Holdout

It snuck up on me. I began thinking I was reading something diverting, began to worry that it might be mewling, and finished believing I had read something important. In this mix of "hard" astronautics, family drama and, political maneuvering, Kluger manages to paint a picture of social media working at its best, in a time when it always seems to be at its worst. Does that make it a fantasy? Maybe. But we might more generously call it an aspiration.

In this ambitious science fiction novel, the three astronauts on the ISS are expecting the arrival of a supply vehicle to equip them for their continuing long journey. Instead of decelerating on approach, the vehicle speeds up and crashes into the ISS, creating a dire emergency. The astronauts are ordered home, and the two Russians comply, leaving Walli on board alone, refusing to leave. It turns out that Walli's niece is serving as a doctor in the Amazon, where developers are setting huge fires to the jungle, killing thousands of indigenous people, so that there can be widespread and lucrative development. Walli has decided, therefore, to refuse to leave the ISS until a stop is put to the fires and murders in Brazil. The plot moves between space, mission control, and the Amazon, with the action heightening to the end. Undertaking to cover such complex issues as space travel, deforestation in the Amazon, long distance relationships, and international politics might seem to be too show more much to tackle, but Jeffrey Kluger is up for the task, and this book was thought-provoking, suspenseful, entertaining, and a most enjoyable page-turner. show less

Jeffrey Kluger’s Holdout: A Novel tells the story of Belka “Walli” Beckwith, an astronaut who elects to remain on the International Space Station rather than evacuate after an emergency. She does so in order to use it as a platform to highlight atrocities occurring in Brazil, where the president has begun burning land in the Amazon rainforest and rounding up tribespeople in order to collect the land for his own businesses. Walli’s niece, Sonia, works as a physician in the region and so Walli knows that she must use her unique position to stir up sentiment for an intervention that can stop the ethnic cleansing. Kluger’s work combines scientific realism with high drama and a sense of verisimilitude as he changes characters and institutions just enough from their real-world inspirations to keep the story in the realm of fiction while still feeling familiar to readers. Kluger previously worked with Jim Lovell on Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which Ron Howard show more adapted in his 1995 film. This book reflects that sense of optimism, with hard work and belief in a cause helping to accomplish a noble goal. show less

Jeffrey Kluger covers the NASA beat for Time Magazine and wrote the book that Ron Howard adapted for his Apollo 13 movie. So, he is well qualified to write a thriller set on the International Space Station, and Holdout has the virtues that match his credentials. It tells the story of Walli Beckwith, a Navy pilot and astronaut whose nickname honors astronaut Wally Schirra. When a Progress cargo ship hits the station, badly injuring one of the crew, NASA and Moscow order the station abandoned. Beckwith refuses to go, quoting Herman Melville’s line, “I prefer not to.” We soon learn that her refusal is a device to draw attention to the forcible relocation of tribal people from the Amazonian rainforest. The scenes on the space station and in the various space agencies are detailed and gripping. We root for Walli all the way. The scenes set in the rainforest do not come to life quite as well. Near the end, the melodramatic elements of the plot get a bit out of hand, but there is no show more denying its chills and thrills. 4 stars. show less

Coming in, I really wanted to like this book. But ultimately, this reminded me a lot of Charles Wheelan's "The Rationing." A nonfiction author attempts to write a science-based piece of fiction, and completely fails. The plot makes no sense, the characters are completely flat, there appears to have been no effort to go back and rewrite around the problems that arose in the first draft.

This book was a political, space thriller with environmental themes. Despite the heavy topics, it was an enjoyable read. The author is very well versed in soviet and NASA space details. Walli is a female astronaut that is aboard the ISS with 2 Russian cosmonauts. After an incident where one Russian in injured, they are forced to leave the space station and return to Earth. Only Walli refuses after seeing the destruction of the Amazon forests each time the space station passes that point over South America.
Walli's niece/daughter is a med student working in the forests of Brazil helping the indigenous population who are injured while being uprooted from their native homes in the forests. Walli essentially holds the ISS hostage while bringing awareness to the problem out to the public and hoping to gain American support in stopping the destruction.
This story got better as it went on. I definitely enjoyed it even though it wasn't a topic I would normally read. I received an ebook from show more Netgalley in exchange for a review. show less

This was a fantastic and action-packed read. The author is a respected author and a writer for Time magazine. He most especially specializes in science coverage/space travel. With that said, you can be sure that this book was researched within an inch of its life...and it shows.

Unfortunately, with some of this book, I had to suspend disbelief in several parts. Some of the info dumps bogged me down a tad also. However, the rest of this novel was so fascinating that there was no way I could give this book less than the 4 stars I did give it. I powered through this book like a tornado.

We have it all, including:

Space accident
Rebellion against the US government.
Hijacking of the International Space Station
Crimes against humanity
Meningitis
Fires in Amazon Basin to get the tribes off of tribal lands
More space trouble with the Space Station...oh my!

What more could you ask for?

I'm not usually one for something so scientific, but this book had me reading and wishing I didn't have to sleep!

ARC show more supplied by the publisher, the author, and NetGalley -ATTL/Edelweiss. show less

I was personally underwhelmed by this story. I was hoping for more of an Andy Weir type of story but this was told from different perspectives and was really heavy on politics which I generally stay away from. It's an interesting story for those who enjoy more politics with their science fiction.

A good gripping tale with great characters and a fairly fast pace story line. Loved some of the nerd stuff (technical details). Can't say enough good stuff about the book. Ignore the fact that it is a sci-fi book, this is not your grandmother;s or grandfather's science fiction.