Though Riccardino gets increasingly meta, in the end it is a moving finale to this peerless series.

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. Author, Chris Hadfield, is a much-decorated Canadian astronaut, a former fighter pilot, engineer, spacewalker, served in both the American and Russian space programs, and Commander of the International Space Station. Readers who have not followed the history of the Apollo space program and the space stations may recognize Hatfield may recognize him from the video where he played guitar and sang David Bowie's Space Oddity while floating in 0 Gravity in the ISS. This was featured in news reports at the time and can still be viewed on YouTube. He was active in the space program from 1992 until 2013. 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.

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. An exceptional debut thriller and "exciting journey" into the dark heart of the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary). 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!

An exceptional Cold War thriller from the dark heart of the Space Race, by astronaut and New York Times bestselling author Chris Hadfield So while not an expert like the author, I’d like to think I know a little more than the average bear about the subject, but I wouldn’t presume to say that the author got any of the technical or historical details wrong about this. In fact, per his notes at the end some of the things I thought were insane were true. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. The Apollo Murders follows the many perspectives of a fictional journey of the real Apollo 18. This book captures one of the greatest what-ifs of modern history, “What if the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union prolonged and took place on the moon?” 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. Hadfield uses his space experience to good purpose in this thriller, a superb blend of fact and fiction set in the midst of the Cold War.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. 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.) Commander Hadfield takes us on an exciting journey into an alternate past. And who better to write about astronauts than an astronaut himself!" - Andy Weir, New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary 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) 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 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!!!) So many acronyms and numbers. I kept forgetting what TsUP and LM and the various other abbreviations stand for. Kudos, Mr. Hadfield, for a great fiction debut. Don’t stop here, as I know you will have many who demand more space thrillers! 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. 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.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. 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. 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. A fun thriller that satisfied me scientifically. Non-science nerds are going to complain about the info-dumps, whereas I was thinking, “tell me more about the combustion process”.