HOLDOUT - Jeffrey Kluger

An accident aboard the International Space Station has the ground crew ordering the evacuation of the station's three astronauts. As a last minute decision, American astronaut Walli Beckwith decides to stay aboard. To repeated orders to return to earth she only replies with a Bartleby-like, "I prefer not to."

Walli has been an outstanding astronaut and prior to that she was at the top of her class at the Naval Academy and a successful fighter pilot. Taking the space station hostage is totally out of character for Walli. 

She goes about doing general maintenance and daily upkeep on the station and prepares for a live (a few second delay) public announcement detailing her reasons and what she wants to see happen before she returns to earth (where she will certainly be facing lengthy prison time as the ISS truly is international and other countries have already indicated they wish to try her.

What Walli wants is for the United States to lead and international agency (such as the U.N.) in stopping rebel movement and environmental destruction in another country. This is no small chore for any government and it has not been on the political agenda for the U.S. ... until now, of course. First she grabs headlines by 'stealing' the international space station, and then she spurs public opinion with a hard media focus and watches as the tide turns.  But she may not be around to see what ultimately happens as one of the accidents aboard the aging stations is about to bring her life to an abrupt end.

 Other than a little dust jacket copy, I had no idea what I was getting into when I approached this book.  This reads a lot like a summer blockbuster action movie.  Maybe that's a little bit good and a little bit bad? It's exciting and it moves a long quickly. There are clear 'good guys' and 'bad guys.' And throughout it all, there's mostly positivity flowing.  But on the other side of 'blockbuster' feel, we have a very methodical story - you can fairly easily predict what is going to happen next and moments are spaced pretty evenly. And of course each dangerous moment could mean death for our protagonist. 

I definitely got caught up in the story and enjoyed it, but the ending was a bit heavy-handed for me. Everything wrapped up nicer than a Disney cartoon which pushed the believability over the edge for me. But if you like a little Pollyanna in your scifi, this is the ticket.

Looking for a good book? Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger is a fast-paced action/adventure film book that will hold your attention and put you through a few emotional paces and then test your credulity.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Holdout

author: Jeffrey Kluger

publisher: Dutton

ISBN: 0593184696

hardcover, 352 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

Image
 Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then. Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly. This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down. Although the description
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more