Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
Harper (2000), Edition: Trade Paperback, 512 pages
Description
Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for years for the mission of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. Jack McCallum, Emma's estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition has grounded and embittered him. He must watch from the sidelines as his wife prepares for her first mission to the international Space Station. Once aboard the space station, however, things start to go terribly wrong. A culture of single-celled organisms known as Archaeons, gathered from the deep sea, are to be monitored in the microgravity of space. The true and lethal nature of this experiment has not been revealed to NASA. In space, the cells rapidly multiply and soon begin to infect the crew -- with agonizing and deadly results. A recovery attempt ends in catastrophe: the NASA shuttle crashes, killing all onboard, and the space station is left dangerously crippled. Emma struggles to contain the deadly microbe, while back home, Jack and NASA work against the clock to retrieve Emma from space. But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population as well, and the astronauts are left stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station -- where they are dying one by one... Written with an exacting eye, Dr. Tess Gerritsen ensnares the imagination with Gravity, her most steely, unforgettable thriller yet.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member nlavery
Very dissapointing, even though it was scientifically/technically well researched. I read it a second time and it wasn't until I was in the last chapter that I realised I'd already read it before and hadn't liked it the first time either.
LibraryThing member brainella
Of all of the Tess Gerritsen novels I've read, this one is the best. The Bone Garden is a close second. The story follows a couple of NASA doctors and their chase to figure out why and how a biohazard is endangering the International Space Station and the astronauts there. Intrigue, biology, and a
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host of interesting characters lead you on an adventure into other worlds. Fascinating details about how the space program functions, the effects of microgravity on people and science, deep sea life, outer space and medical emergencies. This book has it all. Good read. Show Less
LibraryThing member jenforbus
Dr. Emma Watson is training for her dream trip, a trip to the International Space Station. When tragedy strikes the family of an astronaut already on the space station, Emma's trip is fast-tracked. But when Emma reaches the Space Station her dream trip turns into a nightmare. A deadly virus is
Gravity turned out to be a little more in the realm of science fiction than what I normally read, so you'll have to take into consideration my bias as you read my review today. I listened to it on audio book, read by William Dufris. I thought he did a very nice job with one exception. He had a tendency to get overly dramatic. For people who like sci-fi more than me, this may be o.k., but the Doubting Thomas in me found it a tad over the top.
For the most part, Gravity is very well written. This is the second Tess Gerritsen book that I've read and the style is strong in both. As a layman, I didn't notice any problems with logic. What I didn't particularly care for in this novel was the use of a couple of cliches. To avoid any spoilers (even though the book is 10 years old), I'll not mention what the cliches were exactly, but I will say they pretty much gave the plot away for me. I really didn't incur much surprise. What the plot does contain is food for thought. There are some rather disturbing issues that come up in the course of the plot. And you can't help wondering, which choice is the BEST choice? Is there a RIGHT and a WRONG?
What Gerritsen doesn't disappoint on in this novel is character. She has a knack with developing sympathetic characters. She is also rather creative in naming her characters, but I'd like to see her have faith that her readers will connect the significance of their names, without her needing to point it out specifically.
There was also a sub-plot in this novel that I really would have liked more development for. Typically I'm saying the sub-plot could be eliminated. In this case, it was paramount to the main plot, but I found myself wanting to know more about the characters involved in that part of the book.
I think Gravity is probably an excellent choice for someone who appreciates the science-fiction element more than I do. I'm going to check out more of Gerritsen's medical thrillers that are a little more grounded in the crime fiction a little less in the science-fiction.
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attacking the astronauts. Will Emma be able to stop the virus before it destroys the entire space station?Gravity turned out to be a little more in the realm of science fiction than what I normally read, so you'll have to take into consideration my bias as you read my review today. I listened to it on audio book, read by William Dufris. I thought he did a very nice job with one exception. He had a tendency to get overly dramatic. For people who like sci-fi more than me, this may be o.k., but the Doubting Thomas in me found it a tad over the top.
