Orbit : A Novel

The year is 2009. For Kip Dawson, winning a passenger seat on American Space Adventure's spacecraft is a dream come true. One grand shot of insanity and he can return to earth fulfilled. But the thrill of the successful launch turns to terror when a micrometeorite penetrates the capsule, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. Reality hits: Kip isn't going home. With nothing to do but wait for his doomed fate, Kip writes his epitaph on the ship's laptop computer, unaware that an audience of millions has discovered it and is tracking his every word on the Internet. As a massive struggle gets under way to rescue him, Kip has no idea that the world can hear his cries - or that his heroism in the face of death may sabotage his best chance of survival. From Publishers Weekly For Kip Dawson, an unhappily married man with a son who blames him for his first wife's death, winning a trip into orbit is a dream come true. But when a meteorite slices through the ship, killing the pilot and severing all lines of communication, the dream quickly becomes a nightmare. Nance is well-known for his aviation thrillers, and with Orbit he successfully ventures into the near future with this tale of privately funded space flight gone awry. Nance is no newcomer to narration and it shows. He reads with an assured, confident voice and moves the story along with the pacing of an expert raconteur. His vocal modulations to distinguish between characters are subtle but effective. Most of his accents sound true. The use of a walkie-talkie like voice filter to indicate when characters are speaking over the phone or radio is a nice touch that makes conversations more vivid. Kudos to Nance for crafting such a taut thriller and for infusing his performance with such heart and vigor, proving that he is the only person who should narrate his books. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist In Nance's eighteenth novel, the scene is once again set in the wild blue yonder. It's 2009, and the protagonist, Kip Dawson, has won a seat on an American Space Adventure spacecraft, Intrepid , which will orbit the earth. There are problems: a rock smashes into the craft, killing the pilot and the radios, leaving Dawson to fly it back to Earth. He writes his epitaph on the craft's laptop computer, not knowing that thousands of people have received it on the Internet, triggering a vast struggle to rescue him. As always with Nance, there is plenty of aircraft jargon to please his techno-crazed fans. George Cohen Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved In this "heart-pounding" ("Seattle Post-Intelligencer") aviation thriller, "New York Times" bestselling author John J. Nance ventures forward to 2009, taking readers on a riveting journey of life or death. His once-in-a-lifetime chance... Disillusioned with his life, when Kip Dawson wins a passenger seat on one of American Space Adventure's commercial spaceflights, it's a dream come true. Although his acceptance of the prize strikes terror in his family, Kip sets off, ready for adventure. But a successful launch quickly morphs into chaos - a micrometeor punches through the wall of the spacecraft, leaving the radios as dead as the pilot. ...becomes a global fight for survival. With nothing to do but wait for death, Kip composes his epitaph on the ship's laptop computer. Little does he know an audience of millions would soon discover his cries - sparking a massive rescue mission in his honor. With no idea the world can hear him, his heroism in the face of death may sabotage his best chance of survival. A passenger on a 2009 space flight, Kip Dawson faces death after a micrometeorite damages the capsule and kills the pilot, and types his epitaph on the ship's computer, unaware that his writings are being read on the Internet by a horrified public