173rd out of 203 books
—
107 voters
The Cassandra Project
Two science fiction masters—Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick—team up to deliver a classic thriller in which one man uncovers the secret history of the US space program…
Early in his career, Jerry Culpepper could never have been accused of being idealistic. Doing public relations—even for politicians—was strictly business...until he was hired as NASA’s public affairs directo...more
Early in his career, Jerry Culpepper could never have been accused of being idealistic. Doing public relations—even for politicians—was strictly business...until he was hired as NASA’s public affairs directo...more
Hardcover, 387 pages
Published
November 6th 2012
by Ace Hardcover
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Basically the DaVinci Code but replace Jesus with NASA and the Knights Templar with astronauts. Entertaining airplane read, but not much beyond that. . . Full review after the link.
http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...
http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...
I REALLY liked this book! For me it has a great hook, and I could not wait to finish it.
It takes the NASA "Moon landing conspiracy theories" and flips them on their ears. What if we did indeed land on the moon, but it turned out to be BEFORE the July 1969 mission? Why would NASA hide that fact? Why did the President agree, when we were racing the Russians to the moon???
I LOVED the hook, and for me it does not disappoint.
It jumps right in,and gets to the pont. I was drawn in right away.
A good r...more
It takes the NASA "Moon landing conspiracy theories" and flips them on their ears. What if we did indeed land on the moon, but it turned out to be BEFORE the July 1969 mission? Why would NASA hide that fact? Why did the President agree, when we were racing the Russians to the moon???
I LOVED the hook, and for me it does not disappoint.
It jumps right in,and gets to the pont. I was drawn in right away.
A good r...more
It's the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, and mystifying evidence emerges that indicates another crew of NASA astronauts actually landed on the moon six months before Apollo 11. Why would NASA and the astronauts on the mission have kept it a secret?
It's a great hook. What possible reason could there have been for such a cover up? What did the real first moon walkers find? Unfortunately the book can't live up to the concept. The main characters, a NASA spokesperson and a billionaire who want...more
It's a great hook. What possible reason could there have been for such a cover up? What did the real first moon walkers find? Unfortunately the book can't live up to the concept. The main characters, a NASA spokesperson and a billionaire who want...more
Not McDevitt's best (I haven't read anything else by the co-author, I know nothing about what aspects the co-author contributed, though I certainly could spot McDevitt's hand at a number of points, especially his public relations plot point tendency--more so when it comes to a character going on a talk show with a vicious host)
So, I'll admit maybe I came in expecting more, maybe even more than I'd get in McDevitt's other books. In some ways this reads like the sort of mystery I've seen a number...more
So, I'll admit maybe I came in expecting more, maybe even more than I'd get in McDevitt's other books. In some ways this reads like the sort of mystery I've seen a number...more
I picked up this book mainly because Jack McDevitt was one of the authors. He’s a nice guy to sit and chat with, if you ever have a chance, and his books often have an old fashion pulp science fiction flavor that I rather like. The Cassandra project does, which is good in some ways, but in this particular case, I think the ending suffers as a result. I’ll try to explain why later without too many spoilers.
The story is set in the U.S.A. in 2019. The world economy is in the doldrums, the rich have...more
The story is set in the U.S.A. in 2019. The world economy is in the doldrums, the rich have...more
What if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin weren't the first astronauts to walk on the moon? Why would the US cover up earlier landings? What's on the moon to cause them to do so?
I stopped reading Jack McDevitt's work years ago because he starts with a tremendous premise and then fails to follow through. I felt that most of his books simply don't have endings. Despite the collaboration with Mike Resnick, this book has the same problem. The answer to the above questions are mind-blowingly awesome......more
I stopped reading Jack McDevitt's work years ago because he starts with a tremendous premise and then fails to follow through. I felt that most of his books simply don't have endings. Despite the collaboration with Mike Resnick, this book has the same problem. The answer to the above questions are mind-blowingly awesome......more
My favorite thing about Jack McDevitt's books is their firm grounding in reality despite the fantastical things that happen in them. McDevitt has long since established himself as the go to sci-fi author for books that pack an emotional punch and really examine the repercussions of man's hubris in our never ending attempts to discover the secrets of life and the universe.
