Moonfall

Moonfall
by Jack McDevitt

Moonfall
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jack McDevitt
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-12-09
ISBN: 0061051128
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Harper Voyager

Book Reviews of Moonfall

Book Review: An innovative twist to the "comet hits Earth" genre...
Summary: 4 Stars

Life is good for the space programs on Earth. The first permanent Moonbase is about to be dedicated by the Vice-President of the US. There is a multinational space station running at full speed. A new mission to develop a small station on Mars is about ready to launch.

Just one problem. A huge comet originating from outside the solar system, and traveling at much faster speed than expected, is suddenly discovered hiding behind the sun. It is going to ram into the Moon, and it's going to do it in five days.

Bummer! That's not even enough time to ferry all the people off of Moonbase, let alone prepare people on Earth for the collision and its consequences. The comet hits, and the Moon shatters into fragments. Some of these fragments are blasted into space, some remain in orbit around the Earth, and still others descend into the Earth's atmosphere. It is raining burning chunks of lunar debris. And the large pieces, landing on continents and in the oceans, will change Earth's physical and political boundaries forever.

Vice-President Charlie Haskell, on the Moon, volunteers to stay behind, along with a few other brave souls. People on Earth work to develop ways to deflect the biggest Moon chunks from impacting. Joe and Jane Citizen watch their lives change. Tens of millions of people die. Can it get worse?

Yes.

Moonfall is a sci-fi tale that will keep you glued to your seat. What is going to happen? Who will live and who will die? Is this Armageddon? What are the short- and long-term consequences to our planet of losing its moon? And does humanity rise to this challenge, or fail?

Fun to read, and recommended.

Summary of Moonfall

It's the 21st century, and all is right with the world. Or so it seems.

Vice President Charlie Haskell, who will travel anywhere for a photo op, is about to cut the ribbon for the just-completed American Moonbase. The first Mars voyage is about to leave high orbit, with a woman at the helm. Below, the world is marveling at a rare solar eclipse.

But all that is right is about to go disastrously wrong when an amateur astronomer discovers a new comet. Named for its discover, Tomikois a "sun-grazer,"an interstellar wanderer with a hundred times the mass and ten times the speed of other comets. And it is headed straight for our moon.

In less than five days, if scientists' predictions are right, Tomiko will crash into the moon, shattering it into a cloud of superheated gas, dust, and huge chunks of rock that will rain down on the earth, causing chaos and killer storms, possibly tidal waves inundating entire cities...or worse: a single apocalyptic worldwide "extinction event."

In the meantime, the population of Moonbase must be evacuated by a hastily assembled fleet of shuttle rockets. There isn't room, or time enough, for everyone. And the vice president, who rashly promised to be last off ("I will lock the door and turn off the lights"), is trying to figure out how to get away without eating his words.

In Moonfall,McDevitt has created a disaster thriller of truly epic proportions, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters: the reluctant Russian rocket jockey entrusted with the lives of squabbling refugees; the woman chosen to be first on the moon; the scientist who must deflect the "possum" (POSSible IMpactors) knocked from orbit or witness the end science itself. And at the center of it all is Charlie Haskell, the career politician who discovers his own unexpected reserves of only himself and his country, but for all humankind.

Moonfall,is a spellbinding tale of heroism and hope, cowardice and passion played against the awesome spectacle of human history's darkest night.


Over the last few years, Jack McDevitt has quietly been producing an outstanding collection of science fiction novels. Earlier works such as The Engines of God and Ancient Shores had a thoughtful, archeological-exploration bent, but with Moonfall he takes off the gloves to create a splashy, near-future science fiction thriller with a big cast of characters and a do-or-die attitude. At the center of the story is Charlie Haskell, the U.S. vice president, who in 2024--an election year--has arrived at the American Moonbase to cut the ribbon and declare it operational. But there's a problem, and it's a doozy: a "sun-grazer" comet, with immense mass and speed, is on a collision course with the moon. Haskell, with an eye to his public image, puts himself at the bottom of the evacuation list. But time grows critically short, and soon more than his political future is in jeopardy--broken chunks of moon will begin exploding outwards. If they reach Earth, some of the chunks are big enough to cause an extinction event. McDevitt pays attention to his science while revving the action, and the stakes couldn't be higher: Haskell's choices will decide who lives and who dies--if anyone survives at all. --Blaise Selby

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