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Book Reviews Title Gravity Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story A young NASA
doctor must combat a lethal microbe that is
multiplying in the deadliest of environments -
space - in this acclaimed blockbuster of medical
suspense from Tess Gerritsen, best-selling author
of Harvest, Life Support, and
Bloodstream. Dr. Emma Watson
has been training for the adventure of a lifetime:
to study living beings in space. But her mission
aboard the International Space Station turns into a
nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of
single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of
control - and infects the space station crew with
agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to
contain the outbreak while back on Earth her
estranged husband, Jack McCallum, works frantically
with NASA to bring her home. But there will be no
rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's
population, and the astronauts are stranded in
orbit, quarantined aboard the station - where they
are dying one by one... We
Say Tess Gerritsen's
novel, Gravity is a fast paced novel that I
couldn't put down. This medical thriller is filled
with shuttle missions, governmental conspiracy,
biological terrorism, romance, and Man's endeavor
to conquer the unknown through the International
Space Station. Many novels tend to glamorize
astronauts and the space program, others tend to
trivialize the monumental amount of work that goes
into each shuttle launch. Gerritsen looks beyond
the glamour to the nuts and bolts of NASA and the
space program and intelligently enlightens and
educates the reader while telling a fascinating
tale. The novel is filled with believable
characters and events that jump from the pages.
Each character in this novel is in pursuit of his
or her dream and it is when these dreams come
crashing together, that disaster strikes.
The main
character Dr. Emma Watson is an astronaut lucky
enough to be chosen for a stint on the
International Space Station. Her dream of going
into space becomes a reality and eventually a
nightmare. Although Emma's husband Jack, also a
doctor, is an astronaut, he has been passed over
for shuttle missions due to medical concerns. In
part due to his "grounding," the marriage becomes
strained and they are in the middle of a divorce
when Emma is launched into space. Once Emma is on
the Space Station, it is one of the apparently
benign experiments that causes the emergency. We
find Emma rising to the occasion, but it is her
husband Jack that is forced to do the leg work to
find a cure in time. While both characters are made
up of hero material, Gerritsen has not created
larger than life astronauts who happen to be
married. Instead, we are shown real people with
real problems who are able to bring out the best in
each other. Similar to the X
Files, a government conspiracy is suspected when
the first astronaut on the space station dies due
to an unknown contagion. It becomes a race against
time to save the remaining astronauts and the
governmental bureaucracy becomes infuriating. While
terrorism and sabotage are initially suspected,
Gerritsen provides enough information to keep her
readers guessing. In addition, Gerritsen takes the
reader through a series of high paced events that
keep the reader engaged so even if you are smart
enough to predict what is going to happen, you want
to keep reading. What makes this
novel unique is the fresh perspective. Not only
does Gerritsen explore the wonders of space
exploration, but also the horror. While public fear
of viral killers such as Ebola is common, Gerritsen
combines what we already know about viruses and
bacteria with the unpredictability of space. The
novel examines our worst fears as a species and it
is obvious that Gerritsen researched her subject.
Her intelligence and creativity leap from the
pages. If Gravity is any indication of her skill as
a writer, I will be looking forward to her next
novel with anticipation, and I plan on acquiring
her previous novels as soon as I can. I highly
recommend beginning this novel when you know you
will have a block of time available to finish it.
Overall, a fast-paced and thoroughly enjoyable
novel. Well worth the time and
money. Review by: Yumi
Nagasaki-Taylor |
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