For the most part, Gravity is very well written. This is the second Tess Gerritsen book that I've read and the style is strong in both. As a layman, I didn't notice any problems with logic. What I didn't particularly care for in this novel was the use of a couple of cliches. To avoid any spoilers (even though the book is 10 years old), I'll not mention what the cliches were exactly, but I will say they pretty much gave the plot away for me. I really didn't incur much surprise. What the plot does contain is food for thought. There are some rather disturbing issues that come up in the course of the plot. And you can't help wondering, which choice is the BEST choice? Is there a RIGHT and a WRONG?
What Gerritsen doesn't disappoint on in this novel is character. She has a knack with developing sympathetic characters. She is also rather creative in naming her characters, but I'd like to see her have faith that her readers will connect the significance of their names, without her needing to point it out specifically.
There was also a sub-plot in this novel that I really would have liked more development for. Typically I'm saying the sub-plot could be eliminated. In this case, it was paramount to the main plot, but I found myself wanting to know more about the characters involved in that part of the book.
I think Gravity is probably an excellent choice for someone who appreciates the science-fiction element more than I do. I'm going to check out more of Gerritsen's medical thrillers that are a little more grounded in the crime fiction a little less in the science-fiction.
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LibraryThing member jbrubacher
A seemingly benign experiment on the ISS transforms into a nightmare as it grows beyond the expected and threatens to kill all the astronauts, and maybe make it back to earth.
There's no reason to be dubious of Gerritsen's earlier books. While I love the Rizzoli/Isles thrillers, I think I liked this
There's no reason to be dubious of Gerritsen's earlier books. While I love the Rizzoli/Isles thrillers, I think I liked this
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one even more. There's tension on every page, it's easy to root for the characters, and there's so much detail about the medical aspects as well as the NASA & astronaut aspects that it feels like it must be real. Great thriller, great science fiction. Write more science fiction, Tess! Show Less
LibraryThing member ChrisAdonn
I found this book strangely compelling and I couldn't put it down. It was not the kind of story I had expected from Gerrritsen at all, as I'd only read her more medical/forensic thrillers, but I'm very glad she ventured into a bit of Sci Fi. She is a writer who evolves wonderfully and I'm moved to
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give her five stars for capturing my interest and imagination with this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member caroren
Tess Gerritsen used to be a doctor, so it comes as no great surprise that the medical aspects of her latest thriller are absolutely convincing--even if most of the action happens in a place where few doctors have ever practiced--outer space.
Dr. Emma Watson and five other hand-picked astronauts are
Soon the crew are suffering severe stomach pains, violent convulsions, and eyes so bloodshot that a gallon of Murine wouldn't help. Gerritsen brilliantly describes the difficulties of treating sick people inside a space module, and how the lack of gravity affects the process of taking blood and inserting a nasal tube. Dr. Watson does her best, but her colleagues die off one by one and the people at NASA don't want to risk bringing the platform back to earth. Only Emma's husband, a doctor/astronaut himself, refuses to give up on her. As we read along, eyes popping out of our heads, all that's missing is one of those bland NASA voices saying, "Houston, we have a problem--we're being attacked by tiny little creatures that are part human, part frog, and part mouse."
Dr. Emma Watson and five other hand-picked astronauts are
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about to take part in the trip of a lifetime--studying living creatures in space. But an alien life form, found in the deepest crevices of the ocean floor, is accidentally brought aboard the shuttle Atlantis. This mutated alien life form makes the creatures in Aliens look like backyard pets.Soon the crew are suffering severe stomach pains, violent convulsions, and eyes so bloodshot that a gallon of Murine wouldn't help. Gerritsen brilliantly describes the difficulties of treating sick people inside a space module, and how the lack of gravity affects the process of taking blood and inserting a nasal tube. Dr. Watson does her best, but her colleagues die off one by one and the people at NASA don't want to risk bringing the platform back to earth. Only Emma's husband, a doctor/astronaut himself, refuses to give up on her. As we read along, eyes popping out of our heads, all that's missing is one of those bland NASA voices saying, "Houston, we have a problem--we're being attacked by tiny little creatures that are part human, part frog, and part mouse."
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LibraryThing member manadabomb
I haven't read any medical/suspense books in ages. My treadmill is next to a bookcase and I just pulled this out and started reading. I've been reading a lot of non-fiction so this was a great distraction. And we know how much I like my medical lingo.
