A real page turner

Rating:

Among the best reads I've enjoyed so far. While the copy I read was a loaner from a friend, who has yet to get it back from me, I'm glad I read it. I wouldn't have guessed it was Hickam's first, the writing is fantastic, so visual and kept me turning the pages. Even when I wasn't reading it my mind was on this story. Hickam's characters are so alive in this and kept me wanting to ride with them to the end. The techno jargon was well placed and well clarified for the techno-ignorant that I am (I never got lost). What an adventure!

Laura S.

Rating:

Back to the Moon by Homer H. Hickam Jr. is an interesting story about a group of people who travel into space to the Shorty crater to solve the age old question of how the crater was originally formed. Gene Cernan and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt were the first men to go on the mission to the moon, aboard the Challenger, to solve the mystery. They collect "fire beads" and soil from the surface of the crater for evidence. Years later, Jack plans another mission, aboard a new shuttle, to the moon for more research. Destroying his plans, someone ruins the facility and the shuttle. Meanwhile, another crew, including Jack Medaris, Virgil, Katrina "Kate" Suttner, and Penney High Eagle, prepare to take off aboard the Columbia. Jack Medaris is in love with Kate, but towards the end, he falls for Penney as well. The crew on Columbia faces many obstacles while in space. They were attacked by defense satellites and bombs. Jack is on his own shuttle, and lands on the moon, recovering pieces from the Challenger, including a love note from Kate to her future husband. While there, he falls into the Short crater and pulls in the Lunar Rover in an attempt to get out, also burying the note from Katrina. The crew heads back to the shuttle and eventually return back to earth. Yet another obstacle comes their way. The shuttle began to fall apart and landed in the ocean. A few of the members escaped by parachutes and the others were safely rescued.

I did not particularly enjoy this novel as much I would have liked to. It was very confusing at times, and I had trouble understanding it. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a detailed story about travels into space, with a bit of a love story addded.

Mr. Hickam for national pundit!

Rating:

I found this a really good read, filled with interesting characters and a great plot.

It starts out with a highjacking of the space shuttle. Hickam has enough inside knowledge to make that perfectly plausible. There is a lot of work in space suits involved, something Hickam apparently was involved in a lot at NASA. Penny High Eagle, the payload specialist, is a great and sympathetic characture. Paco the cat who's aboard is a funny touch. There's a lot of fun to this novel. I think a lot of it is tongue in cheek that some reviewers can't figure out. It definitely is not boring and is a real page-turner.

It is very thought-provoking about the "Star Wars" killer satellites around the moon, plausible, too.

In a lot of ways, this novel is a love story. Jack wants most of all to go to find a message on the moon from his late wife. Yet, his wife never went to the moon so how could it be there? I teared up when I read what Jack actually finds there.

I noticed a note on a review about a pistol being fired in space. Gun powder does not require air to burn. It contains all the ingredients in it to work in a vacuum. A form of gun powder, after all, is what is used in solid fuel rockets! As for a space-suited astronaut getting his finger on the trigger, a .45 caliber pistol has plenty of room in its trigger guard. Recoil is a problem but Hickam has his astronaut well wedged in.

I enjoyed rummaging around the old Apollo 17 site with Medaris. Some really good writing here.

All in all, much recommended. Let there be no doubt that Homer Hickam knows how to write a novel. I love all his books. Remember, even his memoirs are written as novels

Keep it up, Mister Hickam! Can't wait for the Back to the Moon movie!

A novel written while Hickam was developing his skills

Rating:

First off, this was written before Hickam's Rocket Boys according to his web site even though it came out afterwards. Clearly, when he wrote this novel, Hickam was just developing his skills as a writer. Still, even though it's dated (he uses the ill-fated shuttle Columbia for this trip to the moon) this is a very good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hickam's inside knowledge of NASA makes it a unique book. I think his tongue was very much in cheek most of the time while he was writing this but I still get the idea that the characters are based on real people he knew while working for the agency. After reading the novel, I felt as if I actually knew each and every one of the people in this book from old gruff Sam the head of mission control to Cecil the lawyer. I especially liked Cecil. He's a great character and is a good example of Hickam's development while writing this book into the great novelist he's become. Like his latest novel, The Keeper's Son, this is a novel filled with action and adventure but it is also a love story, too, and a good one. Not only is there love between the hero Jack Medaris and the beautiful Amerindian science reporter Penny High Eagle aboard the shuttle but there is also the memory of love still with Jack's dead wife who was also a rocket scientist. The scenes on the moon were especially well done. Hickam makes you feel as if you really are there. And the idea of having Jack walking around the old Apollo 17 site was pure genius. How lonely it must be there in reality. Hickam gave me that sense but also wrote it with wonder and hope. Then when Penny joins him and Jack reads the letter (I won't tell you who it's from), I got goose bumps! Even then, Hickam's talent was very impressive in his ability to make you feel for his characters. I read this novel in one long reading and was very impressed, especially since I've read Hickam's most recent work. He is a much better writer now and it's interesting to see his early work as he learned his trade. I look forward to reading all of his work from here on and I certainly don't hold this early effort against him. Read it for what it is and simply enjoy the ride.

I really enjoyed it

Rating:

I am 14 years old. This novel is fun to read. I couldn't pt it down because I wanted to know what was going to happen to Jack and Penny and Paco (who is a cat). I've really enjoyed all of Mr. Hickam's books, especially his books about Coalwood and growing up there. I and my parents are going to visit Coalwood this October 4 to meet Mr. Hickam and the other rocket boys. It should be a lot of fun. But on this novel, I really think it's a great book. My mom and dad both read it before me and said so. I just like the idea of us going back to the moon but I also really got into Jack and Penny's love story. I also loved when he wrote about Paco. A cat in space is a very funny and interesting idea. I think a cat in space would be just like Paco is described. I felt really bad for Jack when he found the message on the moon. I cried over that. I am getting all my friends to read this book.