Rating: 
Summary: A cracker!
Review: "Red Moon" is one of those books that you simply can't put down - and at over 600 pages it is a fair read. Seamlessly weaving fact and fiction, it is an enthralling case of what - literally - might have been. David S Michaels is to be congratulated on his first foray into space fiction, and I, for one, look forward to his future output.dmh
Rating:
Summary: A Genre-breaching surprise, an "Astronomical Achievement"
Review: "Red Moon" was one of the best surprises in my entertainment diet for the 2000/2001 indoor season. An all-around good read and a suspense-builder. I have to concur with other readers whom I have heard more eruditely praise this book. For the less literary, I will concisely state that "Wicked cool" was my gut reaction when finishing the final page. I have to admit to entering this novel as a doubter, someone relatively disinterested in space travel and Science-fiction. Being more of a historian of distant times and a stickler for realism, I was reluctant to "buy in" to this idea. I must say that the writing style and plot lines passed my admittedly strict standards for good science fiction, and even created a new desire to learn the background of this period (namely the U.S./Soviet "Space race" during the height of the Cold War). The deft intermingling of historical fact, heresay, and fiction resulted in a totally believable fusion palatable even to the cynic. Some of this background was achieved through actual museum research in the former Soviet-block, and consultation with major players from this historical time-frame. I can recommend this book to nearly everyone, especially those who are inquisitive and intelligent, but also to any movie fiends and pop-literature fanatics who pride themselves on being in on the secret --before the film is out. The imagery is highly evocative of real-life adventure in a most cinematical way, and the versimilitude of the characters reinforces their plausibility. It is hard to imagine how the cinema could do justice to this writing, which did not loose its smooth literary integrity. The reader must take caution to read when time is not at a premium, as the constant build and intensification of the plot makes the book almost impossible to put down. I found myself daydreaming about the next development whilst not reading, and then craving a sequel once finished. The advance of the timeline in two eras and two fronts is a seemingly unique device which harmonizes all the elements of the tale, and creates a resonance in the reader's mind as a unity between one storyline and the other emerges. Many questions are answered, but enough is left to the extrapolative musings of the reader so as to spark his or her own creativity.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Speculative/Historical Fiction
Review: David Michaels' Red Moon is a fine adventure, shuffling between three stories easily. My only criticism is that the rationale in the story for the return trip to the moon in the early 21st century was not terribly believable. Aside from that, the novel's mixture of historical figures from the Soviet space program and fictional characters is superior, the final scene is moving, and the subplot on the moon in the 21st century was particularly well written and suspenseful. Looking forward to future work from Mr. Michaels - be sure to visit his web site at luna15.com.
Rating: 
Summary: A "two hour lunch" book
Review: Greet Book! A wonderfully detailed story, mixing an exciting time in modern history with a "what if" scenario that will thrill any space fan. The book grabs your attention from the very first pages, and keeps you wanting more. Very hard to put down, hence the two hour lunches. I met the author at a book signing and found his interest in the space race of the 60's similar to mine. The heroes of the day, and what they meant to us as small children, comes out in his character development and the story line. I found myself wanting more at the end of the book, and hope to see a sequel. Mr. Michaels has done a great job at researching this material, and gave an excellent presentation at the book signing. One of the things I liked most was the constant changing back and forth between story lines, character, the different years of history, and how he kept giving us small clues as events unfolded, then left us to see how these small details from the past and future influence the decisions and paths our heroes take in the story. A well thought out tale, one I'm anxious to share with my 14 year old son, and let him feel some of the excitement I felt at his age, watching the rockets fly!
Rating:
Summary: A Genuinely Satisfying Read
Review: Having been a space program buff since my childhood, I've been drawn by books like Martin Caidin's Marooned, Stephen Baxter's Voyage, and even political writer Allen Drury's The Throne of Saturn (that one dates me, I realize). Red Moon caught my attention while I was browsing Amazon, and after only a few pages I was pleased to see I had spent my money very, very well. Simply, this is an amazing book. Unlike a lot of books that try to achieve a cinematic effect by cutting quickly between scenes and situations, Michaels' book, with its full chapters and fully realized sequences paints clear heartfelt scenes more effectively than most of today's films. His characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are living and breathing people with needs and flaws and conflicts. People I thought about long after I had finished Red Moon. The premise is that a lunar mission set during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing discovers the Soviet craft Luna 15, launched days before Apollo 11 but landing at nearly the same time, was not an unmanned probe, but in fact a last-ditch attempt to land a man on the Moon before the Americans. As an adolescent in 1969, I followed the flight of Apollo 11 completely entranced, and the looming presence of Luna 15 was felt deeply by me. I had wondered about the intentions of the mysterious craft, and it is fascinating to me to see this captured the imagination of this writer as well. This is a huge book, not only in size, but scope, and Michaels pulls it off admirably, even more so considering this is his first novel. He takes us along three parallel storylines, two set in 2019 -- one on a lunar landing mission marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing, the second in the upper echelons of NASA -- and one set in the Soviet Union of 1968-69. The first Macguffin of the story, finding rare Helium 3 on the Moon, is the same as Homer Hickam's disappointing Back to the Moon, but is handled far more dramatically, and is in turn upstaged by the quest for finding the answer to the mystery surrounding Luna 15 and Grigor Belinsky, her pilot. Michaels skillfully plays the three storylines off of each other, teasing and rewarding us, involving us deeply into these people's lives. There are moments of great passion and feeling in this story, so much so it brought me to tears no less than three times. I genuinely wished the book had been longer, and if there is a sequel I'll be the first to snatch it up. Red Moon is simply a wonderful read. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Speculative/Historical Fiction
Review: I can only say that Red Moon is superb! I could not leave the book down until I finished it. A splendid mixture of near-future science fiction, politics, revealed conspiracies and lost glories of the Soviet space program. DS Michaels manages to combine all these in an extremely fascinating novel where no one is certain of the outcome until the last page. I consider it to be the finest example of "space-fiction" of the last few years.