Gravity leads us into the world of NASA as we
Circumstances occur that cause Emma to be sent into space earlier, with another team. Once there, it's routing space station stuff, until experiments start going wrong. What happens next is an outbreak of "something" that is killing astronauts very quickly and very gruesomely. Everything is fast paced and we learn what this killer bug is at a breakneck speed.
Pretty exciting and fun book to read.
Gravity leads us into the world of NASA as we
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watch Emma Watson and her team preparing to be sent into space to stay for 4 months on the ISS (International Space Station). Watson is a physician who is in the middle of a ugly divorce from her husband, fellow physician Jack. We can still see the hearts around them when they talk though...angry hearts but hearts nonetheless.Circumstances occur that cause Emma to be sent into space earlier, with another team. Once there, it's routing space station stuff, until experiments start going wrong. What happens next is an outbreak of "something" that is killing astronauts very quickly and very gruesomely. Everything is fast paced and we learn what this killer bug is at a breakneck speed.
Pretty exciting and fun book to read.
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LibraryThing member CloggieDownunder
Gravity is the 12th stand-alone novel by Tess Gerritsen. When Dr Emma Watson ends up on the crew of the Russian-American space station, it’s a dream come true for her. But nothing runs smoothly: the payload experiments are going wrong, crew are getting sick and dying and half the module is on low
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power due to problems with the solar array. Gerritsen is the master of the medical thriller, and this time, the scene is out of this world. Once again, she gives us an excellent plot with a few great twists; politics and intrigue, in a unique environment and under extraordinary conditions. A Gerritsen winne Show Less
LibraryThing member jdy
Not my favorite Tess Gerritsen novel, but it was okay. I'm not a huge sci-fi person, so when I starting reading about weird things inside the characters bodies, I got a little turned off. The good part was, it was a great story line of being in space, and the inner workings of NASA and the interest
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that captivated. Will always love Gerritsen's novels, this just wasn't one on the top of my list. Show Less
LibraryThing member redheadish
Stephen King has it right when he said you should figure in the price of electricity wen you buy your first book by Tess because you will be up all night. I first thought I dont know if I would enjoy a med suspence on space travel but it didn't take long to not want to put this book down!
LibraryThing member Darrol
An exciting tale about alien life forms and love.
LibraryThing member wez
** This review does not contain spoilers. All the info can be read on the back cover. **
Gravity is a medical thriller by Tess Gerritsen, themed around the crew of the International Space Station who take care of biological experiments in microgravity. The exposure of the crew and the ship, to an
This fiction plays out on earth and in space, a classic duality between the known and unknown, order and chaos, the familiar and the feared. It shows us the need to explore where we never dreamed of before, versus conquering our fears in order to reach those places. There is no progress without risk, but are the costs worth it?
This is a memorable book indeed! The suspense builds just right to make it a page-turner. Gerritsen's medical background, combined with her space flight research, makes for an educational and tactful portmanteau that is splattered with horror at times. The characters Emma and Jack, estranged husband and wife, absorb some of the manic disaster with a romanticism both for each other and the stars.
The characters have personality and depth, although more background story for some of them would have been nice, you are always pressed back into the urgency of the situation. The steady progression of the plot never leaves you bored, while the shallow story arcs don't diverge from the most important fact: bringing them home.
My only criticism is that, due to the nature of NASA who use a lot of acronyms, you need to flip to the 5-page glossary occasionally, but less so half-way into the book (or when you memorized the acronyms). It interferes a bit with your reading pace, but I can hardly fault the story for it.
Gravity is a well written story with amiable characters placed in an impossible situation, and then it gets worse. I can recommend this book to any speculative fiction lovers and adventure seekers.
Gravity is a medical thriller by Tess Gerritsen, themed around the crew of the International Space Station who take care of biological experiments in microgravity. The exposure of the crew and the ship, to an
Show More
unknown organism, leaves the crew stranded in orbit while they die one after the other. Their nightmare begins. The people down at NASA fight frantically against time to bring them home, against quarantine and against all odds.This fiction plays out on earth and in space, a classic duality between the known and unknown, order and chaos, the familiar and the feared. It shows us the need to explore where we never dreamed of before, versus conquering our fears in order to reach those places. There is no progress without risk, but are the costs worth it?
