Reviews - The Defector | The StoryGraph

108 reviews for:

The Defector

Chris Hadfield

3.89 AVERAGE

hey_hoser's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging informative tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

cate_zh's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous informative tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

danaisreading's review against another edition

4.0

I enjoyed this second book of the Apollo Murders series, although it didn't go where I was expecting.

Spoiler

I figured there would be more set in Israel and the Yom Kippur War, but that was really more to get into the plot and the defection. Svetlana is back in Houston with Apollo-Soyuz (or is that Soyuz-Apollo?), but almost nothing about the mission is in the book. I think it's a set-up for the next book, but otherwise it just seems shoehorned in this one. Svetlana recognizes the defector in Vegas, and reports it up the chain to let the Russians know he's alive, but I don't know that any of that was necessary for the plot.

I will say I was very surprised the defector had as much access to US military technology and secret bases as he had. Just in case he turns out to be, y'know, a Russian secret double agent. In this series, the Russians seem to be way more on top of things than the Americans. It is a bit of an alternate reality anyway, since Svetlana walked on the moon, but you get the sense as you read this that in this world, the Russians came out of the Cold War in a much stronger position than they did in our reality.

The only thing I'm not 100% clear on is whether Grief died or not. I think he ejected too late from the MiG to make it out. The Epilogue seems to indicate that the Russians didn't get the secret info that they tried for, but they also say they didn't find a body. I think we're playing by Soap Opera rules here. No body = no death. So while he's probably dead, I also won't be shocked to read that Grief pops up again where/when least expected. Like in the Soyuz capsule for the Apollo-Soyuz (Soyuz-Apollo) mission.