Mr. Kluger knows all about the tech, having written books about Apollo 8, Apollo 13 and the whole space program, but it’s his constant switching from Earth to orbit, from Houston to Moscow, from rainforest to Washington, D.C., that keeps the pot boiling.
... just terrific ... This is an ambitious novel; in his role as a science journalist, Kluger has written many times about environmental issues, but using a space-based thriller to tell an environmentally-themed story carries with it a certain amount of risk. Fortunately, in Beckwith, Kluger has created a character the reader can identify with: her motivation is clear, her methods understandable, and her passion contagious. Through Beckwith, Kluger sells the story so well that readers will be flipping the pages as fast as they can to find out what happens next.
... exciting ... Kluger smoothly covers the technical aspects of life on the ISS and neatly contrasts international cooperation in space with conflict back on Earth. Readers who enjoyed Kluger’s depiction of the Apollo 13 rescue effort will appreciate the reciprocity of a rescue of Earth from space.
Kluger fuels the narrative with fascinating technical details. And the action scenes, including a spacewalk in which a fever-ridden Beckwith must repair a coolant system leaking lethal ammonia, are pretty gripping. But the heroine is mostly a collection of righteous intentions, and with the exception of a 5-year-old Guarani boy in Sonia's loving care, Kluger gives no voice to the tribespeople, presenting them as faceless victims ... A good adventure story undercut by its dated point of view.