This is a memorable book indeed! The suspense builds just right to make it a page-turner. Gerritsen's medical background, combined with her space flight research, makes for an educational and tactful portmanteau that is splattered with horror at times. The characters Emma and Jack, estranged husband and wife, absorb some of the manic disaster with a romanticism both for each other and the stars.
The characters have personality and depth, although more background story for some of them would have been nice, you are always pressed back into the urgency of the situation. The steady progression of the plot never leaves you bored, while the shallow story arcs don't diverge from the most important fact: bringing them home.
My only criticism is that, due to the nature of NASA who use a lot of acronyms, you need to flip to the 5-page glossary occasionally, but less so half-way into the book (or when you memorized the acronyms). It interferes a bit with your reading pace, but I can hardly fault the story for it.
Gravity is a well written story with amiable characters placed in an impossible situation, and then it gets worse. I can recommend this book to any speculative fiction lovers and adventure seekers.
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LibraryThing member utbw42
I must admit this one caught me totally by surprise, and would definitely qualify as the best Gerritsen I've read yet. Emma Watson (not the actress) is sent to the International Space Station as a replacement for an astronaut who had to return to earth for his wife's funeral. When she arrives, she
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soon discovers one of the experiments on the vessel has gone horribly wrong: an alien virus is loose and is slowly infecting and killing all on board. It becomes a race as she and her husband (who is still on earth) try to find a way to save her from a certain gruesome end. This is truly a page turner, and keeps you guessing (and gasping) to the very end. I highly recommend this one for thrill-seekers in books. Show Less
LibraryThing member jtck121166
One can't hold her americanism against Tess Gerritsen, but this is very, very American: I don't think it actually is a screenplay or the novelisation of a made-for-tv-movie, but that's how it reads. Broad-stroke characterisation, snappy, acronym-laden dialogue, racy plot. I found it rather tedious
I would call the graphic events described in this thriller more horrific (and in places disgusting) than thrilling, but then I'm not a surgeon, and I'm prepared to admit to being squeamish even among laymen.
You will turn the pages, but in the end you might wonder why you bothered.
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at first, but when I stopped trying so hard, I found it hummed along nicely.I would call the graphic events described in this thriller more horrific (and in places disgusting) than thrilling, but then I'm not a surgeon, and I'm prepared to admit to being squeamish even among laymen.
You will turn the pages, but in the end you might wonder why you bothered.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
The rescue attempts have all but failed, and one by one the astronauts are dying...what happens next will amaze you! This is a fabulous read, nice and easy, but yet, keeps you on the edge of your seat. Reading this, you won't be disappointed.
LibraryThing member HenriMoreaux
An excellent medical thriller set on the International Space Station where somehow a deadly virus has gotten loose and infects an astronaut, following this a rescue shuttle is sent to bring him back to earth , however before the shuttle docks with the ISS the infected astronaut dies. They then
A very enjoyable and unique thriller, definitely a good page turner that's hard to put down.
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store the corpse on the shuttle pending their return trip to earth, which gets delayed and suddenly the shuttle crew is now also infected. The Army arrives at NASA to take over due to the biological danger and a race to save the remaining astronauts and keep ISS operational ensues.A very enjoyable and unique thriller, definitely a good page turner that's hard to put down.
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LibraryThing member Preston.Kringle
Interesting book, different from the other pieces that I’ve read of Gerritsen’s. A little slow at some points yet others made the book hard to put down!
LibraryThing member MHanover10
Very good book that is a little scary. I love anything to do with space and this does not disappoint.
LibraryThing member jtck121166
One can't hold her americanism against Tess Gerritsen, but this is very, very American: I don't think it actually is a screenplay or the novelisation of a made-for-tv-movie, but that's how it reads. Broad-stroke characterisation, snappy, acronym-laden dialogue, racy plot. I found it rather tedious
I would call the graphic events described in this thriller more horrific (and in places disgusting) than thrilling, but then I'm not a surgeon, and I'm prepared to admit to being squeamish even among laymen.
