This book started off with a tremendous amount of potential, and there were many more moments throughout the book captured the same promise. Unfortunately, despite clearly being a capable writer the author left so many these moments unexplored or fell flat in the attempt to do so. The blurb suggests that Grover’s murder is part of a cover-up, and that the book focuses on the family’s attempt to solve the mystery. While there is some of that in the book, the focus of the novel shifts around with only a passing focus on an investigation that seems to conveniently take care of itself. The parts of the story in space have just as much promise, but also fall short of the mark. There are some really great passages, but those are islands in sea of details that do little or nothing to drive the story forward or develop the characters. MacBride is clearly a talented writer; I wish he had taken more time to develop the plot with greater clarity. This story could have been so much more than it is.
The narration was solid throughout—I enjoyed the use of different narrators to represent different elements of the story, and all three narrators seemed to bring their best to the sections of the story they were performing. I think the male narrator (Jonathan) suffered the most from reading the author’s research but succeeded in bringing life to one of the main characters-Troy-at all the different stages of his life from boyhood to his time as an old man. He also captures the bitterness of one of the astronauts in his elder years particularly well. The second narrator—who I think was Deanna Anthony—did a great job with the audio journals of one of the astronauts. This was a small part of the book, but it really stood out as a big shift in the story. The narrator at the end of the book, who I think is Anna Caputo, did a good job as well—she has a very memorable voice and ended the book on a powerful, dramatic note. There was one chapter or section in the audiobook where all three narrators read together. This was an interesting Q&A section that must read like letters or emails between the characters in the paper book. All three narrators did a great job with the character voices, and I think this chapter captures a lot of the unfulfilled potential in the book.