Missing Man

Rating:
Summary: Do NOT buy this book
Review: I learned something entirely new from Michael Cassutt's "Missing Man": that it is possible to have a mystery novel published without a plot! For the first hundred pages I kept looking for a plot. Then I skipped ahead a hundred pages -- still no plot. Then I skipped to the end. No plot.

If you want a sanctimonious, self-serving look at NASA, by all means buy this book. Probably it has some neat tips for wanna-be astronauts.

If you just want a good mystery read to while away the time, fugettaboutit. This is the sorriest excuse for a novel that I've seen in years.

I can't explain why my review differs so much from the others here, except to speculate that perhaps they are big into the NASA 'thing.' I'm not. Buyer beware!

Rating:
Summary: At last, a realistic whodunit in space
Review: Keith Cowing, Editor, NASA Watch: When I first saw the cover of this book and read "A stunning thriller of murder and betrayal at NASA", I thought, "yikes, not ANOTHER "NASA insider" mystery novel. Luckily, that thought passed rather swiftly. This book had something going for it right off the bat: its author, Michael Cassutt, is the coauthor of the best seller Deke!", the author of the authoritative "Who's Who in Space: The International Space Station", and a well-known television producer and writer ("Seven Days" and the eerily prescient "Max Headroom" among others). Cassutt has certainly been sufficiently exposed to NASA such that he had the opportunity to see how it did/didn't work. Given Cassutt's resume, I thought I'd give it a read. I am certainly glad I did. Having worked at NASA I usually cringe at the way writers try and put forth an aura of NASA authenticity and, in so doing, invariably get an acronym woefully wrong, portray spaceflight so as to be in violation of the laws of physics, or develop their characters along absurd caricatures. Cassutt walks into the story armed with a crisp plot, real characters, and solid technical background. I never flinched once as he laid his tale out before me. From a technical standpoint, the author clearly knows the systems, the hardware, the acronyms and how NASA's team actually uses them. He also portrays NASA internal and external politics dead on. While the prominent characters are all fictitious, you can clearly see personality traits and reactions to events exhibited by the folks who actually run JSC and the Astronaut Corps. Cassutt stages his story against a fictitious backdrop of the Shuttle-Mir program during 1998-1999. While the events differ from what is happening now, it is remarkably plausible. This is a book about human weaknesses and strengths, about loyalty to NASA and loyalty to the truth, and what happens when all of these things collide against a backdrop of the risky business of spaceflight and suspicious lethal accidents. Cassutt weaves these themes together deftly with an air of realism. Indeed, at one point, I caught myself thinking about the events I was reading from the perspective of how I'd handle this information if it came my way at NASA Watch. A knowledgeable writer is one thing, but a writer who can tell a story - convincingly and in an entertaining fashion - is quite another. Cassutt keeps you turning the pages right until the end. His screenplay expertise clearly shows. Plots twists keep you guessing nearly to the conclusion. Once many of the mysteries are resolved Cassutt takes the story to an end point which will ring true with many who work at NASA - or once did. This is not a novel designed to motivate someone to join the space program. Nor is it intended to be. Rather it is a somber tale which serves to portray the NASA world as it really is: an agency of motivated and highly talented people beset with the pressure of being perfect day in and day out -- and what they might do if something went very, very wrong. It will get you thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Not The Most Thrilling Thriller Ever, but Very Good Read
Review: Mark Kostinen a rookie astronaut trainee is in a t-38 plane with head astronaut Joe Burhle until he has to bail out and eject. Burhle an experienced pilot, womanizer and career Nasa man doesn't make it out and ends up perishing in the crash, then Mark is named with Kelly Joe's ex and fellow astronaut to the Nasa board of inquiry to find out what happened. A tissue sample Mark has analyzed soon shows that it wasn't a clear cut accident, but rather murder that ended the "popular" astronauts life.
Michael Cassutt does an excellent job bringing the world of Nasa to life in this novel. Some reviewers have commented that they felt the technical details bogged down the plot, yet I found them helpful to fully immerse myself in the fictional world Cassutt was creating. His writing style isn't extravagant or particularly flamboyant, yet technically sound without being dull. Over all I would say this isnt the most thrilling thriller/mystery I've ever read, but nonetheless a satisfying one with deep enough characterization to keep me intriqued.

