Gravity

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Summary: strange virus killing astronauts in Gerritsen med-thriller
Review: After seeing Tess Gerritsen's name continue to pop up on the "best medical thriller" lists of just about everybody, including traditional Robin Cook and Michael Palmer fans, we decided to give her a spin. In turn, we got taken on quite a spin ourselves, from Houston Mission Control, alternately solving problems on the shuttle and the Int'l Space Station, to a little firm trying to make good on an untried launch device. When the astronauts start getting sick, with strange blood-red eyes and convulsions, then dying, some difficult decisions on the ground do little to help save the remaining crew. Detecting the source of the disease, watching its progress, and agonizing through attempts {or not} to rescue the survivors, created suspense from the early going straight to the end.

We can see why Gerritsen is building quite a little reputation. Her medical-thriller book list now stands at six, with all enjoying fine reader reviews. But Tess is no "Jill-come-lately" - not as well known is that she previously authored some nine romance novels as well as a screenplay for a CBS movie. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford, then later med school, she started writing while doctoring in Honolulu. Her ability to create a compelling story, make the science (including a premise or two that stretches belief) interesting and digestible, and giving us characters we care about, is what first class novels are all about. Were it not for the special setting of this fun read, earth orbit aboard spacecraft, not the most appealing to us, we would probably go the full five stars on "Gravity", providing ample incentive to try her other five thrillers soon!

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Summary: A Virus from Space Threatens to Kill Us All
Review: Dr. Jack McCallum washed out of astronaut training because of kidney stones. However, his wife Emma stayed with the program. Though not divorced, they are not together. They keep finding excuses to put the divorce off.

Emma is training for a mission to the ISS, the International Space Station, in the near future. Then because the wife of one of the astronauts up on the Station is in an accident, he has to come home, so Emma is tapped to replace him. All of a sudden she's going into space now.

Meanwhile the ne'er-do-well brother of the director of the Houston Space Center is working on his own space plane, one that's much cheaper than the shuttle, however his first attempt ended in disaster and he needs a pilot for his second attempt.

After Emma gets up on the station things start turning terrible. The lab mice start dying. Green blobs are floating around. Than the astronauts themselves start dying horrible deaths, worse than Ebola, and it appears to be highly contagious.

Jack frantically tries to track down a cure before the disease attacks Emma, but even after he believes he's solved the riddle of what's killing our spacemen, no one will let him go up. Better to let them all die, the authorities say, rather than to risk the disease getting back to earth.

So where was that cheapo space plane again?"

This is a futuristic thriller that is pretty straightforward. You just know what's going to happen before it does, but that doesn't take away form this story one bit. There are plenty of thrills here, lots of suspense and some plain old grisly horror. Also this story is very different from anything Tess Gerritsen has done to date, but don't let that put you off, because this is one very good book. I couldn't put it down.

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Summary: Tess Gerritsen WOW
Review: Gravity had two major appeals to me. First I just love her books read and own almost all of them. Second Gravity opens at White Sands Missle Range and I happen to live here. Gravity was to say the least mind blowing. The complex nature of this alien virus and ways to treat it are unbelievable. Tess Gerritsen keeps making my day with her novels. Each one a #1 in my book. If you have read any of her books you need to read the rest. Anyone who loves a mystery with a medical undertone needs to pick one up!!!! Cant wait for the next one. Tess is the Best!! Not to mention I learned a few things about White Sands that alot of people here did not know. Like this used to be a internment camp for Germans during the war.

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Summary: A Medical Thriller at it's BEST
Review: I am an avid reader of Tess Gerritsen and absolutely love her writing style. My favorite book was, (up until now) Harvest. This book was an exciting change from her others as it takes place in space. Gravity gives you an inside look at Johnson Space Center in Houston, along with all of her great medical insight. I would recommed this title to anyone in search of a great medical thriller -- this one blew me away!

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Summary: Gravity
Review: I found this book BORING. I found it in a used book store for $1.00 so I gave it a try. Instead of being a novel of medical suspense, it is more like a sleeping pill. The plot line is convoluted, and although the author claims she got assistance from NASA in writing it, the background is not factual.

