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False Orbit
It’s not a mission to another planet. It’s an escape from this one.
When a private company offers ninety civilians a one-way ticket to Mars—plus five million dollars—Daniel McCauley says yes. His marriage is broken. His future is closing in. And for a man with nowhere left to go, outer space sounds like freedom.
To the world, it’s a bold leap toward progress.
To Daniel, it’s a clean break from the life he’s quietly unraveling.
To Taylor, his fifteen-year-old daughter, it’s abandonment dressed up as destiny.
Nearly a year later, she discovers a flash drive buried behind his old desk—one her father never meant to leave behind. What it contains will crack open everything she thought she knew about the mission... and about the man she called Dad.
This isn’t a sci-fi story. Not even close.
It’s a story about what we hide to protect the people we love—and what it costs when the truth finally comes home.
When a private company offers ninety civilians a one-way ticket to Mars—plus five million dollars—Daniel McCauley says yes. His marriage is broken. His future is closing in. And for a man with nowhere left to go, outer space sounds like freedom.
To the world, it’s a bold leap toward progress.
To Daniel, it’s a clean break from the life he’s quietly unraveling.
To Taylor, his fifteen-year-old daughter, it’s abandonment dressed up as destiny.
Nearly a year later, she discovers a flash drive buried behind his old desk—one her father never meant to leave behind. What it contains will crack open everything she thought she knew about the mission... and about the man she called Dad.
This isn’t a sci-fi story. Not even close.
It’s a story about what we hide to protect the people we love—and what it costs when the truth finally comes home.
308 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 24, 2025
44 people are currently reading
1094 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 6, 2025
False Orbit is a poignant novel that explores the complexities of family relationships and the secrets we keep. The story resonated with me on a deep level, especially the theme of parents making difficult choices for their children's perceived benefit, only to have the truth come out later. It's a powerful reminder that our actions, though intended to protect, can sometimes cause more harm.
The characters' struggles felt eerily familiar, like reflections of real-life family dynamics. The author's writing is evocative and emotional, making this novel a compelling read.
The characters' struggles felt eerily familiar, like reflections of real-life family dynamics. The author's writing is evocative and emotional, making this novel a compelling read.
May 14, 2025
Well I wanted to read this book but not after discovering that the audiobook is narrated by AI and the “author” uses AI on their Instagram to falsely promote the book.
September 30, 2025
False Orbit is a contemporary fiction novel written by the author Mitchell Lanigan, published in April 2025. It is far more than a story about space travel—it’s a profound, intimate look at family, secrets, and the cost of protecting those we love. Daniel McCauley, faced with a collapsing marriage and a life that feels out of control, accepts a one-way ticket to Mars. To the outside world, it’s a bold leap toward progress. To his daughter Taylor, it’s abandonment, leaving her to navigate confusion, anger, and heartbreak. The narrative truly shines through Taylor’s perspective. Her discovery of a hidden flash drive nearly a year later unravels her father’s carefully constructed choices, forcing both her and the reader to confront the complex intersections of love, sacrifice, and deception. Lanigan masterfully uses the metaphor of space to mirror emotional distance, while never losing sight of the intimate human story at the center. The narrative truly shines through Taylor’s perspective. Her discovery of a hidden flash drive nearly a year later unravels her father’s carefully constructed choices, forcing both her and the reader to confront the complex intersections of love, sacrifice, and deception. Lanigan masterfully uses the metaphor of space to mirror emotional distance, while never losing sight of the intimate human story at the center.
Rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A deeply moving exploration of love, sacrifice, and the choices that define us.
Final Verdict: False Orbit is a beautifully written, emotionally resonant novel that blends contemporary family drama with profound reflections on sacrifice and legacy. It lingers in the mind long after the last page.
Rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
A deeply moving exploration of love, sacrifice, and the choices that define us.
Final Verdict: False Orbit is a beautifully written, emotionally resonant novel that blends contemporary family drama with profound reflections on sacrifice and legacy. It lingers in the mind long after the last page.
September 2, 2025
False Orbit by Mitchell Lanigan is one of those novels that stays with you long after you finish it. At its core, the book is not just about space exploration or the futuristic dream of colonizing Mars, but about family, legacy, and the choices that fracture and define us.
The story follows Daniel McCauley, a man caught between the collapse of his marriage, the fragile bond with his daughter, and a looming sense of personal failure. When Polaris Industries announces a one-way civilian mission to Mars, Daniel sees not just the opportunity for a new beginning, but also an escape from the erosion of his life on Earth. The brilliance of Lanigan’s writing lies in how he balances the grand scale of space colonization with the intimate heartbreak of a family quietly unraveling.
