Space dramas are at the top of my must read list every time. I thought, this one would be the kind of science heavy storyline that I'd been looking for. Instead the plot is political (slaughter and rights of indigenous peoples). Very important topics, I just didn't expect it here. Walli Beckwith is an American astronaut on the International Space Station navigating a disaster. The book starts by immediately grabbing the reader's attention with a space collision which causes a breach in the hull. However that's not what this is about. The slow unraveling of what the Consolidation is and why Walli decides to hijack the ISS in the wake of the collision, in all it's complexity, takes the beginning third of the book. I confess I was not expecting a space humanitarian protest. It's at this point that the author started to lose me. The writing itself is stellar, the subject matter (hijacking the space station) just seemed unbelievable frankly. Then the fact that in the midst of these Amazonian terrorist fires Walli's own doctor "daughter" Sonia is out there lighting her own "Welcome" fire for her mom to see from space was preposterous. I'm not sure how to rate this. I like the originality of it, if it were an action based plotline but not so much for a political drama.

"'Is she all right?'
'Yes...but she stole'
-here he paused for a ragged breath-
'she stole the space station'"

I was so excited to read this book, and I enjoyed it, but I thought it was going to be a more space-forward story. However, it alternates back and forth between Walli Beckwith in space and her niece, Sonia, in South America.

I really liked Walli and thought she was a fantastic character and heroine. She was strong, determined, and witty, and I really connected with her. Sonia on the other hand, I couldn’t connect with. I loved the scenes with her and Oli, but I found most of her chapters to be less engaging and less character driven.

Overall, I think it was a good book, but it wasn’t quite what I thought it would be. I love reading about space and astronauts, so I was hoping the story would’ve focused more on that, as the synopsis led me to believe.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4110615682

I don't know that I'd classify this as Sci-Fi; it's more like a science-y ecological/political thriller. Despite that, I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book; opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

Using the system I now use to rate books, this is a very low four star rating. Let me explain.
The writing of this book is immaculate. There wasn't one point where I thought this part really struggled. This author knows what he's writing, and he does it well.
The logic behind the story is pretty sound as well. I believed how procedures played out were well researched. My problem comes in the fact that nobody forcibly tried to pull Walli out of the spaceship. I'm not 100% convinced she could've stayed up there as long as she did. I don't have really any facts to back that up, so I kept that score higher.
My real intrigue was to see how this all played out, and it suffered when it seemed that everything played too nicely for it to have actually played out in real life. I was intrigued to see what the main villain, the Brazilian president, and the secondary villain, the American president, did more than anything else. I honestly would have liked to see more of what they were doing.
Where this book suffered the most was the characters and the atmosphere.
All of the characters were either good or bad. There were no morally grey characters. If a character almost fit into the category of morally grey, they were quickly changed to be totally good. The only character who came close to morally grey was Polk, but she had only two scenes and was never seen again.
There was nearly no atmosphere building. I wish there were more descriptions of the spaceship or the camps where Sonia was because I wanted to feel like I was there. There was no descriptions of space and the vastness of it. The only part that really had me going on atmosphere was when Walli had to spacewalk. Everything else really lacked in description.
All in all this book really felt like it was a push to get movie rights with basic characters, atmosphere that can be created in the movie so the author doesn't have to describe it, and a very on the nose story about environmentalism. I enjoyed this for what it was, but it's a very basic story with an important on the nose message.

Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying jets and has spent more than 100 days in space. Then she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident and her colleagues are mystified. We later learn that she's using this accident to launch a protest against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

This story is amazing from a sci-fi perspective. An accident on the space station not only endangers the lives on board, but can tamper with all the experiments and data collection the astronauts are sent to do. The addition of the Amazon story line took away from the believability of the book. Without giving away the ending, the politics of the whole thing could/would never happen and seemed like a cop-out of an ending.

You can tell that a lot of research went into writing this, and if it stayed focused on the space aspect I probably would have enjoyed it more. 3 1/2 stars

Thank You NetGalley for this ARC.

