Space Station Down

May 25, 2020
Bova (the Grand Tour series) and Beason (Kill Zone) misfire with this uninspired sci-fi thriller, which reads like a mash-up of Die Hard and Apollo 13 set in the near future. Kimberly Hadid-Robinson is the senior ranking American astronaut on the International Space Station when it unexpectedly comes under attack. Kazakhstani cosmonaut Farid Hazood and Qatari space tourist Adama Bakhet arrive on the ISS determined to seize it for themselves. The pair slaughters everyone on board except Kimberly, who learns their plan to crash the ISS into New York City, killing millions. When news of their attack reaches the ground, the U.S. president considers proactively destroying the ISS, creating a frantic race against the clock for Kimberly and her ex-husband, NASA Lieut. Col. Scott Robinson. Scott and Kimberly’s relationship forms a poorly integrated romantic subplot that feels especially out-of-place given the high stakes. The reader’s suspension of disbelief will falter when Kimberly is forced to use sriracha sauce as a weapon and fall apart completely in the face of the authors’ odd choice to jump forward two days in the middle of the action. This disappoints.

July 1, 2020

Astronaut Kimberly Hasid-Robinson has been on the International Space Station long enough not to get too excited about new arrivals, even when one is an astronaut returning to the station for a second tour and the other a "tourist" paid to be there. Keeping one eye on the viewer showing the new crew members on board, Kimberly concentrates on running her experiment in her module. But a fairly routine process is thrown into disarray when the unsuspecting newcomers murder the astronaut greeters and everyone else on board except Kimberly. Trapped with the killers, she has no idea what they want or how to survive. To save the space station, she will have to use every ounce of ingenuity, courage, and creativity she possesses. VERDICT "Grand Tour" series author Bova and Kill Zone coauthor (with Kevin J. Anderson) Beason join forces on a tense, claustrophobic, space-bound thriller that while thin on characterization, particularly in regards to the villains, is just plausible enough to keep readers on edge and compulsively turning the pages.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2020
Kimberley Hadid-Robinson, a NASA astronaut serving on the International Space Station (ISS), is in the Japanese Module conducting experiments when she witnesses the murder of the mixed American and Russian crew by the new arrivals from Russia's Soyuz capsule. These terrorists then stream a video to Earth, threatening to deorbit the Space Station and crash it into New York City while spreading its load of radioactive plutonium all over the east coast. The action picks up from there as Kimberly struggles to contact Earth and let NASA know she is still alive. Meanwhile, her ex-husband Scott is at NASA headquarters in Washington putting together a rescue plan that will keep the ISS out of Earth's atmospheric drag?and out of the path of anti-satellite missiles. Bova and Beason's first collaboration is a winner, with a tightly written, swiftly paced narrative full of technical information about the ISS and the inner workings of NASA, empathetic characters from diverse backgrounds, and international intrigue. Readers of Gregory Benford and Larry Niven will enjoy this standalone novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)