Customer Reviews

Orbit

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to pay for my books - so when I buy all the authors I follow, I have big expectations that I will be entertained, excited, informed, entranced, all of the above and more.
Orbit: A Novel satisfies on so many levels - A story about Kip Dawson, who has won a trip on a commercial space craft and what happens to him. Things go awry, and he is the only living person on the damaged craft. Thinking his life will end in a matter of days, he turns to the onboard laptop to sort out his feelings about his life, his career, his family - his words keeping him company, so to speak. Unbeknownst to him, the laptop is beaming down his thoughts in realtime - and the earth seems to stop to see his plight and feel his life experiences, and his initial fear that he will die and orbit for decades above the earth.
This book captured my heart. I started it late one night and finished the next morning - amazing. Orbit transcends to what have we done in our life, who we have loved, and the relationships not taken, and what could we do if we had a second chance, and wipe the slate clean.
Nance better crack his knuckles, and think of a doozie for his next piece, because he has set the bar sky high with this one.

This book is a masterpiece! Somehow John Nance manages to get better with every work and this is a crowning achievement: a unique, unprecedented, clever plot, with heart-stopping action and a level of humanity and painful truth about the agnst of an ordinary man in an extraordinary circumstance that only a deep humanist could articulate.
Kip Dawson is any one of us, male or female. His thoughts, unwittingly transmitted to the world, are the very thoughts so many men would like to deny or will never face. As one of the character says, it's not the way he's lived, but the way he's dying that's so moving.
Most hrillers aren't able to get to a depth of more than an inch or so of true characterization, let alone able to plumb the depths of the human psyche as in ORBIT. Kip is an entirely new character for a thriller. And with Kip, John Nance has utterly redefined what a thriller can be. You will love this book. You will cry with this book! You will REMEMBER this book.
The Kirkus review of ORBIT is complimentary in many ways, especially in calling this book a "guilty pleasure". The line about "manly men doing manly things" is laughable because ORBIT is an incredibly sensative story, beautifully portrayed, light years from some tale dripping in testosterone. Kirkus usually does justice to a review; however, this reader should re-read and re-consider.
Read ORBIT. Recommend it to your friends and family. Celebrate the accession of a truly talented writer to an even higher plane (no pun intended). And email Oprah to get John Nance back on her show to talk about Kip Dawson and ORBIT... the type of breakthrough book she should be championing!

In 2009 private after winning a contest Kip Dawson wins a free seat on an American Space Adventures Spacecraft. He is ecstatic but his wife left him and took the kids with her to her powerful father's mansion in Texas. Five passengers were slated to be on board the flight but due to varying reasons, only Kip and the pilot make the voyage.

Kip is enchanted by the view of Earth from space but a micrometeorite hits the ship killing the pilot before the shell works to close off the hole. Kip expects to die up there because there is no communications from Earth to the ship. The various world space agencies know someone is alive because someone is manually moving the ship but Kip can't get the rocket thrusters to work. To pass the time he writes a diary of his life on the hard drive of his computer not knowing that every word he writes is read by the people on Earth. This work makes a profound impact on the people of Earth as billions listen to the thoughts of an everyman who has them rethinking their priorities abut what is important in life even as he rays this is not his epitaph.

Kip's ordeal changes him and makes him realize he has to make some changes in his life if he survives his ordeal. He becomes a man hailed as a hero by billions of people on Earth who expect him to die with grace and courage. Kip Dawson becomes an unforgettable character, one that won't be forgotten anytime soon. John J. Nance always writes an exciting thriller and ORBIT is no exception but this time he humanizes the character and lays his soul bare through his writings on the computer. Kip is special because he doesn't expect to survive yet refuses to give in to despair.

Harriet Klausner

Kip Dawson is a middle-American Everyman whose lifelong dream of space travel is answered when he wins a contest and is awarded a seat on a commercial low-orbital space flight.

However, it all goes south when a micro-meteor strikes the craft, killing the pilot and severing communications with ground control. Aware of his impending death, Kip starts a chronicle of his life and thoughts on an on-board laptop computer as a legacy for his descendants, unaware that it is linked in send-only mode to the internet. The world becomes aware of his log, and as it follows his every thought, other forces are at work, some trying to rescue him and others trying to obstruct the rescue attempts as they follow their own political agendas.