I would not recommend this unless you were stuck on an ocean liner and it was the only book available and there was no bar, phone or cable.

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Summary: Just try to defy 'Gravity'!
Review: I just happened to pick this book up because I loved the cover. It also happened to have a blurb by my favorite author, Stephen King, across the front and I quote, "She is better than Palmer, better than Cook...yes, even better than Crichton." That's a pretty high recommendation, so those 2 factors encouraged me to read this book and boy, does it live up to the potential! Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for the mission of a lifetime: studying life in outer space. Emma's ex-husband, Jack McCallum, has also shared her dream of space travel, but a unforeseen medical condition leaves him grounded and very bitter. He must watch Emma take the chance of a lifetime and watch her go into space without him. Once Emma reaches the space station, however, things begin to go wrong. An experiment runs deadly, stranding Emma aboard the station with no way to get home without threatening the Earth's population. The rescue attempts have all but failed, and one by one the astronants are dying...what happens next will amaze you! This is a fabulous read, nice and easy, but yet, keeps you on the edge of your seat. After reading Gravity, I went back and read Tess Gerritsen's other books. You will too, and you won't be disappointed

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Summary: Excellent story with escalating suspense...
Review: I recently finished the book Gravity by Tess Gerritsen. It's a great medical thriller set in space...

Emma Watson, an astronaut and physician, is sent up to the International Space Station when a current occupant's wife dies as the result of a car accident. Shortly after she gets up there, one of the other astronauts contracts a strange illness and dies a gruesome death. They are unable to figure out why or what the cause is until suspicion centers on one of the cellular experiments that isn't going as they expected. The dead astronaut is put on the space shuttle for a return to earth, but the deadly killer leaks out and attacks all of those astronauts, causing them to die on the way back to earth. It then becomes a race against time and the government (who wants to keep the virus up there as they know what it is) to save Watson before she becomes the last victim.

This was an excellent story with plenty of suspense and mystery. It was one of those books I kept trying to read in any spare moment I had, as the characters were compelling and the story was building towards a interesting finale. I have a definite feeling that Gerritsen's other novels will quickly make their way onto my must-read list.

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Summary: A cant put down thriller for a non book worm
Review: I'm not a big book reader but after hearing about this book on the radio I said I would give it a try. I read this book in about three days. I was intrigued with the writing and the excellent scientific knowledge of the author. It was very enjoyable.

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Summary: The guys need to be reading this one!
Review: If you're a guy like me who likes to read Stephen Hunter or John Sandford or Michael Connelly, Baldacci is cool, Stephen King is still the king; liked Michael Crichton's AIRFRAME or SPHERE; maybe still hasn't given up on Clancy by the pound; maybe read some Michael Palmer or Robin Cook's COMA...but wouldn't read a book written by a WOMAN on a bet--c'mon guys, you know who you are--

Well, it's time to rethink your thinking.

The biggest problem you'll have with GRAVITY is that Doc Gerritsen's picture is on the inside back flap of the dust cover. And she's a petite, pretty woman with big dark eyes.

This is one cool, hair-raising, blood-splattered, techno-packed, perfectly thought-provoking, deep sea to outer-space, technically-correct, stay-up-till-dawn read.

You think you might see some "hairy-chested, bronzed muscled, quivering loins" sorta girl-book stuff?

Nope.

GRAVITY is as good a techno-thriller as has been written.

You can't be seen reading a book by a woman? Gerritsen's tough-as-nails heroine Emma Watson would easily dismiss you: "You're all f**ked up!"

Take a chance, guys. Sooner or later, you're gonna be a fan of Gerritsen.

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Summary: Very Different From Standard Tess Books, But Great!
Review: Ms. Gerritsen's medical details and terminology certainly rival those of Michael Crichton, and her writing style, characterizations and pacing nicely complement the technology. Although this book is quite different than her excellent Dr. Maura Isles series, it is nonetheless well worth reading and is a must for anyone collecting her work. The subject matter is also quite scary in the very realistic possibilities it presents as civilization sometimes insanely tries to uncover, discover and invent without due consideration of the consequences.