There were more fighter jets and fewer astronauts than I expected. It started out a bit slow, but the pace quickened, and by the end it was hard to put down. ( )

I bailed on this. I wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as I was about The Apollo Murders; for me space is more interesting than fighter pilots. Then a dog died upsettingly in Chapter 53 and I decided I didn’t need to push anymore through the book. The dog dying is what makes it 1.5 stars; the rest was a 2. ( )

Definitely a smoother read than his first thriller. The reader can almost feel how much Chris has read his Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney and others in the genre.

He's still far too obsessed with naming every single piece of equipment, or talking about it's function, or even giving short history lessons on it (I didn't really care about the half and half kerosene/gasoline history for jet fuel).

That being said, while the story is still a touch clumsy, overall, it's a fun read and, when he gets out of his own way to just tell the story, it's an engaging one as well.

Overall, yes, I'll definitely read the next one in the series. Just...dial it back on the forced verisimilitude, dude. ( )

In The Defector, former astronaut Chris Hadfield continues his alternate history of the ‘70s space program. Kaz Zemeckis is back for a plot that reads like a Tom Clancy thriller. A pilot defects to the west with one of the Soviet Union’s latest fighters, but he may have a hidden agenda. As usual, Hadfield makes his future tech believable, and his descriptions of aerial combat are spot on. ( )

Apollo Murders book #2

This top gun thriller is rich with inside details and political intrigue taken from real events and people that made the news at the time.

It opens in Israel in October 1973 when a Soviet MiG fighter pilot crashes his mythical “Foxbat” MiG-25 on landing and pleads to defect to the USA. Kaz Zemeckis, a former test pilot, is assigned to accompany him to the military’s most secret site in the US, Area 51. What happens next is a thrill on its own....and nerve- shredding rush of aerial combat till the very end. Tom Cruise step aside....

From start to finish the plot moves at full throttle and is an adrenaline laced espionage page turner at its best. This Cold War era story is drawn from the author’s combat experience. As a fighter pilot, test pilot and astronaut Chris Hadfield has a lot to say and makes his story of the Soviet-era exciting to read. We are taken to the sky in aerial combat to hunt down a high-level defector and at the same time uncover Soviets secrets what a way to get readers attention. I like the characters, they are well-defined and many represent real-life people both in the USA and Soviet Union. The narrative brings a vast knowledge in science and technology including the development of fighter jets and missiles.

Dogfight described by one that was once a fighter pilot is exciting. We are immediately placed in the cockpit; you can feel the pressure and the thinness of the air and the rotation you are subject to at high speed. Strap yourself in and enjoy the wild ride I know I did. Well said and well-done.

My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for this ARC ( )