The Apollo Murders

for The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and the Sideways Award for Alternate History "Exciting." -Andy Weir, author of The Martian "Nail-biting." -James Cameron, writer and director of Avatar and Titanic "Not to be missed." -Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal An exceptional Cold War thriller from the dark heart of the Space Race, by astronaut and bestselling author Chris Hadfield. 1973. A final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny module, a quarter of a million miles from home. A quarter of a million miles from help. As Russian and American crews sprint for a secret bounty hidden away on the lunar surface, old rivalries blossom and the political stakes are stretched to the breaking point back on Earth. Houston flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis must do all he can to keep the NASA crew together, while staying one step ahead of his Soviet rivals. But not everyone on board Apollo 18 is quite who they appear to be. Full of the fascinating technical detail that fans of The Martian loved, and reminiscent of the thrilling claustrophobia, twists and tension of The Hunt for Red October, The Apollo Murders puts you right there in the moment. Experience the fierce G-forces of launch, the frozen loneliness of Space and the fear of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour, as told by a former Commander of the International Space Station who has done all of those things in real life. Strap in and count down for the ride of a lifetime.

"The action is hot and realistic and you can smell the grease on the guns....Action is the name of Hadfield's game and he delivers." -The Globe and Mail "His high-octane depiction of aerial dogfights stirs memories of Top Gun." -The Times (UK) "A full throttle, adrenaline-laced espionage page-turner... Get ready to blast off and enjoy the ride!"-Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author From the author of the #1 bestselling thriller The Apollo Murders comes the supersonic hunt for a shadowy Soviet defector. Israel, October 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MiG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below... and promptly disappears. NASA Flight Controller and former top US test pilot Kaz Zemeckis watches the scene from the ground-and is quickly pulled into a dizzying, high-stakes game of spies, lies and a possible high-level defection that plays out across three continents. The prize is beyond value: the secrets of the Soviets' mythical "Foxbat" MiG-25, the fastest, highest-flying fighter plane in the world and the key to Cold War air supremacy. But every defection is double-edged with risk, and Kaz needs to tread a careful line between trust and suspicion. Ultimately, he must invite the fox into the henhouse-bringing the defector into the heart of the United States' most secret test site-and hope that, with skill and cunning, the game plays out his way. For Chris Hadfield's second heart-stopping thriller, we move from Space to another rich and exciting part of Chris's CV: his time as a top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and as an RCAF fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in North American airspace. Full of insider detail, excitement and political intrigue drawn from real events, The Defector brings us the nerve-shredding rush of aerial combat, as told by one of the world's top fighter pilots.

Houston, 1975. A new Apollo mission launches into orbit, on course to dock with a Russian Soyuz craft: three NASA astronauts and three cosmonauts, joining to celebrate a new dawn of Soviet-American cooperation. But as NASA Flight Controller Kaz Zemeckis listens in from Earth, a deadly accident changes everything. Meanwhile, from a remote location in East Asia, the first Chinese spacecraft secretly launches. On board is China's first astronaut, Fang Guojun, whose mission puts him on a collision course with the Apollo crew. As Kaz races against an enemy on the ground and for answers beyond the sky, the safety of the remaining crew hangs in the balance…