Rating:
Summary: EASILY one of the best novels I have ever read...
Review: It was quite by accident that I came across 'Red Moon', but if this is what accidents are supposed to be like, I would like to experience MORE of them. David Michaels contacted me personally about his novel, and before long, I was cracking open a copy of 'Red Moon' anxious to see if it was indeed as good as all of the reviews here on amazon 'claimed' it was. To be honest, words escape me how to describe how truly magnificent this book really is. I know that David is shopping the book around to find just the right place to distribute it nationally, and to be honest, after having read this book, I would think any company with an ounce of brains would be literally fighting over the opportunity to release this incredibly compelling story. Just 3 days before Apollo 11 launched, the Soviet Union also launched Luna 15, a so-called unmanned robotic ship that was to collect lunar soil samples and bring it back...in 'Red Moon' we are faced with the fictional account of a world class 'what if' question: What IF Luna 15 was actually a manned ship on a 1-way trip to the moon? Yes, NOT coming back. Grigor Belinsky is the man who is blackmailed into making this trip, and throughout this amazing story, you get to know Belinsky, you get to really appreciate what kind of person he is, and most importantly, this story gets you to thinking, 'Is this fiction, or did it REALLY happen?' I can't tell you how many times my mind ran across that question. 'Red Moon' gives you several points-of-view, taking you from the surface of the moon in 2019 and the discovery of Luna 15, to the incredibly shocking realization that it was a manned ship... to 1968 when the Space Race was not just for national pride, but personal and selfish advancement as well...you also get to go inside the Russia of the future and join the investigation into the failed Russian lunar program and find out whether or not this wreckage on the moon is real, or an elaborate fabrication by the Soviet era government to fool the world into believing they landed first... I simply CANNOT recommend this book highly enough. If you have EVER read any kind of alternate history novel, 'Red Moon' will totally RE-DEFINE how you look at them, and now sets the standard as to HOW they SHOULD be written. My one and only yardstick for judging how good a novel is, well is simple: If it is the last thing on my mind when I go to bed and the first thing on my mind when I wake up...now THAT is a good book. I believe that 'Red Moon' will be on my mind for many months to come. I give this book the HIGHEST possible RECOMMENDATION of ANY book I have reviewed here on amazon and like I said, easily this is one of the best books I have ever read. Do yourself an immeasurable favor and BUY THIS BOOK. Hop aboard, and enjoy the ride. You will wish it would never end, and unfortunately, it ended all too soon. Kudos to David Michaels, you are a true and gifted storyteller.
Rating:
Summary: tour de force!
Review: Part secret/alternate history, part near-future Lunar exploration, part political intrigue past and future, this superb novel had me riveted through its 617 pages. If you've ever wondered how the Soviets came to lose the Moon race in the 1960s, you'll find Red Moon compelling and irresistible. Scenes of launches scrubbed because of bad weather, of cosmonauts dying unknown, were heartbreaking -- Michaels shows these (possible) catastrophes as failures for all humanity, not just Communism. At the same time, he convincingly shows how Soviet paranoia shot itself in the foot and worse. Meanwhile, these and other threads in the novel are told and tied together via richly human stories. This is not just among the best first novels I've read in years; it's among the best novels, period. David Michaels' Red Moon is a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing novel of the Russian Space Program; past & future
Review: RED MOON is an exceptional novel of speculative fiction. The author has done a tremendous job in intertwining three related plots to generate an oeuvre of hefty proportions and considerable creativity. And it is such a pleasure to read a book that is written for the reader, not in anticipation of a screenplay. RED MOON not only uses the backdrop of the US-USSR space race as one point of departure, but also creates tension through the ongoing philosophical differences that remain between the two nations. The historical references to the program of the late 1960's are insightful, accurate and compelling. The plots are uncompromisingly driven by a "what-if?" factor that is added by speculations that the world was not aware of certain flights and missions by the Soviets. Revealing these cover-ups and conspiracies through the future lunar exploration timelines is a remarkably effective literary device, well handled by the author. The characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are well drawn and believable. The future setting of lunar exploration in search of Helium-3 is portrayed admirably, and the historical elements incorporated are enlightening and without extraneous embellishment. A gripping and passionate tale that is sure to please. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary exploration of outer and inner space
Review: Red Moon is an exceptional thriller as well as a novel of speculative fiction. It is actually three interwoven and inter-related stories all tied to the US-Soviet Space Race. The insights into the history of what happened and why it happened back in the sixties would be worth the price of admission alone-- but Dave Michaels has gone far beyond that to craft a gripping, page-turning novel about a future moon expedition and how the discovery of water on the moon will affect life on earth. I am not a huge fan of science fiction novels that are "the black and white hat fighting for territory in the sky" type. I prefer novels of more characterological depth that leave me with something to think about and have a real emotional impact as well. Red Moon is a great novel because it accomplishes just that. There are characters we really care about from Belinsky the tragic Russian cosmonaut to Janet Luckman an American Astronaut stranded on the moon with someone who is trying to murder her (and she has no idea who on her team it could be). This is a book to warm the heart, fascinate the mind and feed the soul. I can hardly recommend it enough for a first novel.
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