The GATEKEEPERS [Mass Market Paperback]

Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

Seizing space is one thing. Holding it is another. Can one man, using today's technology, seize and control space, then dictate the terms to spacefaring nations? Aerospace industrialist Rolf Bernard will try to pull it off in The Gatekeepers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pity the novelist who unintentionally shoots his heroes, as well as himself, in the foot?as seems to be the case with Graham in this first novel that, apparently inadvertently puts the seamier side of defense contracting on display. Graham's ostensible heroes are Rolf Bernard and his cohorts at BAP, "the biggest aerospace company in the world." Bernard is a businessman who claims to possess a space-oriented technology superior to that employed by NASA. He must battle frustrating federal bureaucracy, however, to deploy his Single-Stage-to-Orbit spacecraft, especially in order to launch "Brilliant Pebbles," a series of satellites designed to shoot down ballistic missiles and to ensure that the U.S. (or at least BAP) controls low-orbital space the way the English used to control the high seas. Bernard and his colleagues?the "gatekeepers"?come up with ingenious technological solutions to further their cause; even when they fail, the gaffes are interesting?a spaceship landing on an interstate highway, a short circuit caused by fruit bats. The problem for most readers will be that Bernard isn't much of a hero?in order to raise cash, for instance, he's willing to sell planes to a sanctioned China, skirting government regulations by first routing the planes to Bulgaria. Bernard and his crew also tend to treat woman as second-class citizens. Several red herrings involving the entrepreneur's estranged wife add twists to the plot without deepening it, and by novel's end, when Bernard is asking for $1.3 billion plus "total immunity from criminal prosecution" for the Pebbles System, most readers will be wondering why he, or anyone else in this novel, deserves to be rewarded for ingenuity or derring-do.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Graham is the son of the originator of the strategic defense initiative ("Star Wars" ) concept, so perhaps writing a superior space-advocacy novel comes easy for him. The plot is a near-future extrapolation from existing technology, in this case the recently flown single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle. The protagonist, an independent entrepreneur, develops a fleet of the SSTOs without government help but with his estranged wife's money instead and launches both solar power satellites and an ABM system. This initiative forces the government into a more cooperative stance. If the characters are archetypes, still they are plausible--the politicians and bureaucrats painfully so. The action is exceedingly brisk, and Graham presents the hardware in enough detail to be interesting but not so much as to overwhelm the story. Altogether, this is the best space-advocacy thriller to appear yet. It should appeal to readers in both the space-fan and thriller audiences. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Baen (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067187716X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671877163
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,146,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and instructive, July 16, 2003

By 

Kiwi (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The GATEKEEPERS (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book because it was the 1996 Compton Crook winner for best new author in the genre and because it had an introduction by astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin.

I'm glad I did. If you want a Jack Ryan hero, who never makes mistakes, you'll be disappointed. The principal characters in The Gatekeepers make mistakes in their professional and personal lives. Usually they outsmart themselves. The CIA tries to control Industrialist Rolf Bernard, and ends up creating a loose cannon. A desperate Rolf Bernard tries to make himself indispensable by controlling low-Earth orbit and ends up making a target of himself. Rolf's wife Cynthia tries to control Rolf's security man, Bobby Taylor, and nearly gets herself killed. The people trying to control Cynthia to get at Rolf do get themselves killed. The more the characters struggle, the more entangled they get.

And despite all the mistakes, miscalculations and accidents, the technology pushes ahead. Therein lies the point of the book: the three technologies-strategic defense of space, single stage to orbit spacecraft, and solar power satellites-will eventually succeed regardless of human foibles.

I thought the book was fun. Frankly, I found the flawed characters more believable than the more conventional characters that reviewers have trained themselves to expect.

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but..., January 20, 2001

By 

T. H. Wyman (Stone Mountian, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The GATEKEEPERS (Mass Market Paperback)

I liked this book, but then anything that advocates a progressive return to space has alwasy attracted me. It was a good read but some of it just seemed a little to preposterous. If you enjoy return to space type book give this one a try.