The story idea and plot are really inventive, but the real key in making a novel truly engaging is to have believable, sympathetic characters with which one can identify - someone the reader is rooting for.

This is where Nance truly succeeds with "Orbit". Kip is the true underdog we all want to see win out over the incredible odds arrayed against him. He's a believable man with faults as well as strengths. The other characters in the book are also very well-drawn.

This book is exciting where it should be, very moving in other sections, the action sequences are tense - in other words, a real winner. As the old cliché goes: "I laughed, I cried, I was on the edge of my seat... two thumbs up!"

When Kip Dawson is alone is space and writes the story of his life knowing his death is imminent; he does not know that the whole world is listening. It is 2009, and Kip Dawson has won a contest with American Space Adventures. His wife has left him and he feels estranged from his four children. Nevertheless, he ignores his doubts, wanting to take this opportunity of a lifetime. By a chance of fate, Kip and the astronaut/pilot are the only people aboard the craft. A well-written narrative helps you feel Kip's emotions as he launches into orbit and views earth from above. Something goes horribly wrong, and Kip is left alone with no one to guide him home. This novel is a fascinating, extraordinary adventure that will leave you breathless!

I am a huge fan of John Nance, but even acknowledging that, I think this book was one of his best. It combined everything we expect from him (hair-raising thrills in the air and dramatic page-turning climaxes) with a real human side to the character of Kip. It was a character's realization of what he really wanted out of life when he was faced with the real possibility of it ending. It gets everyone thinking of what we would keep the same and what we would change. Great book!!!

Many of us have dreamed of a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something that a rare few get to do. Orbiting the Earth in a shuttle would be high on my list. Well, thanks to John J. Nance, now I have done it! From page one you will find yourself reading faster and faster, until, by the end, you'll be out of breath. If you're a sci-fi fan, or a dreamer, like me, this is a must read.

. . . but picked it up because I've enjoyed all of John J. Nance's other books. I was very pleasantly surprised as I was drawn into the plot of a man suddenly alone after the pilot of the aircraft in which he is orbiting the earth is killed.

Knowing he only has a few days to live (before he is overtaken by carbon monoxide) Kip Dawson finds a laptop computer and begins to type out his life story, not realizing that each keystroke is being transfered to the earth. Eventually, billions of people are reading every word as he types, on TV, LED signs, and so on.

After he's recorded his life, full of sadness and bad decisions, he decides to type it as he wishes it had been.

I enjoyed how the story showed the effect of Kip's writings affected people throughout the whole world; after Kip recounted his father's death and how he wished he'd made one last phone call to him before he died, phone lines around the world are overloaded. (Several more exciting incidents with world-wide repercussions are recounted but I'll just tell you this one!)

The ability of Kip to repair and fly the spaceship was a bit too convenient for me, and the only part of the book I found unbelievable. However, that is ultimately a very small part of the plot.

I was drawn into this book quickly, and thought about it for days after I was done reading it, taking stock of my life and what I'd perhaps do differently. Although it is very different from his other books, if you're a John J. Nance fan, I predict you'll enjoy it.

Mr. Nance is knowledgeable about aviation. Why not? He's created a delightful sleeper with "Orbit." My first reaction after the first 50 pages was: Good grief, where's he going with this? By the time he and I finished the book, I was delighted and exhilarated. Not a heavy read, but one to remember for a long time.

I can only sum up reading this book with one word- "STELLAR"!. Having never read any of Nance's previous work and only stumbling on this book by the neat cover and interesting back synopsis, I gave it a glance. At page 5 I knew I had to have it, and polished it off in 3 days, unfortunately. I'll let the other contributors give you the story & their own synopsis; from my own read even my wife said, "I've never heard you laugh so much". There's lots of humor in all the right places, so much emotion with just the right blend of techno-babel. It's just perfect. 5 Stars isn't enough. Click "Add to Cart" right now, or run on down to a local bookstore and grab a copy. I can only hope his next book will be just as engrossing as this one. Thank you Nance! excellent read and you have a new fan.