You will turn the pages, but in the end you might wonder why you bothered.
Show More
at first, but when I stopped trying so hard, I found it hummed along nicely.I would call the graphic events described in this thriller more horrific (and in places disgusting) than thrilling, but then I'm not a surgeon, and I'm prepared to admit to being squeamish even among laymen.
You will turn the pages, but in the end you might wonder why you bothered.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
Outstanding and eminently readable, ‘Gravity’ is part medical thriller, part science fiction, and all un-put-downable.
When a lab experiment sent to the International Space Station for study under microgravity conditions turns deadly, it’s up to the station crew to try to stay alive and to
Gerritson never cuts back on the suspense and keeps various countdown clocks ticking as the story unspools. Descriptions of the agonizing and lethal attacks on the various ISS crew members are not for the faint of heart. This one will keep you up until the last page is turned … and perhaps for a while beyond that.
When a lab experiment sent to the International Space Station for study under microgravity conditions turns deadly, it’s up to the station crew to try to stay alive and to
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NASA’s ground crew to figure out how to provide aid and whether to bring them home and risk contaminating Earth with a horrifying plague. Woven through this are the complex relationships between several of the main characters and, ultimately, between a civilian space exploration program and a military structure whose goals are often very different.Gerritson never cuts back on the suspense and keeps various countdown clocks ticking as the story unspools. Descriptions of the agonizing and lethal attacks on the various ISS crew members are not for the faint of heart. This one will keep you up until the last page is turned … and perhaps for a while beyond that.
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LibraryThing member tuusannuuska
Three and a half stars but I'm rounding up this time. (Edit: now that I've read though my review, I've realized it would be an injustice to every other 4 star read of mine to not drop this one to three :D)
A good premise and setting, great pacing and the tension held through out. I didn't care about
Similar themes as Andromeda Strain and Cold Storage but this one had me maybe a little bit more invested, although the eventual heroics that resolved the situation were a little over the top.
A good premise and setting, great pacing and the tension held through out. I didn't care about
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the marriage troubles of the main character (or about any other aspect of the relationship between her and her husband) but otherwise the plot was good enough. The ending was really predictable from the get go. There are some questionable things here too, that I'm going to attribute to the late nineties.Similar themes as Andromeda Strain and Cold Storage but this one had me maybe a little bit more invested, although the eventual heroics that resolved the situation were a little over the top.
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LibraryThing member nagasravika.bodapati
Gravity
by Tess Gerritsen
#books #reviews #suspense #scifi #thriller
My Rating : 5/5
Awesome! Loved it! At times felt the handicap of not being familiar with all the medical and technical jargon being thrown around but otherwise a very perfect fit into the kind of books that click with me. :D Space
Getting into the plot line, a space mission aboard International space station goes awry when one by one all the scientists onboard start dying due to a virus that absorbs the DNA of its host into its own genome and propagates, thrives, profligates. Where did this virus come from? How to fight it into remission? How does a physician Jack save his wife Emma who is infected with the virus and is fighting it as a sole survivor on the space station?
Interesting and must read .. science thriller !!
by Tess Gerritsen
#books #reviews #suspense #scifi #thriller
My Rating : 5/5
Awesome! Loved it! At times felt the handicap of not being familiar with all the medical and technical jargon being thrown around but otherwise a very perfect fit into the kind of books that click with me. :D Space
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exploration .. add to it a tinge of selfless love and also throw into the mix pathological viruses with a 100 percent mortality rate .. it makes for a sleep foregoing, eye riveting thriller that kept me awake all night last night. Getting into the plot line, a space mission aboard International space station goes awry when one by one all the scientists onboard start dying due to a virus that absorbs the DNA of its host into its own genome and propagates, thrives, profligates. Where did this virus come from? How to fight it into remission? How does a physician Jack save his wife Emma who is infected with the virus and is fighting it as a sole survivor on the space station?
Interesting and must read .. science thriller !!
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Subjects
Awards
Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (Winner — Suspense — 1999)
Original language
English
Original publication date
1999
Physical description
342 p.; 4.37 inches
ISBN
0006513085 / 9780006513087