3.5. This book was a bit outside of the genres I usually stick to, and I'm glad for it. I would not have chosen this book on my own, and it was thanks to the people at Dutton & Plume / Penguin Random House for reaching out that it came to my attention. The story of Holdout touches human emotion, to the scientific aspects of aeronautics, to climate issues, to world politics. The author is clearly extremely well-versed in space exploration, as well as the political climate of Brazil / The Amazon Rainforest, and I felt I learned a lot reading this book. The author did a good job of showing a variety of political viewpoints; while I thought it was clear where he stood on issues, he did a good job of showing both morality-driven people as well as fame-hungry people on a variety of political sides, which can be hard to do in the often binary approach to today's political climate. The book spends a lot of time with its main character, Walli, who I thought was an enjoyable and strong character to spend so much time with. There's a clear message the book is sending, and it's wrapped in a suspenseful plot line.

Thanks to Netgalley, Dutton & Plume, Penguin Random House, and Jeffrey Kluger for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger is a superb book with an engrossing plot and well drawn characters. Well worth the read!

What a trip! Sometimes I take a break from thrillers, historical fiction and rom-come and step into something a bit more far fetched. This isn’t a fantasy, but it is out there – in space (see what I did there? Haha).

I had my husband read this book first, it is his favorite genre, and then he gave me the scoop and urged me to read it. I’m glad I did. It took about 30% of the way in for me to grasp why I cared about two seemingly unrelated characters, but then it becomes clear. I won’t give it away, but know it’s worth it.

Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut, a proud Naval officer and she does the unthinkable – she commanders the International Space Station. We’re left wondering why? What could lead her to this? We find out about 40% in. Stick with it!

I loved having a strong female lead in what I can only imagine a male dominated field (I’ve never met a female fighter jet pilot). But it isn’t unrealistic. My husband enjoyed this part of the book too. Things are also written technically with detail, yet in a way an amateur can figure out and enjoy.

Overall this is a solid book and a great entertaining read for all types of readers. Special thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC copy

➿R E V I E W➿
Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5!
Releases August 3
GRAB A COPY, SPACE- 🥜!

||When evil forces are going unchecked on Earth, a principled astronaut makes a spilt-second decision to try to seek justice in the only place she knows how—the International Space Station||

How do you feel about space? 🪐

I won’t lie, I’ve never been big on ANYTHING to do with space because I find it pretty boring IMHO- so I was hesitant to accept this one.

BUT- this book was far from boring and I was on the edge of my seat right from the beginning.
A crash in space? ✔️Check.
A rogue astronaut? ✔️Check.
A #BADASS female MC standing up for what she believes in? ✔️✔️✔️CHECK CHECK CHECKKKK!

Walli B would ‘prefer not to’ come home when a collision forces her fellow astronauts back to Earth, seeing the Space Station as a platform to speak out against injustice. She has no husband or child, yet she has a loved one miles below she must protect. What follows is a series of events to which I could not have predicted. Parallel story lines running from space all the way to the Amazon make this not only a pulse-pounding, action-packed story, but also a very important one. Follow Walli as she ‘steals’ the Space Station in order to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and could not have loved Walli more! The author did a great job in not bogging the story down with scientific jargon and what there was- was explained so well that just a non-space junkie like me could understand perfectly!
Thanks to @duttonbooks and @jeffkluger for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

FAN-TASTIC! !!!
Holdout has everything you want in your contemporary thriller....There is realistic elements of syfy, there are personal backstories to the characters, and an underlying taunt political tug-of-war and global environmental issues.

I truly did not know what to expect when I began this novel, I knew I loved astronaut books including the recent Hail Mary by Andy Weir, Holdout was this, but so much more. From the very first few pages you are transported o the ship NAME with NAME as an important international collaborative mission goes wrong. Just a few chapters later you meet SONIA in the jungle of the Amazon. How these stories are connected is half the surprise of this brilliant tie in.

