An accident onboard the International Space Station sparks an international uproar in this political thriller. Lt. Commander Walli Beckwith decides to stay aboard the International Space Station to bring the world’s attention and action to a terrible man-made catastrophe, rather than return to Earth with her fellow crew members. This defection will not only end her career as a Navy Officer, but if Russian officials have their way, she will spend time in prison.

While in the Amazon, Sonia, an intern working for Health on Wings, finds herself in dangerous territory while trying to save the indigenous children being displaced by the chaos ensuing in the Amazon jungle. Both women choose to fight in the only way they know how to bring to light the horrific injustice being done, however, they find that not only have they put themselves in danger, they are also fighting for their very lives.

Holdout is a fast-paced political thriller/drama that begins with a bang. I found myself extremely fascinated about the Russian space program and their procedures. Usually in space dramas, we are only introduced to the American procedures, so this was a treat. We are also introduced to an amazing cast of characters, including Vasily Zhirov and Yulian Levedev, Walli’s heroic Russian crew members. I found myself really connecting to Sonia and her plight. She is strong and competent, but her youth and inexperience does cause her to react recklessly at times. However, she is a character you can’t help rooting for. I did find it a little harder to connect to Walli. I felt her character was a bit unrealistic, but I loved her interactions with Zhirov and Jasper.

Holdout is a heck of a ride with a very satisfying conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Listen to the full review at: https://bookclubbed.buzzsprout.com/

Space, despite what we tend to assume, is quite boring. This has been proven by the endless movies and novels set in the next great frontier. You float around a spaceship (which all look the same), the missions outside are tense but hard to convey (because the astronauts are slowly bobbing up and down in a black void), and the themes are predictable (isolation, fear of the unknown, running out of resources, etc).

This is a perfectly competent book, one that your dad will read and then forget the name of by next week when you ask him on the phone what he’s been up to. Every character is 2-dimensional, if they are lucky enough to receive a second dimension.

The plot, unfortunately, is not compelling. We see a deux ex machina right off the bat, as our MC uses a rare space collision to launch a spontaneous protest against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

Holdout contains one of the worst endings of all time, hinging on the US government voting to do the “right” thing, which is hilarious, casting bought-and-paid members of Congress as reasonable representatives of the peoples’ whims. Even worse, the emotional leverage our MC generates is used to spur action through…wait for it… US military invention. When has US military invention gone well? This is our strategy? Are we going to nuke the amazon to save it?

This is all before we acknowledge how offensive and belittling it is to assume we can only appeal to the United States, instead of, you know, the people of Brazil, which happens to be the country affected. Yeah, I’m sure any South American country would welcome an imperial colonizer to control and distribute their land as they saw fit. Sounds rational.

"Holdout" is a political and space thriller that reminds me of a book I haven't even thought of in decades, "Advise and Consent," by Allen Drury.

At times it moves at a stately pace, but by the dazzling end, you can fire up the triumphant music in your head and enjoy the outcome.

Lt. Commander Walli Beckwith is on a Space Station mission with two Russian crew, and they work together very well. The commander, Vasily, cares deeply about Yuli, the fix-it genius, and Walli, whose specialty is medical research on the American section of the station. When a Progress resupply rocket has control issues and crashes into the station, the resulting decompression, though moderate, causes inner ear damage to all three of them. The station itself is in peril of further damage, and the crew is ordered to evacuate in a rocket that's kept on standby at all times for just such a mission.

Yuli's injuries are more severe, and he is in desperate need of evacuation. Vasily orders an evac, but at the last instant, Walli refuses to enter the ship and escape the foundering station. She's got something else that she must take care of. The two Russians depart as she stays to do her best at stabilizing the station so that she can complete her task.

The space station offers a splendid view of things on Earth, and she's seen activity in the Amazon basin, construction and military using fire to clear unauthorized regions and manipulate the native population. The Brazilian president has plans to develop the Amazon for profit, shunting the people aside so that they won't interfere with him. Walli uses the space station as a bully pulpit to draw attention to the plight of the Amazon, demanding that the United States take action on this matter.

Using social media, she gains a following and begins to share the tragedy that is unfolding. A family member is in the Amazon basin as medical staff, and feeds more background information to her. Meanwhile she is called a pirate and hijacker worldwide for remaining on the station - what is her intent?

This book shows how you can manipulate politicians, the general public, and world governments. Is that skill going to be sufficient?

I really enjoyed the space parts of "Holdout," and the operational details of Roscosmos, the Russian equivalent of NASA. The author has direct experience of these details, as he has been a print reporter for many years and covered many of the incidents that inspired this book and the things that take place. I especially appreciated the acknowledgements, which share these details. I now understand that Kazakh is a very cold place, which I sort of knew, and that I must reach a certain place before the bomb-sniffing dog takes his walk if I don't want to spend an interminable time waiting, shivering, miserable. "Holdout" is worth reading for "behind the scenes" stories like this.

Jeffrey Kluger created astronaut and cosmonaut characters that I love and care about, and captures perfectly the colorful Russian traditions that are both rooted in their culture and in a quasi-military operational system.

Through it all, a crew is a crew, and Vasily and Yuli step up to help in a true "All for one and one for all" spirit, Russian space musketeers defending their American comrade.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I thought the writing felt real and genuine, but not too overly scientific or hard to follow. The book overall brought light to some serious things that are truly occurring in the rainforest and much like other things will be ignored until it's likely too late. The book is fiction in the sense that I don’t know how realistic it is to believe that anyone would take a stand on the international space station and actually get someone to listen, but we also live in a world that celebrates and idolizes unlikely people. Overall, I enjoyed the book and felt satisfied with how the book read and wrapped up all of the people’s lives for me at the end.

This was a fun and interesting book that combines the work of doctors in the Amazon region and an astronaut on the space station. The two stories are interwoven and the author does a good job of moving both plots simultaneously. The author’s knowledge of NASA is evident. There is exciting conflict and plenty of action. This book makes a powerful statement about the destruction of the Amazon and what one astronaut does to focus the world’s attention on the destruction.