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Writer's pictureDion Ariestanto

Planet Earth is Blue, The Apollo Murders Review

Thousands of miles away from Earth is probably the last place you’d want to be when every single possible thing goes wrong. For Chris Hadfield’s debut thriller, The Apollo Murders, I initially was skeptical about how well he’d be able to handle a story that promised complexities that included international tension during the Cold War era and space travel gone astray. If you haven’t heard of Chris Hadfield before, you’ve probably at least by chance seen him play his guitar in space, with his video Space Oddity garnering over 50 million views. And if not that, perhaps you’ve seen his viral Ted Talk on fear or one of his many interviews that recount his treacherous experiences as a seasoned astronaut. If being an impactful speaker and inspiring astronaut wasn’t enough, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Hadfield is a competent and talented author as well.


The story is a slow burn, abetted by the meticulous detailing of three astronauts, led by flight commander Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis, as they train to go into space. While the initial mission consists of collecting geological samples from the Moon, things quickly take a turn when it’s revealed that the Soviets plan to use a hyper-sophisticated satellite that would compromise the safety of all Americans. As tensions rise before the planned mission, the first glimpse of one of many terrors occurs when one of the astronauts is involved in a fatal crash during training, a crash which is later confirmed to be a homicide. As the name of the title might suggest, this story is one of tension, motives, and murder.


Hadfield, who has logged over four thousand hours in space, delivers a truly unique thriller because of how genuine the experiences described are. This is where The Apollo Murders shines—at times, you forget that the story is even fiction, and it feels as though you are alongside the team, communicating with them through command center, running background checks on equipment, assessing solutions as each new problem arises. But it’s not necessarily the peculiarity of detail that provides this authentic experience, as too much might overwhelm a reader. Instead, it is the depth and personal feeling that accompanies tense scenarios that create a truly intimate experience. Whether it’s describing the shift in G-forces like a car crash, or chronicling nausea that arises when acclimating to zero gravity, Hadfield can describe these experiences in a perspective that truly places the reader in the shoes—or perhaps boots—of an astronaut.


As great as Hadfield is in delivering an authentic experience to the reader when it comes to being an astronaut, the immersion falls short when it comes to the actual dialogue between characters outside of mission-related communication. Although it makes sense that wording should be succinct and to the point when receiving commands from Houston during an important mission in space, Hadfield seems to drag this sort of speech into other kinds of dialogue as well. There are moments where character development is traded with robotic, unfeeling moments of speech that produce something more similar to quips and lectures than actual conversation. In a way, the characters become these flawless, inaccessible figures without a true exposition into more insecure feelings or doubts. This could have been avoided by developing each characters’ thoughts as they interacted with others outside of the mission, especially during the mundanity of life before going into space.


Even still, it should be noted though that character development is not absent, and there are still many moments throughout the novel where the reader can understand what kinds of people the characters are. Furthermore, this “untouchable” quality is likely intentional. After all, the story calls for uniquely talented astronauts that undergo some of the greatest fears known to man in space. If this calls for flawless astronauts with impeccable decision-making skills and perfect responses to anything thrown at them, then perhaps these “superhuman” and untouchable qualities can slide.


Without delving into spoilers, every moment that goes wrong is heart-dropping to the point that, combined with Hadfield’s credibility, is like hearing about a true and tragic event that you might find in the news; it’s the kind of writing that makes you wonder what exactly happened or why it went wrong. In this sense, like any good mystery, it keeps you wanting more, and by combining his expertise as a real-life astronaut with his ability to harness and also simplify complex details to elevate the story, Hadfield delivers a rewarding experience when clues and motives, at the personal and international level, come together for a truly unique and intimate thriller debut. Just remember to eat light before you lift-off with this novel or you may be in for a nauseous ride yourself.


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