Holdout includes rich details on the working of Nasa and history of all space transport. Don't get me wrong, it's not too much, nor is it too complicated to follow. The descriptions and information fit neatly into the story and never detract from the action. Instead, they add important factual information that assist in building the story and explaining the motives behind all that are involved.

Best yet, the characters are well written REAL people. So often a syfy thriller creates a brilliant beautiful setting that encases cold thinly described heros that are admirable but not necessarily empathetic. In Holdout you are surely rooting for this heroine from the start to finish.

Highly Recommend!

An accident aboard the space station forces the crew to return to Earth, but one crew member, astronaut Walli Beckwith, refuses to leave. Disobeying orders, she remains on the station, and her reasons soon becomes clear. That’s the basic storyline for Holdout, as the title comes into focus once we learn of Walli’s reason for staying behind. This isn’t so much a science fiction novel, as the story moves between two worlds - a geopolitical battle on Earth, and a space thriller. It’s the Earth part of story that tends to slow things down, as it delves into several social/climate issues while using Walli’s peril in space as more of a backstory. Definitely not what I was expecting, and if you’re looking for a science fiction/space adventure, then this isn’t for you, and it wasn’t for me. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was expecting much more of an exciting story with a lot more space. What I got was an astronaut protesting the destruction of the Amazon because she loves her niece so much. That sounds fine to, but their relationship isn't explained until 15% of the way through the book, and the chapters are so completely different and disconnected up to that point that I thought the ARC I downloaded was corrupted and had chapters from different books mixed up. If you like politically charged books that are all character, give this book a try.

Jeffrey Kluger has not just an attention to detail, but an understanding of things aerospace, political, and environmental to a degree that allows him to explain more complicated parts of them in a digestible format for the reader. The action is full of suspense and the jump between POVs is done incredibly well. This is definitely a must read for someone interested in space travel, politics and/or the environmental and political impact of the destruction of the Amazon.

Walli Beckworth is an American astronaut aboard the International Space Station with two other Russian astronauts when a docking shuttle malfunctions and collides with the ISS. With one astronaut suffering far more life endangering injuries than the other two, the team is ordered back to Earth and to abandon their mission. Despite knowing the jeopardy that she is throwing her career into, Walli "would prefer not" to abandon mission and defies NASA to stay back on the ISS, promising that the mission that she is carrying out is worth the direct defiance of her superiors.

I had anticipated more of a space centered science fiction, but felt there were a lot more politics than I generally am used to reading about. The environmental or space focuses of the book were done fantastically, but I felt the law and political heavy sections began to drag for me as I lost interest in them. I found myself invested in both female heroines and learning more than I normally do with the fiction I tend to read.

Thank you to Penguin Random House for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Belka “Walli” Beckwith is the lone American astronaut aboard the International Space Station, on a mission with two colleagues from Russia, when a resupply cargo vehicle goes rogue and slams into the station. Battered, bruised and bloodied, the three astronauts are ordered to evacuate the station and return to Earth for medical treatment. Only Walli “prefers not to” leave, effectively hijacking the ISS and creating an international incident of epic proportions. What would lead her, a decorated Navy officer and fighter pilot, to disobey orders and put herself in legal jeopardy across no fewer than 25 countries and risk her life alone in space? To Walli, it’s all about doing what she feels is right to highlight injustice, kick off a movement and force world leaders to reckon with their actions before it’s too late. It’s a low Earth orbit sit-in with hopes of influencing a better world.

Despite the setting in space and providing scientific details of the ISS and space travel, Holdout is not science fiction ala Andy Weir’s novels. It’s more a commentary on political and environmental issues wrapped up inside a slow burn, ticking clock, race to the finish thriller. It’s a contemporary tale about the current state of divisive and dishonest politics, injustice towards indigenous peoples, and ecological calamity. But it is also a story about hope. About the power of protest and how one person can mobilize a passionate group of people to unite, make their voices heard and successfully make a difference in the world. And how it is possible for good people to tune out their political party and financial donors to listen to their conscience and reclaim their humanitarian values.