With "The Cassandra Project" McDevitt and his co-writer the equally talented Mike Resnick delves again into the pitfalls and...more
With "The Cassandra Project" McDevitt and his co-writer the equally talented Mike Resnick delves again into the pitfalls and...more
Closer to a 3.5, I think. I love first contact novels, I love government conspiracies, and The Cassandra Project combines both together for a fairly quick novel. It's not going to win any writing awards, for sure, but as a quick bit of riveting escapism, I'm glad I grabbed this.
The book takes place in the near future, where NASA is underfunded as is the rest of the government as the nation continues to come out of the economic doldrums. Our main character, a high-ranking NASA official, trips up...more
The book takes place in the near future, where NASA is underfunded as is the rest of the government as the nation continues to come out of the economic doldrums. Our main character, a high-ranking NASA official, trips up...more
One leaked audio file ignites a controversy that involves NASA, private enterprise, the President of the United States, present and past, and a decades old scandal. One question, who was the first man to walk on the Moon?, sparks many more questions and piece by piece the Cassandra Project is revealed. The idea another mission, half a year before Apollo XI and another man, Sydney Myshko, might have landed on the Moon before Neil Armstrong seems like fiction and many regard it as just that. But a...more
I honestly do not know how to rate this book. The dust cover classifies it as a thriller, but it's nothing thrilling about this story what so ever. At its best it's a pleasant conversation. I haven't read much of Mike Resnick - though i read Santiago many years ago and loved it. As for McDevitt I usually read his books from cover to cover in a few days. The cooperation, well, it does not deliver - and then again co-writing seldom does.
"The Cassandra Project" could really have been a dense intrig...more
"The Cassandra Project" could really have been a dense intrig...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this up at the library, but I ended up being surprised. It was a pleasant surprise, so that's a good thing.
This is less science fiction than detective story wrapped in science fiction clothing (a la "The Caves of Steel" by Asimov), and it works pretty well as a page-turner: Sarah tonight asked me "what the heck is in that book that you keep picking it up? [instead of finishing cleaning for Passover]"
I think the world-building is pretty good: Bucky...more
This is less science fiction than detective story wrapped in science fiction clothing (a la "The Caves of Steel" by Asimov), and it works pretty well as a page-turner: Sarah tonight asked me "what the heck is in that book that you keep picking it up? [instead of finishing cleaning for Passover]"
I think the world-building is pretty good: Bucky...more
I did read this book very quickly and while I obviously enjoyed it I found a huge number of unrealistic aspects to the book. I would kind of classify it as an alternative history mystery. The tech in it was so far off course it was somewhat disconcerting and I guess I can blame that on being a recently retired NASA engineer and also a avid space enthusiast who was very knowledgeable on the Apollo missions. Another disconcerting thing was the constant humorous and cynical dialog. I can't imagine...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Jerry Culpepper is the spokesperson for NASA, and it is a great job for a guy who always dreamd of the moon when he was a boy, even though it is 2019 and NASA is on its last legs. Then jerry gets some odd information indicating that maybe the US had landed on the moon before the historic Neil Armstrong landing, maybe more than once. The consequences of this make for a REALLY well-done suspense story. I was thoroughly enjoying the book but realizing the whole time that it was either going to be o...more
I've enjoyed Jack McDevitt's writing now for quite some time. I'm also impressed with his ability to churn out a new book just in time for Christmas each year. (Now there's a man who understands time management.) Unlike most of his books which take us into the far future, he's pulled a Ben Bova and stayed much closer to home time-wise. What I like about all his books is that he stays very well grounded in human relationships and emotions which is why his stories work. It also helps there is a ni...more
While the concept was interesting, the execution was a bit mechanical. The final twist wasn't as creative as it could have been, and the occasional diversions into polemic infodumps were unneeded distractions in the overall writing flow. Also, given recent revelations about George Rostow's secret envelope about Nixon's hijinks with regard to Vietnam peace talks...a bit anticlimatic. And the hint that a certain well-worshiped personage might have been alien....um, if a new writer came to an edito...more
I read quite a few negative reviews on this book so I will try to be nice here. Try being the operative word. Really overall I enjoyed the book. The story and characters were fine. Nothing to run screaming down the street about, but fine. And I liked the premise for the conspiracy theory, kind of a novel take on the usual man on the moon conspiracy. And the ending was fine also. Again nothing to run screaming down the street about, but fine. When and if you do decide to read this one take along...more
Once upon a time, it was discovered that Neil Armstrong was not the first man on the moon...
