This week we’re going to another new-to-me Lake Union author, Dete Meserve and looking at her book, The Space Between.
This book was intriguing from the outset. We first meet Sarah Mayfield when she is in DC presenting the findings of her NASA team – an earth shattering discovery of an asteroid in Earth’s orbit hidden by the sun. This particular BookAHolic lives just a couple hours or so north of Cape Canaveral and absolutely loves going down there, as well as almost anything to do with space generally – I’ve read the memoirs of two separate former International Space Station Commanders this year alone, in addition to the memoirs of a legendary NASA Flight Director. So I was excited about this book nearly instantly, from the first time I even heard about it – much less once I started reading it!
And then Ms. Meserve goes in and spins a form of a Gone Girl type of tale around Ms. Mayfield as soon as Ms. Mayfield gets back home to her family. Her husband is missing, there is a brand new gun in their nightstand, and his last words to his son were to make sure the doors were locked. What follows is the type of tale fans of Gone Girl will love, but also fans of NASA and tech generally – Ms. Meserve has done her research, because Ms. Mayfield is very geeky indeed!
My *only* complaint about this book is that despite being someone who virtually never figures out a mystery before the central character does, in this book I figured out who the person ultimately responsible was about 60% or so of the way in, and I was right on the high points if not the particulars by the end of the book. Still, one of those books I truly did not want to put down, and very highly recommended.
As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
Gone Geeky Girl. This book definitely has a Gone Girl kind of vibe to it as we follow a female NASA astronomer as she presents her findings in DC, then comes home to find her husband missing. Overall, it was a very cleverly written book from an angle not often seen, and so from that perspective was excellent. My only quibble is that I am one of those that virtually *never* sees the bad guy coming… and in this one, it was fairly obvious by the 60% mark. Still, an absolutely worthy read and highly recommended.