Customer Reviews

Freefall

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I work in Mission Control Houston and had the chance to read an advance copy of "Freefall". It is true to the fast paced action style of the Reeves-Stevens, and creates a believable scenario in which the race to the moon still has secrets to bare. As any great adventure story must do, "Freefall" blends fact and fiction to convey to the reader a thought provoking premise of what might actually be true. They pull together actual events from the past and present space programs, including US civilian and military as well as Soviet Union, and mix in a large amount of speculation and action that keeps you reading to the last page. The version I read was still being updated to correct concepts intended to portray current operations at NASA, but even in that form it was a gripping and entertaining read from start to finish. It features some familiar characters from some of their past action novels and stays true to the fast paced and well written style we have become accustomed to from the Reeves-Stevens. I am very much looking forward to reading the final version when it is released.

I MUST admit, there is one major thing I have against Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens': They WRITE TOO SLOW. Other than that, what can I say? Taking techno-thrillers to the next level is exactly what this phenomenal writing duo has done with all three of their novels to date (including Quicksilver and Freefall). What they previously had done for Star Trek, they now do in a completely different arena. NORMALLY if I like a Fantasy or Sci Fi book by an author, and one day I see their name on a novel that is written in anything other than the Sci Fi genre, I tend to shy away. Sure, this isn't necessarily fair, but from the vast majority of authors I have read who have taken such bold steps, very few have succeeded. In this case, it isn't so much success as it is an absolute triumph.

Capturing your attention immediately is something the authors do rather well, and with Freefall they do so again. Captain Mitchell Webber is literally freefalling into a man-made lake in China on a covert mission to capture information on airplanes, but quickly discovers luner landing craft instead of what he was expecting...and even worse, he suspects that those who sent him knew all along what they were going to find.

The next scene delivers us into orbit (literally) as the International Space Station is visited by a NASA shuttle, when all Hell breaks loose. Before you know it, lives are lost, the ISS is crippled and NASA has lost yet another shuttle. The startling questions that begin to arise as a result of this tragic accident are coming into focus with inescapable clarity: Someone has committed sabotage. What are they looking for? What were they willing to kill over? The answers are quite surprising...and VERY entertaining.

The United States Space Force has been around for many years, but unfortunately, only a very select few know about their existence, and even fewer realize that after NASA scrapped going to the Moon after Apollo 17, the USSF continued to go. I don't wish to spoil some genuine surprises along the way, but just keep in mind the authors keep you out of the loop until the bitter end as to the big question you continue to think as more and more information becomes unveiled: WHY? I think I was little more than half-way through before I realized one very interesting thing about Freefall: I didn't want it to end. I believe that is the biggest compliment I could ever pay any author, and I don't dole out comments like that easily. It has been a very long time since I read anything which made me think this way.

I must say one more thing: as I read this book, I HAD to notice several similar themed events which happened in a novel called, 'Red Moon' by David S. Michaels. That book, which is one of my all-time favorites, asks an interesting question which covers some similar ground, What IF the Russians actually made it to the Moon FIRST? IF they did, why on earth would they keep it a secret? An absolutely stunning novel that you should search out and read especially if you enjoyed Freefall. Though both novels are similar in certain respects, they are quite different in overall concept. I just found a small portion to remind me of another book that I just couldn't put down, in fact 'Red Moon' was probably the last novel before 'Freefall' that I read which made me wish it wouldn't end.

Kudos AGAIN to this writing team. You guys are AWESOME!! Now go out and write FASTER!!!!!

Like the earlier "Icefire" this novel is truly one that you can''t put down. Several of the "Icefire" characters return to unravel a deadly conspiracy involving NASA and the USAF. The plot will thrill the space race non-believers. The space station action is exceptionally thrilling and the suspense builds as the characters try to uncover a sinister plot to maintain the status quo of the space race between Russia and the United States. The action moves along quite nicely and there are no lags in the plot at all.

Like "Icefire", the book can get a little technical and uses quite a few acronyms but it does not detract from the story. It is really quite fascinating to learn more about space travel and how dangerous it can be. Well worth the read.

If you liked "Icefire" or "Quicksilver" or enjoy novels by Tom Clancy or David Baldacci, you might enjoy this book. While the book is kind of a sequel to "Icefire" it also stands on its own quite well without needing the information about the main characters, Mitch Webber, Cory Rey, Wilhemina Bailey and her husband, to "fill-in."

The story starts with a prologue into the past where we meet Major Bailey's dad and the main story begins with Captain Webber on another SEAL type mission switching off with the situation on the ISS Space Station where Dr. Rey is retrieving samples. The disasters that happen and the many interactions and development of secondary characters such as Varik, Gen. Salyard all contribute to a thrilling ride to the final conclusion. Sometimes the reader needs to really think to discover which is the "good" side and which is the "bad" and if it really is that clear.

I loved especially the details of being on a space station, rescue efforts, things that go wrong, etc. If all felt very real and I attribute that to the Reeves-Stevens team's research!!

I look forward to more books by this great writing team!

After a year of training to use manipulative systems to gather the cylinders containing moon dust and rocks that the rover collected, civilian Cory Rey considered her mission a success and knows her boss Kai Teller of TTI industries will be pleased. The rocks and dust are worth over $100 million dollars and he will make a huge profit at auction. From the time that Cory completes her mission, things go wrong. The science officer tries to kill her in order to take the cylinders; the shuttle and the space station are badly damaged in a crash that kills all but three people.

