Gravity

Outstanding and eminently readable, ‘Gravity’ is part medical thriller, part science fiction, and all un-put-downable.

When a lab experiment sent to the International Space Station for study under microgravity conditions turns deadly, it’s up to the station crew to try to stay alive and to NASA’s ground crew to figure out how to provide aid and whether to bring them home and risk contaminating Earth with a horrifying plague. Woven through this are the complex relationships between several of the main characters and, ultimately, between a civilian space exploration program and a military structure whose goals are often very different.

Gerritson never cuts back on the suspense and keeps various countdown clocks ticking as the story show more unspools. Descriptions of the agonizing and lethal attacks on the various ISS crew members are not for the faint of heart. This one will keep you up until the last page is turned … and perhaps for a while beyond that. show less

Wow, wow, wow.

I REALLY enjoyed this one. I've been thrift shop hunting for a copy of Michael Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain", and this definitely fulfilled my craving for a space-y medical thriller in the meantime.

Tess Gerritsen has quickly become one of my favorite authors. I read "Bloodstream" and "The Silent Girl" (Rizzoli & Isles #9) this year and really enjoyed both of them, but this was by far my favorite. I read it over the chaos of Christmas, sneaking little moments with my Kindle whenever I could, and I ripped through it in 2 days. I would be nursing my daughter at 4AM and end up staying up longer to read in the middle of the night!

It's a very fast paced and exciting novel. It has a very cinematic feel (man, Gravity the show more Sandra Bullock movie would have been WAY better based on this novel) and it's quite scary. If body horror bothers you, I wouldn't read this. BUT the whole medical mystery aspect is fascinating, and the fact that it takes place mostly in space added an interesting dimension to the usual medical thriller genre.

I liked the characters - there was quite a large cast, but I found it pretty easy to keep track of who was who, and I liked how the various plotlines all ended up tying together. THAT SAID, there are a couple of things in this book that may strike you as implausible. This didn't bother me, though. Frankly, I find the whole idea that we somehow *know* that there is in fact a gazillion trillion galaxies or whatever implausible, too.

Like many sci-fi novels, this book is pretty atheistic in worldview, but again, as a work of science fiction I don't get too bothered by the fact that I don't agree with all of the fictional/speculative conclusions. Early on a character does refer to another character who is a creationist as a "scientific moron" who wants schools to "throw out biology and teach the Bible" which is of course a pretty silly strawman of what creationists (of various viewpoints) think, but what can you do. I enjoy reading different perspectives and having an additional element to discuss.

All in all, I really really enjoyed this story and I was sad to finish it. I am trying to pace myself on reading Tess Gerritsen's entire backlist. ;)

Blog post of review can be found here. show less

I must have read a different book from most others… I’ve read an extraordinarily cheap science fiction thriller that feels very dated, e. g. when NASA officials threaten to fax a secret to the newspapers, when they present evidence on a cassette tape and that caters to admirers of body horror at best.

Yes, it’s a thrilling page turner but of the 90s variety; think of the old b-movies with body snatchers and smart scientists, a cowboy-infested US government and many more stereotypical characters and story elements. It’s mostly disgusting with cheap thrills and the intellectual depth of a puddle.

I finished it less than a day ago and, thankfully, the “story” is already fading into oblivion. I’ll stick to more modern works of show more Gerritsen.

One out of five stars.

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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam show less

A seemingly benign experiment on the ISS transforms into a nightmare as it grows beyond the expected and threatens to kill all the astronauts, and maybe make it back to earth.

There's no reason to be dubious of Gerritsen's earlier books. While I love the Rizzoli/Isles thrillers, I think I liked this one even more. There's tension on every page, it's easy to root for the characters, and there's so much detail about the medical aspects as well as the NASA & astronaut aspects that it feels like it must be real. Great thriller, great science fiction. Write more science fiction, Tess!

Of all of the Tess Gerritsen novels I've read, this one is the best. The Bone Garden is a close second. The story follows a couple of NASA doctors and their chase to figure out why and how a biohazard is endangering the International Space Station and the astronauts there. Intrigue, biology, and a host of interesting characters lead you on an adventure into other worlds. Fascinating details about how the space program functions, the effects of microgravity on people and science, deep sea life, outer space and medical emergencies. This book has it all. Good read.

Before reading this, I had few expectations. Just knowing that the author writes popular police procedurals doesn't always mean that other genres are a cinch to write. So I had to back off and just let the tale tell itself.

I let myself flow into the story as it began heavily on the characterization and it slowly turned into a medical thriller just happening to take place in space. [b:The Andromeda Strain|7670|The Andromeda Strain|Michael Crichton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388889327s/7670.jpg|997271]? Hmmm. But then the modern storytelling style got me hooked. No one behaved unreasonably. Smart, strong characters. Rising tension... and then somewhere in the middle, I found myself thrilling to the horror of it. :)

There's plenty show more of cool biology and medical thriller stuff, but you know what I found most interesting? It had cool echoes of [b:Starfish|66479|Starfish (Rifters, #1)|Peter Watts|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388530597s/66479.jpg|2489444]. It even reminded me a bit of that movie, Life. Or conjure in your mind any rampant story of contagion, and you've got a great idea about where this novel is headed.

I have very few complaints. I had a great time throughout. But if I should feel the need to complain about anything... it's the end. I'm not sure I buy it.

But other than that, I think I had a lot more fun here than I thought I would. :) Tess really can write SF thrillers. :) show less

** This review does not contain spoilers. All the info can be read on the back cover. **

Gravity is a medical thriller by Tess Gerritsen, themed around the crew of the International Space Station who take care of biological experiments in microgravity. The exposure of the crew and the ship, to an unknown organism, leaves the crew stranded in orbit while they die one after the other. Their nightmare begins. The people down at NASA fight frantically against time to bring them home, against quarantine and against all odds.

This fiction plays out on earth and in space, a classic duality between the known and unknown, order and chaos, the familiar and the feared. It shows us the need to explore where we never dreamed of before, versus show more conquering our fears in order to reach those places. There is no progress without risk, but are the costs worth it?

This is a memorable book indeed! The suspense builds just right to make it a page-turner. Gerritsen's medical background, combined with her space flight research, makes for an educational and tactful portmanteau that is splattered with horror at times. The characters Emma and Jack, estranged husband and wife, absorb some of the manic disaster with a romanticism both for each other and the stars.

The characters have personality and depth, although more background story for some of them would have been nice, you are always pressed back into the urgency of the situation. The steady progression of the plot never leaves you bored, while the shallow story arcs don't diverge from the most important fact: bringing them home.

My only criticism is that, due to the nature of NASA who use a lot of acronyms, you need to flip to the 5-page glossary occasionally, but less so half-way into the book (or when you memorized the acronyms). It interferes a bit with your reading pace, but I can hardly fault the story for it.

Gravity is a well written story with amiable characters placed in an impossible situation, and then it gets worse. I can recommend this book to any speculative fiction lovers and adventure seekers. show less