This book received some mediocre reviews. It won't receive one from me. I was completely hooked. I HAD to know what they found on the moon and why it could possibly have been that controversial that it needed to be kept quiet.
I liked the way the narrative switched between three points of view. It kept the story clicking along and was a smart way to slowly unfold all of the details surrounding the secret m...more
This book received some mediocre reviews. It won't receive one from me. I was completely hooked. I HAD to know what they found on the moon and why it could possibly have been that controversial that it needed to be kept quiet.
I liked the way the narrative switched between three points of view. It kept the story clicking along and was a smart way to slowly unfold all of the details surrounding the secret m...more
Love to wonder what it will take to get us back to the moon? These two fine sf authors have taken a new approach. They've wrapped this question within an exceptionally well done, fast-paced political who-knows-what worthy of the X-files at its best. What if NASA -- or someone -- knew something about the lunar landings no one else was to know? What if that secret was so explosive, it would change the world. The main protagonist, Jerry Culpepper is a particularly enjoyable character. He's NASA's s...more
http://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/myst...
Near-future sci-fi is tricky business; the whole point is to create a world that is just a touch different than our own. By setting their story less than a decade in the future, McDevitt and Resnick have to walk a fine line. In truth, their 2019 isn’t all that different than our 2012 – the names may be different, but their world is populated by the same sorts of people that live in ours.
“The Cassandra Project” isn’t hard science-fiction, concerning itself...more
Near-future sci-fi is tricky business; the whole point is to create a world that is just a touch different than our own. By setting their story less than a decade in the future, McDevitt and Resnick have to walk a fine line. In truth, their 2019 isn’t all that different than our 2012 – the names may be different, but their world is populated by the same sorts of people that live in ours.
“The Cassandra Project” isn’t hard science-fiction, concerning itself...more
I enjoy McDevitt's space operas, and while they usually interweave some of his personal political views, Cassandra Project, which takes place in 2019, seems to have been written mainly to express those views. Part of his view, of course, is criticism of the waning of our manned NASA space program. The novel does succeed in making a strong plea for the return of NASA's glory days when we first landed on the Moon in 1969. The premise that there was a conspiracy that preceded Armstrong's walk keeps...more
If you are a NASA geek/nerd, were around when we landed on the Moon (even if you just love hearing about when we landed), this book is a must read!
The story is set about 5 years from now (2018) and see's a NASA that hasn't done anything spectacular in space since the Shuttle's were retired. Sure, there were robotic missions and the ISS, but nothing like the Moon landings in just under 50 years.
What follows is a space geek/nerd's dream come true. I won't spoil any of this amazing story, you will...more
The story is set about 5 years from now (2018) and see's a NASA that hasn't done anything spectacular in space since the Shuttle's were retired. Sure, there were robotic missions and the ISS, but nothing like the Moon landings in just under 50 years.
What follows is a space geek/nerd's dream come true. I won't spoil any of this amazing story, you will...more
This book started slow--took about 40 pages to really hook me. After that there was a nice long unraveling of a conspiracy theory that, if you read the blurb on the cover, plays out more or less like you expect. There's a big "twist" at the end that I actually groaned at and nearly threw the book across the room for. The only saving grace was that one of the characters called them out on it.
