Tango Midnight [Kindle Edition]

Michael Cassutt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This thoroughly readable near-future space thriller takes place in 2006, with Space Station Alpha a going concern and the Chinese sending men into space. Billionaire Tad Mikleszewski has failed in efforts to launch a privately owned space booster, but he is determined to get into orbit, even if it means paying the Russians for a ride on one of their rockets. Meanwhile, American astronaut Kelly Gessner is preparing for a shuttle voyage, actress Rachel Dunne will be doing shots for her next film aboard Alpha and Kelly's ex-lover Mark Koskinen is riding herd on Westerners at the Russian Star City space center. All of this takes place as a biowar plague known as X-Pox rages, and preparations for the launch are disrupted by weather, illness, sexual chemistry, politics, bureaucracy and Russian muggers. Once in space, Tad (aka Tango Midnight) sets up camp in an Alpha module, where he intends to develop an X-Pox antidote. An accident releases the deadly virus, trapping Tad in the module, and Mark is recruited to save him via a complex docking maneuver. The book is stronger on technical detail ("BAACC will put Shenzhou-Harmony in a minus-Z orientation") and pacing than on characterization, and the climax seems rushed, but it will satisfy space fans with a taste for thrillers, or thriller fans with a taste for space.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

By 2006, Space Station Alpha is obliged to cater to tourists and celebrities and even serve as a movie set to stay solvent. American shuttle launches then strongly resemble headlines now, and, as the novel opens, attempts at a privately operated booster have just failed. Meanwhile, the Russian booster Soyez will take anyone up for the right price, but you can't depend on it. On Earth, X-POX, a bioweapon-turned-epidemic, is paring global population and stressing global infrastructure. Biotech billionaire Tadeusz Mileszewski ("Tango Midnight") justifies his dream of going into space by taking anti-X-POX medications with him, but an explosion traps him in a lab module flooded with deadly spores. It takes the shuttle, the Soyez, and a Chinese booster to keep a thriller from becoming a tragedy. Although heavy on technical detail and space-style action (watch and wait for 11 hours, then pray everything goes right when you have to do something in the twelfth) at the expense of characterization, a tale to please space advocates, anyway. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2935 KB
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (November 1, 2003)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000RMRW0W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #788,664 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Michael Cassutt has published fiction (six novels, thirty short stories) and non-fiction (five books, all in the field of human spaceflight, and over two hundred articles). He is also an accomplished television writer and producer, with credits on such series as THE TWILIGHT ZONE, EERIE, INDIANA, and THE DEAD ZONE.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK!!!!!, November 14, 2003

By 

"wulfstar2" (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tango Midnight (Hardcover)

I don't know much about the space program, but this book was one of the best reads I have had in a long, long time. The plot draws you in right from page one and you don't want to put it down! I learned a lot about space and was thoroughly entertained too. Suspenseful to the end... great book!!!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvellous, gripping, entertaining read!, November 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Tango Midnight (Hardcover)

As a non-fiction writer, Michael Cassutt has written some of the most important and notable space flight books ever, books which astronauts and cosmonauts themselves use to learn about the past and present of space exploration. There are, of course, many insider stories that CAN'T be told while the subjects involved are still alive. With this marvellous novel, Cassutt has created a very believable and thrilling premise, full of highly accurate detail on the space programs of three different nations, and created a fascinating, gripping thriller that had me eager to read more throughout. On a different but equally entertaining level, Cassutt has added in a good number of true-but-subtly-fictionalized stories, that let the reader know what really goes on behind the public image of the space agencies. Only someone with detailed insider knowledge, plus a great talent for telling a story could have pulled this off - and luckily Cassutt has both in abundance. A great book that I highly recommend and will greatly enjoy re-reading.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting near future space adventure, November 20, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tango Midnight (Hardcover)

In 2006 Space Station Alpha is run as a business enticing wealthy tourists and even a film crew to visit. Billionaire biochemist Tad Mikleszewski buys research time on Alpha where he plans to develop an X-Pox antitoxin to stop the deadly bio plague. However, his to efforts to launch his own ship fails so he turns to the Russians for a ticket on one of their crafts.

However, while the X-Pox bio plague is causing increased deadly havoc, the launch that Tad has booked runs into the usual snafu from the smaller privatized government advocates (smaller for everyone else and privatized for major campaign donors that is). Bad weather and illness also delays the flight. Finally in space, Tad arrives at Alpha where he begins work to develop an X-Pox antitoxin. However, the deadly virus is accidentally released into the space station air. Mark Koskinen leaves the comfort of Russia's Star City to begin rescue maneuvers.

TANGO MIDNIGHT is an exciting near future space adventure that places a powerful accent on the science, technology, and the action. The novel brilliantly simplifies extremely complex knowledge so that the audience comprehends the information, but also uses that to enhance the action. Though the cast is a bit underdeveloped, outer space thriller fans will enjoy the ride.

Harriet Klausner