A young NASA doctor must combat a lethal microbe that is multiplying in the deadliest of environments -- space -- in this acclaimed blockbuster of medical suspense from Tess Gerritsen, bestselling author of "Harvest, Life Support," and "Bloodstream." "Gravity" Dr. Emma Watson has been training for the adventure of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. But her mission aboard the International Space Station turns into a nightmare beyond imagining when a culture of single-celled organisms begins to regenerate out of control -- and infects the space station crew with agonizing and deadly results. Emma struggles to contain the outbreak while back on Earth her estranged husband, Jack McCallum, works frantically with NASA to bring her home. But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population, and the astronauts are stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station -- where they are dying one by one...
Reviews
Gerritsen (Bloodstream) meshes medical suspenseÄher specialtyÄand the world of space travel in another nail-biting tale of genetic misadventure. Much of this scary thriller is set aboard the International Space Station, where a team of six astronauts suddenly find themselves threatened by a virulent biohazard. Victims first register a headache, followed by stomach pains; then their eyes turn blood red. Finally, they convulse so violently they literally bash themselves apart. Most frightening is what spills out of their bodies: green, egg-filled globules. As astronaut Emma Watson, the station's onboard doctor, struggles to fight the outbreak, her colleagues are dying one by one. A Japanese astronaut, the first to get sick, is sent down to earth via the space shuttle, but he's dead on arrival. Panic spreads when military physicians discover a deadly mutantÄa creature that's part human, part frog and part mouseÄin the eggs that spill from his body. The military, fearing bioterrorism or even an extraterrestrial invasion, quickly traces the contaminant to an experiment on the space station that was funded by a company researching tiny organisms in the ocean off South America, where an asteroid hit thousands of years ago. Meanwhile, back on the station, Watson is the only one left alive. The military says she's already infected and must be left to die in space, but Watson's husband, fellow astronaut/physician Jack McCallum, won't tolerate that decision, and scrambles to find a way to get her home. It's a tribute to Gerritsen, herself a medical doctor, that such an outlandish tale can be told so compellingly and convincingly. Thanks to her impressive research, the novel's detailed descriptions of life in space consistently ring true, and the progress of the breakout is satisfyingly horrific. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Mystery Guild main selections, Doubleday Book Club Super Release; Simon & Schuster audio; author tour. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Stephen King She is better than Plamer, better than Cook...yes, even better than Crichton.
Dr. Emma Watson is supposed to be studying living beings in space, but after boarding the International Space Station she's got a much more important task: halting the plague that is striking down crew members before it spreads to Earth. Film rights have been sold to New Line Cinema. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Not as compelling as Gerritessen's other thriller's Gravity is a space bound medical thriller about a killer microbe and a young doctor's battle to overcome it. All very noble and commendable but not particularly compelling reading. Dull and lacks a solid tangible villain. The writting is still good but can't compensate for the lack of plot depth.
Tess started so well with Harvest, that I just had to go on and read Gravity. It left me with the overall impression of being a little far-fetched (is the International Space Station (ISS) far enough for you?), and that perhaps Gerritsen was trying a little to hard with this one. One has to wonder, how does an author properly research life abord the ISS?
The medicne is compelling, it somewhat grotesque, and Gerritsen dos make you feel as if you really are aborad the ISS. She's even thrown in a pinch of a personal realtionship to keep it all interesting.
Gravity is quite readable and entertaining, but you'll be left thinking that the author should keep her feet planted firmly on the ground. It's just a bit too 'Twilight Zone' for it's own good.
No environment contains as many medical threats as a space station. A small group of people living in close proximity, limited medical equipment, and a host of biological experiments always in process, all of this adds up to a high risk for infectious and deadly diseases. For this reason, incoming work is carefully screened for possible toxicity, and the team is trained in careful adherence to procedure. Yet the smallest of slips can spell disaster.
When a tragic accident back on earth triggers a momentary slip on the station, something unexpected is let loose. Dr. Emma Watson arrives on the station to discover the first signs of an inexplicable infection that has horrific symptoms. Without good equipment, all she can do is try to ease the symptoms and wait for a miracle. Back on earth, her husband tries desperately to find the source of the disease and a way to treat it. But government authorities start directly interfering with NASA efforts and McCallum begins to suspect the problem is worse than a bad bug.
Tess Gerritsen succeeds at the kind of medical thriller that is the Waterloo of writers with less capability. She has to balance a tremendous amount of science with the personal issues of men and women faced with a slow and ugly disease. Making everything seem real is a major challenge. Gerritsen was an internist before she took up writing and she has a knack for communicating medical details without stupefying the reader. In addition, she manages to master NASA speak well enough to convince this reader that her scenes were completely real.
But Gerritsen really shines at steadily building suspense in the interweaving of the personalities of her characters. What her characters feel and think will complete engages the reader. From the relationship problems of Jack and Emma to the kind of government agents you love to hate, the author offers the reader countless opportunities to become involved.
Gerritsen's flaw is her compulsion to make sure that all the clues are in place. While managing to keep the reader guessing, she withholds very little information. If the reader puts in all the effort required, it is possible to anticipate too many of the plot twists. The solution, of course, is to read it a bit faster and brace yourself for a rollercoaster ride. That should be no problem at all.
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