Book Review: The Defector by Chris Hadfield

Published in 2023. Thriller. Former test pilot and NASA controller, Kaz Zemeckis and his girlfriend are on vacation in Israel during a period of rising tensions in the Middle East. It’s October 1973, and Yom Kippur is near. As a Soviet MIG-25 Foxbat aircraft conducts a surveillance mission over the area, Israeli aircraft attempt to shoot it down with air-to-air missiles. When they succeed, Kaz knows he can no longer stand by and contacts officials in Washington. He’s assigned to investigate and report back. The aircraft lands undamaged at an Israeli airfield, and the pilot surrenders and is taken into custody. The Israelis set up a cover story and declare the pilot dead to the Soviet government as the Americans take the pilot and his aircraft to a secret location: Area 51 in Nevada.

The author uses the real events and people from the timeframe as a backdrop for this story. Golda Meir is the prime minister of Israel with Moshe Dayan as her defense minister, and Richard Nixon is President with Henry Kissinger as his secretary of state. The author also uses his experience as a test pilot and astronaut to provide a lot of detail and credibility to the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel, and I liked the ending.