The father-daughter dynamic is especially powerful. Taylor’s optimism, frustration, and eventual disillusionment with Daniel’s choices feel painfully authentic. The emotional weight builds slowly, but when the pivotal moments arrive, they land like a punch. The novel constantly asks whether progress is worth the personal cost and whether legacy can justify absence.
What I appreciated most was how layered Daniel’s motivations are. He is flawed, tired, sometimes selfish, yet always tethered to love for his daughter. That contradiction makes the book deeply human.
False Orbit is a moving, thought-provoking story that blends science fiction with raw family drama. It made me reflect on sacrifice, ambition, and the fragile threads that hold us together.
The story follows Daniel McCauley, a man caught between the collapse of his marriage, the fragile bond with his daughter, and a looming sense of personal failure. When Polaris Industries announces a one-way civilian mission to Mars, Daniel sees not just the opportunity for a new beginning, but also an escape from the erosion of his life on Earth. The brilliance of Lanigan’s writing lies in how he balances the grand scale of space colonization with the intimate heartbreak of a family quietly unraveling.
The father-daughter dynamic is especially powerful. Taylor’s optimism, frustration, and eventual disillusionment with Daniel’s choices feel painfully authentic. The emotional weight builds slowly, but when the pivotal moments arrive, they land like a punch. The novel constantly asks whether progress is worth the personal cost and whether legacy can justify absence.
What I appreciated most was how layered Daniel’s motivations are. He is flawed, tired, sometimes selfish, yet always tethered to love for his daughter. That contradiction makes the book deeply human.
False Orbit is a moving, thought-provoking story that blends science fiction with raw family drama. It made me reflect on sacrifice, ambition, and the fragile threads that hold us together.
November 10, 2025
• 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜 •
False Orbit hit me harder than I expected. Mitchell Lanigan crafts something deeply personal here, using Mars not as spectacle but as metaphor for the distance we create when life becomes overwhelming. Reading about Daniel's choice felt uncomfortably real, that quiet hope that distance might bring clarity. What gripped me most was Taylor's journey through the aftermath of her father's choices. That flash drive becomes more than evidence; it's a window into how we explain the choices we’re least proud of.
Lanigan doesn't offer easy answers or redemption, which I respected immensely. The prose stays grounded and intimate even when discussing interplanetary travel, keeping focus where it belongs: on the quiet devastation of being left behind. This book made me think about what we owe the people who love us and whether reinvention ever truly works when you are trying to start over before healing rather than toward something.
Lanigan's restraint elevates this above typical genre fiction, choosing emotional precision over spectacle. His ability to render family fracture with such tenderness while exploring ambitious themes marks him as a genuinely distinctive voice. This is contemporary fiction at its most affecting, proof that the smallest human moments can eclipse the vastness of space.
False Orbit hit me harder than I expected. Mitchell Lanigan crafts something deeply personal here, using Mars not as spectacle but as metaphor for the distance we create when life becomes overwhelming. Reading about Daniel's choice felt uncomfortably real, that quiet hope that distance might bring clarity. What gripped me most was Taylor's journey through the aftermath of her father's choices. That flash drive becomes more than evidence; it's a window into how we explain the choices we’re least proud of.
Lanigan doesn't offer easy answers or redemption, which I respected immensely. The prose stays grounded and intimate even when discussing interplanetary travel, keeping focus where it belongs: on the quiet devastation of being left behind. This book made me think about what we owe the people who love us and whether reinvention ever truly works when you are trying to start over before healing rather than toward something.
Lanigan's restraint elevates this above typical genre fiction, choosing emotional precision over spectacle. His ability to render family fracture with such tenderness while exploring ambitious themes marks him as a genuinely distinctive voice. This is contemporary fiction at its most affecting, proof that the smallest human moments can eclipse the vastness of space.
January 6, 2026
False Orbit is essentially a mystery wrapped in family drama wrapped in science fiction trappings. The real story begins when Taylor finds that flash drive. Lanigan structures this brilliantly, the year-long gap creates unbearable tension, and the reveal pays off in unexpected ways.
I loved how the author uses the flash drive as narrative device. It's contemporary, believable, and heartbreaking. What father leaves digital confessions behind? What secrets justify abandoning your child for another planet? Lanigan makes us sit with those questions without rushing toward answers.
