| From The Publisher* | "A full throttle, adrenaline-laced espionage page-turner . . . Get ready to blast off and enjoy the ride!"-Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the James Reece Terminal List series
"Continuous action, Mach-speed mayhem, sharp intrigue, and well-rounded characters-what more could you want from a thriller?"-Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The 9th Man and the Cotton Malone series
From the author of the #1 bestselling thriller The Apollo Murders comes the supersonic hunt for a shadowy Soviet defector.
Israel, October 1973. As the Yom Kippur War flares into life, a state-of-the-art Soviet MiG fighter is racing at breakneck speed over the arid scrublands below . . . and promptly disappears.
NASA Flight Controller and former top US test pilot Kaz Zemeckis watches the scene from the ground-and is quickly pulled into a dizzying, high-stakes game of spies, lies and a possible high-level defection that plays out across three continents.
The prize is beyond value: the secrets of the Soviets' mythical "Foxbat" MiG-25, the fastest, highest-flying fighter plane in the world and the key to Cold War air supremacy. But every defection is double-edged with risk, and Kaz needs to tread a careful line between trust and suspicion. Ultimately, he must invite the fox into the henhouse-bringing the defector into the heart of the United States' most secret test site-and hope that, with skill and cunning, the game plays out his way.
For Chris Hadfield's second heart-stopping thriller, we move from Space to another rich and exciting part of Chris's CV: his time as a top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and as an RCAF fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in North American airspace. Full of insider detail, excitement and political intrigue drawn from real events, The Defector brings us the nerve-shredding rush of aerial combat, as told by one of the world's top fighter pilots. |
| Review Quote* | "Before Hadfield was an astronaut, he was a test pilot, and this novel draws heavily on his experiences. The characters are based on real people, and the technology is historically accurate. Hadfield's writing is superb. He is a gifted storyteller, able to take his real-world experiences and turn them into a gripping and intensely realistic fictional story. Fans of The Apollo Murders will seek out this one, but because it works as a stand-alone, newcomers will also thoroughly enjoy it." -Booklist
"Packed with the kind of insider knowledge you simply don't get in thrillers these days, The Defector is not just an intelligent book, it's an exciting book. Expertly paced with breathtaking set pieces, I raced through it in a couple of sittings. It reminded me of Frederick Forsyth in his pomp. Highly recommended." -M.W Craven, Sunday Times bestselling author of Dead Ground
"Continuous action, Mach-speed mayhem, sharp intrigue, and well-rounded characters-what more could you want from a thriller? Oh, the author is a former-astronaut who knows what he's talking about and a lot of what's in the story actually happened. Perfect." -New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry
"A Cold War thriller unlike anything you have ever read! From fighter pilot and astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield, The Defector is a full throttle, adrenaline-laced espionage page-turner spiked with history and intrigue that will leave you wondering if what you just read could have really happened. Get ready to blast off and enjoy the ride!" -Jack Carr,former Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the James Reece Terminal List series |
| Biographical Note | CHRIS HADFIELD is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. He was the top test pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy, and a Cold War fighter pilot intercepting armed Soviet bombers in Canadian air space. A veteran of three space flights, he served as capsule communicator-CAPCOM-for 25 Shuttle missions, as NASA's director of operations in Russia, and as commander of the International Space Station. Hadfield's books, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here and The Darkest Dark, have all been international bestsellers, and topped the charts for months in Canada. His debut novel, The Apollo Murders, became an instant #1 bestseller in his homeland. |
