The Canadian space enthusiasts amongst you already know Chris Hadfield’s name. He was the commander of the ISS (International Space Station) for a few months in 2013. He is also known for a series of videos he made while he was orbiting our planet, showing us mere Earthlings interesting aspects of life in the ISS and even recording an music album in space.

When he came back from his time in orbit, he wrote a couple of books, one of which I read and absolutely loved : An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. In it, he goes through his decades of experience as a Canadian Armed Forces fighter pilot and astronaut to share what he’s learned about life. You discover a man that has worked very hard to achieve all he did during his life, yet he remains very humble and down-to-earth. It’s one of my favourite books.

But this isn’t about his Astronaut’s Guide, but rather about Hadfield’s first foray into fiction writing with The Apollo Murders.

The book takes place in 1973, as NASA is preparing mission Apollo 18 (which was actually cancelled in real life). In this particular case, the US military has an active interest in the specifics of the mission, in regards to a suspicious Soviet satellite scheduled to launch a couple of weeks prior to the chosen date. The action revolves around a semi-retired fighter pilot named Kaz, called upon for his expert technical knowledge, and the Apollo crew. Obviously there are a lot of other people involved in such a mission ; scientists, astronauts, military personnel, etc. We also see parts of the story from the point of the view of the Soviet space program and some of its principal characters.

The main objective of the mission is to send astronauts on the moon, but there’s a secret military/political objective behind it as well, regarding the Soviet satellite and some intriguing images of the moon captured by American scientists. Before the launch, tragedy strikes and some changes have to be made to the Apollo crew, who is in for quite the unusual space mission. It sounds a bit cliché written like this, but trust me, it’s very well-executed and makes for a truly gripping read.

Where the book really shines is through the astonishing amount of technical details. And it’s not simply to showcase Hadfield’s vast knowledge in that area, it actually serves a purpose in the story. It grounds the story and make it feel more real, more visceral. For example : he describes the differences between the spacesuits worn by NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts, and it helps set the stage for what might come next in the story. There’s also a good deal on the technical aspects of communicating from and to outer space, and how that plays out for the different characters in the story. I especially liked how he described the experience of flying/living/operating in space.

It’s a true page-turner that has led me to sleep 15-30 minutes later that unusual for about a week while I was reading it. To be quite honest I haven’t many thrillers (the only other that comes to mind from the past couple of years is I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes) before, so I have very little to compare it too. In any case, I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to see what Chris Hadfield has in store. He might be retired as an astronaut, but his career as an author is off to a great start!