Rating:
Summary: MISSING SUSPENSE
Review: Michael Cassutt's MISSING MAN has a wonderfully original premise, and Cassutt has given us some interesting and lifelike characters. However, once the identity of the culprit becomes obvious, Cassutt keeps with his technical side and loses his momentum. Cassutt obviously knows the inner workings of NASA, and while this is good to help provide a background, I agree with other reviewers who felt it interrupted the flow and ultimately destroyed any chance for suspense in the final moments. What could have been breathtaking suspense on the MIR turned out to be an obligatory and "safe" ending. The ending is too pat and cliche and having the bad deeds remain unknown only hinders Cassutt's intentions to give us a true blue hero.

Rating:
Summary: MISSING SUSPENSE
Review: Michael Cassutt's MISSING MAN has a wonderfully original premise, and Cassutt has given us some interesting and lifelike characters. However, once the identity of the culprit becomes obvious, Cassutt keeps with his technical side and loses his momentum. Cassutt obviously knows the inner workings of NASA, and while this is good to help provide a background, I agree with other reviewers who felt it interrupted the flow and ultimately destroyed any chance for suspense in the final moments. What could have been breathtaking suspense on the MIR turned out to be an obligatory and "safe" ending. The ending is too pat and cliche and having the bad deeds remain unknown only hinders Cassutt's intentions to give us a true blue hero.

Rating:
Summary: At last, a realistic whodunit in space
Review: This is the best thriller about NASA I've ever read. You'll learn more about how astronauts think, work & feel than in a dozen documentaries.

Rating:
Summary: Move over Tom Clancy
Review: With MISSING MAN, author Michael Cassutt solidifies his credentials as a first rate storyteller.

The plot unwinds with breakneck speed, it involves Mark Koskinen, an ASCAN (Astronaut Candidate) who is the only survivor of the crash of a NASA T-38 aircraft during a normal training mission.

Nothing plays out the way one would think: The pilot of the T-38, Col. Joseph Buerhle, certified hero astronaut with four Space Shuttle missions to his credit, is cremated with no autopsy after his mortal remains are recovered. The board assigned to investigate the crash seems to be less than meets the eye. The paranoid could almost get the feeling that someone does not want the whole story to come out.

When Koskinen's girlfriend dies under odd circumstances the stage is set for a ripping good mystery.

Cassutt uses his experience in television writing to portray the characters as real, three dimensional characters, albeit characters who live in work in the rarified atmosphere of spaceflight. His protrayal of some of the politics, power games and behind the scenes manuevering that takes place at the Johnson Space Center are spot on target. The author of this review worked in the aerospace industry for years and this is the most accessable picture of the flavor and atmosphere of US manned spaceflight that is liable to come around for some time.

Like Tom Clancy who pioneered the techno-thriller, Cassutt provides plenty of nuts and bolts to satisfy the gearheads, but unlike Clancy the technology does not over shadow the human story.

In spite of the view we see on the all too brief TV coverage of Shuttle missions, spaceflight is not so much about the hardware as the people who build, use and fly it. Here Cassutt strikes a sharply focused balance. The hardware is there, but not at the expense of telling a ripping good story.

Now, when does the movie start shooting? I will be in line for the first ticket. In the meantime if you have ever wondered what it is like to sit on top of six million pounds of high technology and high explosives, the closest you can get is MISSING MAN.

Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A decent read
Review: You like police procedurals? Call this a "space procedural." Good marks for the important stuff, like character development and nuance. Plot deteriorated in the last third of the book, however, and fell apart at the end. The NASA insights were welcome in the beginning, but enough's enough. They interfered with the arc of the story, perhaps because that arc was too flat. Note to author: Keep trying.

Rating:
Summary: A Space Procedural
Review: You've heard of police procedurals: this is a space procedural. You'll enjoy learning about NASA and the space program as you are pulled into the plot. The characters have depth, and the dialog is realistic. However, the plot begins to peter out, and in the end, becomes thin to disappearing. Also, enough of the innards of NASA. Rather than easing off on the atmosphere and developing the plot, the jargon intensified as the plot thinned. Set the stage, tell the story.