The dual timeline works perfectly. We piece together Daniel's unraveling alongside Taylor's discovery process, two puzzles solving each other. Lanigan's prose stays lean and purposeful, never overexplaining. He trusts readers to connect emotional dots, which makes the impact stronger when everything clicks into place.
This is a book about what we choose to reveal and what we bury. About legacy and honesty and the impossible math of protecting people from truths that might destroy them. It's also surprisingly suspenseful, I read the last hundred pages in one sitting, desperate to know what Daniel left behind. Contemporary fiction that reads like a thriller, with emotional stakes that actually matter.
I loved how the author uses the flash drive as narrative device. It's contemporary, believable, and heartbreaking. What father leaves digital confessions behind? What secrets justify abandoning your child for another planet? Lanigan makes us sit with those questions without rushing toward answers.
The dual timeline works perfectly. We piece together Daniel's unraveling alongside Taylor's discovery process, two puzzles solving each other. Lanigan's prose stays lean and purposeful, never overexplaining. He trusts readers to connect emotional dots, which makes the impact stronger when everything clicks into place.
This is a book about what we choose to reveal and what we bury. About legacy and honesty and the impossible math of protecting people from truths that might destroy them. It's also surprisingly suspenseful, I read the last hundred pages in one sitting, desperate to know what Daniel left behind. Contemporary fiction that reads like a thriller, with emotional stakes that actually matter.
January 21, 2026
False Orbit asks a simple question: What's your price for walking away? For Daniel McCauley, it's five million dollars and a one-way ticket to Mars. Lanigan examines the economics of escape with uncomfortable clarity, showing how desperation gets monetized and marketed as opportunity.
The financial element fascinated me. Five million sounds like legacy, like security for Taylor's future. But Lanigan shows us the actual math, the cost of buying your way out of fatherhood, the price tag on abandonment. Daniel convinces himself he's providing, when really he's fleeing. The book dissects that self-deception mercilessly.
Taylor's inheritance becomes poison. She's supposed to be grateful for blood money, for her father's absence transformed into college funds. Lanigan captures the specific resentment of being bought off, of having your parent's guilt turned into numbers in an account. It's subtle social commentary embedded in family drama.
The writing stays sharp and focused throughout. Lanigan doesn't waste words. Every scene serves purpose, building toward revelations that reframe everything. This is a smart, economical novel that packs tremendous emotional punch. It made me think about what we sacrifice for financial security and whether we're really protecting our families or just protecting ourselves from them.
The financial element fascinated me. Five million sounds like legacy, like security for Taylor's future. But Lanigan shows us the actual math, the cost of buying your way out of fatherhood, the price tag on abandonment. Daniel convinces himself he's providing, when really he's fleeing. The book dissects that self-deception mercilessly.
Taylor's inheritance becomes poison. She's supposed to be grateful for blood money, for her father's absence transformed into college funds. Lanigan captures the specific resentment of being bought off, of having your parent's guilt turned into numbers in an account. It's subtle social commentary embedded in family drama.
The writing stays sharp and focused throughout. Lanigan doesn't waste words. Every scene serves purpose, building toward revelations that reframe everything. This is a smart, economical novel that packs tremendous emotional punch. It made me think about what we sacrifice for financial security and whether we're really protecting our families or just protecting ourselves from them.
January 21, 2026
False Orbit captures the specific delusion of believing geography solves internal problems. Daniel thinks Mars will fix what's broken, but Lanigan shows us the fallacy: you can't outrun yourself, even at interplanetary distances. This book is for everyone who's ever fantasized about starting over somewhere nobody knows them.
The one-way aspect matters enormously. Daniel doesn't get to visit. Can't change his mind. Burns every bridge with dramatic finality. Lanigan examines the psychology of that commitment, the absoluteness that feels like freedom but might be just another cage. It's about permanence in an age where we keep all our options open.
Taylor becomes the keeper of consequences Daniel tried to escape. She's stuck with his choice, with explaining to friends why her dad's on Mars, with inheriting the narrative he abandoned. Lanigan captures how one person's dramatic gesture becomes another's daily reality. The unfairness of it hurts.
The book's power comes from its recognition that there are no do-overs. Daniel's choice is made. Taylor has to live with it. Lanigan doesn't offer magical reconciliation or healing montages. Just the stubborn persistence of damage and the slow work of understanding. It's honest in ways fiction rarely manages, refusing easy comfort while still finding meaning in the wreckage.