Maybe that sounds like a fairy tale in today’s world rather than a thriller, but there is plenty of suspense within the book to keep you engaged and wanting to find out what happens next. Holdout is a compelling and thought-provoking book that reminds us of the Golden Rule, the importance of family and friendship, and standing up for what you believe even when it’s hard and puts yourself in a difficult and uncomfortable situation. A perfect book for those who like reading about politics, deep diving into the issues of our time and thinking about how they would act if put into the same situations as the characters in the novel.

I was not the right reader for this book. It did not appeal to me at all, unfortunately. Best of luck!

<b> 3 Stars </b>

Astronaut Walli Beckwith is aboard a space station with her two fellow Russian colleagues when an arriving shuttle to restock their station malfunctions, crashing into the station. All three astronauts suffer injuries, but when they are commanded to abandon ship and board an escape shuttle to bring them back to earth, Walli refuses to leave. The world waits as Walli promises to reveal the explanation for her “holdout.”

This book was definitely out of my comfort zone in terms of genre and definitely not what I expected. I was expecting more of a science fiction novel and got a lot more politics than I was bargaining for. I really enjoyed all of the chapters focused on Walli, as well as the chapters focused on the second main character (who isn’t revealed in the cover description, so I won’t spoil it here), but every time the focus switched to politics or law the book dragged for me. That being said, the entire book was well written and I think definitely would appeal to those with interests in those subjects.

My one big pet peeve with this book is that it definitely needed someone in the medical profession to proof-read it. I was irked by an early comment in the book where a doctor comments that she is supposed to as a practitioner feel “dispassion” for her patients- we are absolutely not trained to do this- in fact there is SO much emphasis on connecting with our patients and remembering that we are treating a person and not just another task or job. Sometimes we may look like we aren’t experiencing intense emotions with tough situations but that is because we are practiced at not revealing them while at work. I’m a former ER nurse and trust me- we feel plenty of empathy and gut-wrenching sorrow for our patients. There were some other small medical errors, but one MAJOR one at the conclusion that blew my mind: <spoiler> bacterial meningitis is not only deadly but HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS and zero efforts were made to protect the people who retrieve Walli once she lands back on earth. We’ve got people hugging all over her with zero masks, gowns, etc on to protect themselves from a deadly disease… </spoiler>

Many thanks to Penguin and Netgalley who provided me with an advanced reader copy of Holdout.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me an electronic ARC in exchange for my independent review.

I have mixed feelings about “Holdout,” a novel in which an astronaut commandeers the International Space Station and refuses to leave unless and until the United States militarily intervenes to halt the burning of the Amazon Forest and the forced relocation of its indigenous people.

From a technical standpoint, the novel is well-written. Author Jeffrey Kluger’s prose is clear and concise. It well serves and does not get in the way of his story. And Kluger manages to create characters readers can care about, and to write tension-filled scenes that propel readers through the story.

But it’s a story that’s much more political than I had expected or wanted. I had hoped for an adventure involving the present-day exploration and utilization of outer space. While there certainly is some of that, much of the novel is set in the rainforest and depicts intense suffering, including by children—which is, generally, not something I want to read about.

I found some parts of the story to be not credible. For example, Astronaut Walli Becker is an Annapolis graduate and a naval aviator, meaning she’s the product of thousands of hours of training and years of military education and discipline. And yet, despite all that, in the middle of an emergency where everyone’s life is on the line, she makes a snap decision to commandeer the station? She's focused on making a political statement rather than saving her own life and the lives of her fellow crew? For me, it just didn’t ring true. Other parts of the story struck me as melodramatic.

And I would have liked to have learned more about the Amazon Forest and its importance to the planet, as well as its indigenous people and how they are connected to the land. I don’t remember Mr. Kluger writing anything about how the destruction of the forest will impact the rest of the earth, or describing anything about various tribal cultures. Instead, he focuses on depicting the horrors of the burning and of the camps for the relocated. By the way, it wasn’t clear to me whether those camps—one of which is compared to the infamous town of Theresienstadt operated by the Nazis during WWII—actually exist or are simply a product of the author’s imagination. However, it was clear that the stories' two power-hungry political villains were based on Brazilian president Bolsonaro and former US president Trump.

