Review - 'The Apollo Murders' by Chris Hadfield

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?

Yep, say no more! Just dangle Apollo anything in front of me and I'm instantly hooked. You guys know I'm a total space buff, so there's no way I can pass up this book. In fact, when I first heard about it, I almost fell out of my chair in excitement. So I got my bonbons ready and prepared to dig into what was sure to be a riveting ride.

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.

But for me, where this book fell short is its excessive technical details. I appreciate those details when it helps me understand the story or drives the plot along. But in this case, the technical information often seems to overwhelm the story. In particular, no piece of machinery we come across is too minor to be given a thorough overview, be it helicopter, fighter jet, submarine, and of course every component of the rocket and spacecraft. I mean, I just need to know enough to understand the story; I'm not actually using this as a manual to pilot an aircraft or to build one, you know?

When writing a story like this, I imagine there is a constant tug-of-war between including enough technical details as to be authentic, but not so much that it bogs down the narrative and the pacing. With Hadfield being an astronaut and having tons of technical knowledge, it's natural that he would focus on what he knows best. But for me, it just went a bit too much in that direction

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.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

My heartfelt thanks for the copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.