The one-way aspect matters enormously. Daniel doesn't get to visit. Can't change his mind. Burns every bridge with dramatic finality. Lanigan examines the psychology of that commitment, the absoluteness that feels like freedom but might be just another cage. It's about permanence in an age where we keep all our options open.
Taylor becomes the keeper of consequences Daniel tried to escape. She's stuck with his choice, with explaining to friends why her dad's on Mars, with inheriting the narrative he abandoned. Lanigan captures how one person's dramatic gesture becomes another's daily reality. The unfairness of it hurts.
The book's power comes from its recognition that there are no do-overs. Daniel's choice is made. Taylor has to live with it. Lanigan doesn't offer magical reconciliation or healing montages. Just the stubborn persistence of damage and the slow work of understanding. It's honest in ways fiction rarely manages, refusing easy comfort while still finding meaning in the wreckage.
January 5, 2026
What struck me about False Orbit was its subtle critique of how capitalism packages human desperation as progress. Polaris Industries offers five million dollars and a fresh start, but who takes that deal? People with nothing left to lose. Lanigan doesn't preach, but his commentary on who gets to "pioneer" and why cuts deep.
Daniel represents a specific masculine crisis, the middle-aged man watching his life contract, grasping at anything that feels like purpose. Mars becomes the ultimate fresh start fantasy, the geographic cure taken to cosmic extremes. But Lanigan never lets us forget the collateral damage. Taylor's perspective grounds the narrative in consequence, reminding us that someone always pays for someone else's reinvention.
The writing balances scope and intimacy beautifully. We understand both the allure of Mars and the devastation of departure. This book asks difficult questions about ambition, sacrifice, and whether society's progress justifies individual loss. It's smart contemporary fiction that trusts readers to grapple with complexity. Lanigan has written something that feels urgently relevant to our current moment of billionaire space races and earthbound crises.
Daniel represents a specific masculine crisis, the middle-aged man watching his life contract, grasping at anything that feels like purpose. Mars becomes the ultimate fresh start fantasy, the geographic cure taken to cosmic extremes. But Lanigan never lets us forget the collateral damage. Taylor's perspective grounds the narrative in consequence, reminding us that someone always pays for someone else's reinvention.
The writing balances scope and intimacy beautifully. We understand both the allure of Mars and the devastation of departure. This book asks difficult questions about ambition, sacrifice, and whether society's progress justifies individual loss. It's smart contemporary fiction that trusts readers to grapple with complexity. Lanigan has written something that feels urgently relevant to our current moment of billionaire space races and earthbound crises.
January 22, 2026
False Orbit dismantles the mythology children construct around parents with surgical precision. Taylor spends the first half believing in her father's nobility, his sacrifice, his courage. The flash drive obliterates all of it. Lanigan captures that specific grief of losing not just a parent but your understanding of who they were.
What devastated me was Taylor's realization that her father wasn't brave, he was broken. The Mars mission wasn't about humanity's future; it was about escaping his present. Lanigan shows us how we mythologize abandonment to survive it, how we need our parents to be heroes even when they're just people failing badly at life.
The emotional arc here is brutal and earned. Lanigan doesn't rush Taylor's disillusionment. We feel her resistance, her desperate need to believe her father's story. When that belief crumbles, it's catastrophic. The author captures the specific way truth can be more devastating than absence.
This book understands that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives, especially to our children. Daniel's self-justifications versus Taylor's need for meaning creates painful tension Lanigan never fully resolves. It's a book about growing up meaning learning your parents are strangers. Beautifully, painfully told.
What devastated me was Taylor's realization that her father wasn't brave, he was broken. The Mars mission wasn't about humanity's future; it was about escaping his present. Lanigan shows us how we mythologize abandonment to survive it, how we need our parents to be heroes even when they're just people failing badly at life.
The emotional arc here is brutal and earned. Lanigan doesn't rush Taylor's disillusionment. We feel her resistance, her desperate need to believe her father's story. When that belief crumbles, it's catastrophic. The author captures the specific way truth can be more devastating than absence.
This book understands that we're all unreliable narrators of our own lives, especially to our children. Daniel's self-justifications versus Taylor's need for meaning creates painful tension Lanigan never fully resolves. It's a book about growing up meaning learning your parents are strangers. Beautifully, painfully told.