The cosmonauts on the Soyuz rescue Cory after a near fatal accident and she brings back with her one of the cylinders that someone was willing to kill to possess. Inside are the petrified remains of three human fingers but supposedly nobody ever died on the moon. Captain Mitch Webber of the secret United States Space Force is sent to the moon to cover up what a certain faction of the government wants kept secret but he is in a race with the Chinese who plan to reveal what the U.S. government did over three decades ago

Webber is sent on the mission without all the facts and once he discovers what he is really supposed to do he has to decide between taking the legal or the moral course. This is an action thriller that starts off at light speed and than races at an even greater velocity towards the startling climax and resolution. The team of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens has written a fine tale that will appeal to fans of Tom Clancy and Jack Higgins.

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed this one. I chanced on this author duo with the random selection of 'Icefire' several weeks ago. That one was pretty good. The only weakness was how annoying Dr Rey is throughout most of that book. In this book, however, Dr Rey is much less a person you wouldn't mind falling into a coma by chapter 2 and remaining there until chapter 30.

This book had a fast pace and overall entertaining plot. The idea of the plot was very original, to me anyways. In my mind the only reason the Russian didn't fire his weapon on the moon before dying was because Apollo had already landed and so he was too late; not because he had an epiphany about peace... but each reader will decide...

So far with these two books we see a Reeves-Stevens pattern: you need the military but within that military will be the crazed General who is the main bad guy. Overcome that guy, with Bailey's help, hooray.

I had a minor problem with the ending. Only the SOV and Kitty Hawk are known to the public at the end... but it can't be that clean and simple. People will ask "where did you park the Kitty Hawk before coming home on the Enterprise?"... other on-orbit assets would have to become known. But, there's always the Bradbury Defense. :)

It's hard to explain what "Freefall" is about - much easier to say what it involves. In "Freefall", secrets of the Apollo-era race for the moon threaten to unravel in our present. Mitch Webber parachutes into China on a mission to infiltrate a secret base developing a futuristic fighter jet. Instead, he finds an even more secret "Taikonaut" training facility, where the PRoC is readying for its own stab into space. Meanwhile, Corazon "Cory" Rey, Mitch's squeeze from "Icefire" (which none of us on "The Rotten Review" actually read) is onboard the ISS, "International Space Station", retrieving a robot probe that's just been collecting dust from the moon. Sent to the moon by Kai Teller, a mysterious space-age visionary, the probe rendezvous in Earth orbit with ISS. It's only at that point that all hell breaks loose onboard ISS, killing almost everybody but Rey and a couple of cosmonauts.

Webber struggles to protect Cory from rival cabals, each with their own designs on space. As he does, he also finds himself lured into a top-secret program known only as "The Project", which turns out to be the USAF's manned spaceflight program. (This is no spoiler - the cover and several illustrations pretty much give up that ghost before you've started chapter one.) We learn that the rivaling forces are Teller and USAF Gen. Salyard, and that each has their own designs on spaceflight. What each will do to beat the other is the meat of the story. The near-term goal for each lies on the moon where we (the readers) are primed to believe a horrible secret is to be revealed.

So why does "Freefall" go straight down? I can think of several reasons.

"Freefall" bombards you with so much high-tech wizardry and asks you to accept that so much more has already happened in space than our history books have told us - that when we've gotten to the real secrets, we've lost our ability to be amazed by it. At one point, the characters consider the Roswell moon landings. In the novel's Dan Brown moment, an academic explains how the UFO story of Roswell was really a smokescreen for a botched security drill between the USAF and the Navy. It's a compelling story but why anybody should believe it (least of all the academic who pouts it) is more of a mystery, and one you know that the authors aren't prepared to acknowledge.

Next - there isn't a single interesting character in this whole story. The biggest mystery of the story is whether the authors have ever actually met with a real human being, since no realistic humans are found populating the pages of this story.
There's also the matter of the action - there isn't any. There is the disaster aboard ISS but it's leaden and confusing. Many readers will have to read it twice just to get a grip on one what happened and to whom it happened.
Lastly, there's the author's style. At one point, one of the main characters laments the way that a NASA tech writer was allowed to construct the many official acronyms. Unfortunately, it seems that the unnamed NASA bureaucrat is also the same guy who edited "Freefall". Nary a page goes by that escapes without some bloated language. It's almost someone on the executive staff of The Rotten Review(tm) actually wrote this book. We would never ask people to pay for our gut-wrenching pedantic writing because we know how ill-suited it is for telling a good yarn. "Freefall" takes one of the most exciting moments in history and turns it into a dull airport thriller.

great book every bit as good as "ICEFIRE" with three main charaters freom the originol "ICEFIRE" it has been long awated
Judith & Garfield Revees- Stevens are among my favorite authors
hope for another equal of the "ICEFIRE" cast would highly recomend this book even if you haven't read "ICEFIRE" the previouse book describes there backgrounds. Once again in my oppion "great book"

This book should be condemned by all environmentalists as a waste of good trees.

Based on an absurd premise (that anyone would care enough about the corpse of a 40-years-dead cosmonaut abandoned on the moon- who may or may not have "beaten us" to the moon- to expend significant resources on covering it up), the book uses idiotic plot devices to place our hero and heroine into situations they could not possibly have handled.

Example: "Cory" is co-opted to operate a telecontrolled lunar vehicle based on her twenty-minute experiance operating a real-time robotic arm in free-fall-ignoring the problems inherent in the three minute delay in the observation-command cycle. Apparently, all the people in the world who have actually done this(including those who got it there in the first place) have died or were otherwise engaged.

This attempt at a plot stagers along, kept afloat only by piling implausibility upon impossibility, page after page.

Ordinarily, a reader is called upon to willingly suspend his disbelief-here, you're called upon to alternately suppress your gag-reflex and laughter.