Taylor Jenkins Reid scored huge hits with novels such as ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ and ‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ (which also became a hit mini-series on Prime Video) and I expect ‘Atmosphere’ to be similarly well received. It’s 1984. Joan Goodwin arrives at NASA Mission Control to take on her role as CAPCOM to the third flight of the space shuttle Navigator. In short: she’s the only person in Mission Control assigned the task of speaking directly to everyone on board. However, when two of the crew attempt to return to the shuttle after a “space walk”, problems ensue and Joan must keep her calm as she tries to talk the astronauts through the tricky task of getting them back to Earth. With the situation unresolved, the action then flips back to seven years earlier. Joan is working at the Physics and Astronomy Department at a university when she sees an advertisement from NASA who are on the hunt for recruits to join their new Space Shuttle programme. We then follow her and her fellow candidates as they get put through their rigorous paces. The bulk of the novel takes place during Joan’s training as we watch her grow as a person and eventually fall in love for the first time. ‘Atmosphere’ is a rollicking read, which is well researched but never overburdened by technical jargon. It’s also full of familial push-and-pull and emotionally charged scenes that remain heart-stopping right up until the last page. RM

Published by 

Hutchinson, Heinemann