January 15, 2026
I picked up False Orbit expecting science fiction and got gutted by a family drama instead. Taylor's voice haunts me still. Fifteen years old, watching her father volunteer for what amounts to elaborate suicide dressed as heroism. Lanigan captures teenage fury and confusion with devastating accuracy that specific rage when adults make incomprehensible choices and expect you to understand.
The flash drive subplot transforms this from simple abandonment narrative into something far more complex. What Taylor uncovers forces readers to sit with uncomfortable truths about parental fallibility. We want Daniel to be either villain or hero, but Lanigan refuses that comfort. He's just broken, and his brokenness breaks others.
The genius here lies in structure. By starting after Daniel's departure, Lanigan makes us experience Taylor's perspective viscerally, the absence, the questions, the slow-building need to understand. When revelations come, they complicate rather than clarify. This is messy and real and achingly sad in ways that linger. Not an easy read, but an essential one for anyone who's ever felt left behind.
The flash drive subplot transforms this from simple abandonment narrative into something far more complex. What Taylor uncovers forces readers to sit with uncomfortable truths about parental fallibility. We want Daniel to be either villain or hero, but Lanigan refuses that comfort. He's just broken, and his brokenness breaks others.
The genius here lies in structure. By starting after Daniel's departure, Lanigan makes us experience Taylor's perspective viscerally, the absence, the questions, the slow-building need to understand. When revelations come, they complicate rather than clarify. This is messy and real and achingly sad in ways that linger. Not an easy read, but an essential one for anyone who's ever felt left behind.
June 25, 2025
Daniel's life isn't going the way he planned. So, he reevaluates and decides he needs to leave a legacy that his daughter can be proud of. He hopes Taylor never finds out it's all a lie. But Taylor does find out.
This is a very raw and emotional story about a family that has fallen apart, or at least the marriage part. It was well written and easy to care about the characters.
But then there was the ending. Daniel makes a decision about his life knowing full well it will affect his wife and daughter. He knows how they are going to react and tries to do it as kindly as he can. Taylor makes a decision only thinking about what she wants. Caroline makes a decision for the family to be the martyr. Susan makes the non-decision. If Daniel was wrong to make his decision alone, then so was everyone else and in some cases more so. If there had been a different set of circumstances, I might have accepted the ending but it came off as convenient instead of heartwarming. Still worth reading.
This is a very raw and emotional story about a family that has fallen apart, or at least the marriage part. It was well written and easy to care about the characters.
But then there was the ending. Daniel makes a decision about his life knowing full well it will affect his wife and daughter. He knows how they are going to react and tries to do it as kindly as he can. Taylor makes a decision only thinking about what she wants. Caroline makes a decision for the family to be the martyr. Susan makes the non-decision. If Daniel was wrong to make his decision alone, then so was everyone else and in some cases more so. If there had been a different set of circumstances, I might have accepted the ending but it came off as convenient instead of heartwarming. Still worth reading.
August 26, 2025
This book wasn’t what I expected, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s a quiet, emotional story about love, loss, and the hidden ways we all orbit around each other. Beautifully written and at its heart, the novel is about the quiet ways we revolve around the people we love, even when we don’t realize it, and that life is often found in the small, unremarkable moments.
July 6, 2025
I binge read this book until 12am. The character’s situation was so compelling, that I had no choice but to see their journeys completed. All of the characters were so three dimensional that I feel like they are neighbors. Awesome book!
July 19, 2025
I really enjoyed False Orbit! The writing is smart, sharp, and so immersive — I honestly found myself thinking, I wish I could write like this. The story kept me hooked from start to finish. A great blend of tension, imagination, and style. Highly recommended!
May 11, 2025
3 and 1/2
May 15, 2025
One of the best and flawlessly executed twists I have ever seen.
May 15, 2025
Wow! As I was reading this book, I found myself puzzled, where was it leading? Then, it all hit me so hard. The concept is so unusual but profoundly human. I’m truly impressed by this.
June 14, 2025
Not what I expected
I was fully expecting a space story, but so much better. Don't want this to be a spoiler, just leave it as a moving, identifiable, easy to read novel.
I was fully expecting a space story, but so much better. Don't want this to be a spoiler, just leave it as a moving, identifiable, easy to read novel.
June 22, 2025
This was definitely not the storyline I thought it would be when I started reading it. But it drew me in right from the start & I couldn’t put it down. I would definitely recommend it!
August 4, 2025
Thought this was sci-fi, it ABSOLUTELY is not! That said it was really well written in the way it presented the characters relationships. Glad I finished it. Would love to see it as a film.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews