the authenticity of the whole thing. It was also interesting to contemplate how the Cold War mentality of suspicion and secrecy would play out should the U.S. and Russia actually cross paths during the space race.