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Dr Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for the
mission of a lifetime: to study living organisms in space. Jack McCallum, Emma’s
estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition
has grounded him. Now he must watch from the sidelines…
The mission aboard the space station turns into a nightmare when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control – and infects the crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the deadly virus, while back home Jack and NASA work against the clock to bring her home. But there will be no rescue, as the astronauts are left stranded in orbit where they are dying one by one…
The mission aboard the space station turns into a nightmare when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control – and infects the crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the deadly virus, while back home Jack and NASA work against the clock to bring her home. But there will be no rescue, as the astronauts are left stranded in orbit where they are dying one by one…
Publishing date: October 2000 (July 2011 for the Kindle version)
Offensive content: some gruesome bio-hazard details, not for weak stomachs
Review:
This is an older book, but still one of my favorite suspense stories of all times. It is faintly reminiscent of Michael Crichton's earlier books, of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. If something can go wrong, it will. In the worst possible way.
And like I said above, it's not for the weak of heart, and much less for the weak of stomach. One seemingly inconsequential contamination of a lab rat with supposedly harmless earth organisms taken aboard the International Space Station for zero-gravity experiments triggers an unexpected chain of events that will keep you glued to this book until the very end. If you can stand all the gory details, that is.
The entire crew aboard the ISS is contaminated and dies, one after the other, until only Emma is left, sick herself, to deal with the consequences of the destruction of their mission, her life's dream and, very possibly, her life.
Will she discover the cure for the infection that decimated the rest of the crew? Will her husband, Jack, arrive in time to save her? (and yes, rescuing someone from the International Space Station is not an easy feat, especially when all official rescue mission are aborted for one reason or another; but still, Ms. Gerritsen creates a believable scenario for Jack's rescue, preparing for it since the beginning of the book, though you only realize it much later).
Reading this book is like riding one of those giant roller-coasters. Before you can catch your breath after a tight curve, you're turning upside down for a loop.
It's one of those stories you'll never forget reading and, the scariest thing is, those very experiments that went wrong in the book are actually being made in the International Space Station as we speak (yes, reading this book had me googling about the ISS and all that they do aboard), which makes the story all the more believable.
I totally recommend it! 5 stars all the way!
Have a great week, and happy reading!
This is an older book, but still one of my favorite suspense stories of all times. It is faintly reminiscent of Michael Crichton's earlier books, of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. If something can go wrong, it will. In the worst possible way.
And like I said above, it's not for the weak of heart, and much less for the weak of stomach. One seemingly inconsequential contamination of a lab rat with supposedly harmless earth organisms taken aboard the International Space Station for zero-gravity experiments triggers an unexpected chain of events that will keep you glued to this book until the very end. If you can stand all the gory details, that is.
The entire crew aboard the ISS is contaminated and dies, one after the other, until only Emma is left, sick herself, to deal with the consequences of the destruction of their mission, her life's dream and, very possibly, her life.
Will she discover the cure for the infection that decimated the rest of the crew? Will her husband, Jack, arrive in time to save her? (and yes, rescuing someone from the International Space Station is not an easy feat, especially when all official rescue mission are aborted for one reason or another; but still, Ms. Gerritsen creates a believable scenario for Jack's rescue, preparing for it since the beginning of the book, though you only realize it much later).
Reading this book is like riding one of those giant roller-coasters. Before you can catch your breath after a tight curve, you're turning upside down for a loop.
It's one of those stories you'll never forget reading and, the scariest thing is, those very experiments that went wrong in the book are actually being made in the International Space Station as we speak (yes, reading this book had me googling about the ISS and all that they do aboard), which makes the story all the more believable.
I totally recommend it! 5 stars all the way!
Have a great week, and happy reading!
Sounds like a terrifying ordeal. Thanks for sharing on Literacy Musing Mondays.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it's a gripping book! Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteThanks for sharing this post at Booknificent Thursday this week! I love it when people share favorite books! Always glad to have you!
ReplyDeleteTina
Thank you Tina!
Delete