I suspect that many readers will enjoy this story. But for me, it was a “mixed bag” deserving three stars.

You definitely won’t regret this purchase, destined to be a book club discussion pick for sure!

As a reader who is also an author, I am so impressed with the vast amount of thought and research Jeffrey Kluger put into creating and fine-tuning the details throughout this story for our enjoyment.

This isn’t your average “things go wrong in space” book at all. The fresh plot and the varied characters are well executed and richly layered.

We all have some sense of duty to ourselves, our families, our countries, and our fellow man . . . this novel will likely expand your current definition of “doing the right thing” and what truly makes a hero heroic.

I have a lot more to say about this book and the impact it can have on one's moral code and social consciousness, but I don’t want to give too much away. Don't wait very long to read this one, I have a keen feeling we will be seeing a film adaptation of Holdout in the near future.

I'd like to thank the author, NetGalley, and Dutton & Plume / Penguin Random House for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Holdout for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Dutton for and advanced copy of this new space thriller.

As I read the book Holdout, by editor at large at Time Magazine Jeffrey Kluger, I thought not about the cold of outer space, but about the heat that was just outside, hot enough that my area was asked to decrease our electrical usage in fears that the whole system would collapse. And that is what the character in this book is acting against, making a stand in space, for one area on the planet, to help all the Earth. While billionaires try to flee the mess that helped make.

There is a certain irony using the International Space Station, billions of dollars in time material and man hours, the peak of scientific endeavor, to be used as a pawn in a media war to protect the rainforests in Brazil. When you see it in print it kind of makes sense. Gil Scott Heron wrote an entire song/poem "Whitey on the Moon", about the troubles facing people on the ground, rats no jobs, no rent, no hope, while a Major Tom stand in is floating in a tin can. So this is a topical story, again with billionaires blasting themselves into the sky.

The characters can use a little development. They take big decisions without seeming to think them through. And the switch from space to earth can be a little jarring sometimes. However the station science is thrilling, and seems accurate, Mr. Kluger was a consultant to the movie Apollo 13, so I am sure he has forgotten more about life in space than I ever will. A good story that raises many questions, morally and environmentally that will need to be answered soon.

Holdout is written in the third person narrative with a plot centered around two female protagonists: Walli, an astronaut, and Sonia, a recent medical graduate interning for an organization that sends doctors to developing nations. The novel opens with an incident at the International Space Station that requires everyone on board, including Walli, to come back home. In an act of defiance that no one understands, Walli refuses to leave. Striving to do what she knows is right, Walli takes the station hostage and will not leave until the U.S government obliges with her request to interfere with another country's wrong doings in an environmental issue that threatens its people and the planet.

Would I call this book a thriller? Absolutely not. Strictly science fiction with an occasional touch of adventure. I kept waiting for a turning point that wowed me but I accepted that was never going to happen about three quarters into the book. It was slow paced and took me a long time to get invested in the story. Kluger is an excellent writer and his passion for science is evident. I'm a science nerd and enjoyed his accurate use of it in the novel but the story itself was very lackluster with a plot I never completely bought into as possible. Holdout was very character driven with strong female characters but I found their endings disappointing. It's implied that their happy endings are attributed to Walli's romance with Jasper and Sonia's romance to Raymond. I love a romance as much as the next person but it felt unnecessary given the nature of the story. However, I did enjoy the inclusion of environmental and political issues in the story. Part of my disappointment is I expected this story to be completely different and that held me back from enjoying the story simply for what is is. Its accurate use of science and Kluger's writing made the story a 3/5 for me and I would recommend to fans of science, space, and real issues.

*Will be posting a review to https://www.instagram.com/lloydreads once I edit to meet the limited character restrictions for Instagram posts.