It's mostly good, but it's really not the brilliant science fiction I had been expecting or hoping for, a...more
It's mostly good, but it's really not the brilliant science fiction I had been expecting or hoping for, a...more
I'm a big fan of Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict novels, so was interested in this book when I read about it. However, the pace here seems much slower, and there were definitely times when I felt that the book would have been better off with a little trimming. Perhaps it was that I didn't relate with the characters as much, but there was just something which wasn't there which are in his other books.
Towards the end the pace did pick up, though I found the ending itself somewhat trite. I certainly...more
Towards the end the pace did pick up, though I found the ending itself somewhat trite. I certainly...more
AKKK! I am just screaming because I have been fooled again into
reading a book because the premise is fascinating, and the whole
book is bearable because it is leading up to this fantastic new
discovery, NOT.
Also, this book takes place in 2019, and the main people are in
their forties, and fifties I would guess, making them born in the
70's and 80s. But their names are Barbara, Jerry, Mary. Not names from
that era. There are other disconnects, since nothing seems to have
changed technically, or politi...more
reading a book because the premise is fascinating, and the whole
book is bearable because it is leading up to this fantastic new
discovery, NOT.
Also, this book takes place in 2019, and the main people are in
their forties, and fifties I would guess, making them born in the
70's and 80s. But their names are Barbara, Jerry, Mary. Not names from
that era. There are other disconnects, since nothing seems to have
changed technically, or politi...more
Nov 26, 2012
Jack Cheng
added it
This book was a waste of my time. There's a great hook -- a really good one -- about secret Apollo missions and what happened on the dark side of the moon. However, the ultimate mystery, the why and not the what, remains unsolved, hidden behind a final twist that was a hoary chestnut when Heinlein and Asimov were writing.
Speaking of the writing, it is terribly pedestrian, the kind of linear exposition that only hard science fiction tolerates. Plus, there's the Ayn Randian billionaire protagonist...more
Speaking of the writing, it is terribly pedestrian, the kind of linear exposition that only hard science fiction tolerates. Plus, there's the Ayn Randian billionaire protagonist...more
I bought an import Hb of The Cassandra Project having been intrigued by its premise - was Neil Armstrong the first to walk on the moon? Were there, in fact, earlier landings in 1969? If there were, why would the government cover them up when to be the first to walk on the moon would win glory not only to the individual but also to their country?! With a cast of NASA scientists and press, astronauts, billionaires who dream of the stars and the President of the US, this SF thriller hooked me from...more
Jerry works for NASA. He has a job he is good at at a place that he loves (and respects). But NASA funding is dwindling and what is there for the spokesman for NASA to do with his time?
How about rewrite the history of moon exploration?
Written as a novel full of intergovernmental intrigue, the segue to conspiracy theory novel flows smoothly. Almost too smoothly. Maybe it is psyops novel for hire? That would explain the two authors. Hmm...
I would recommend it to: People who love reading the nit...more
How about rewrite the history of moon exploration?
Written as a novel full of intergovernmental intrigue, the segue to conspiracy theory novel flows smoothly. Almost too smoothly. Maybe it is psyops novel for hire? That would explain the two authors. Hmm...
I would recommend it to: People who love reading the nit...more
Although I occasionally enjoy a science fiction oriented novel this one never really got me going or involved. It was well written but the characters never had that take over real energy I look for. The premise of the story was good but for me lacked that quality of can't put it down. I have read books by the authors previously published and they are very good authors. That being said it was almost a nice quiet book to read, no stress, no gut wrenching tension, just a easy read story. You read i...more
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Jack McDevitt is a former English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer and motivational trainer. His work has been on the final ballot for the Nebula Awards for 12 of the past 13 years. His first novel, The Hercules Text, was published in the celebrated Ace Specials series and won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. In 1991, McDevitt won the first $10,000 UPC Internation...more
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