Killer Station

by Martin Caidin

A giant space station could prove to be a scientific boon - or a Sword of Damocles hanging high over all our heads. In one brief moment of sabotage STAION PLEIADES changes from one to the other - and then it begins its relentless deorbit - point of impact, America's greatest city, where it will strike with the force of the Hiroshima bomb. KILLER STATION is a barely fictional novel of the near future brought with gut-wrenching impact to now!

Genres: Science Fiction

370 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1985

About the author

Martin Caidin was a prolific and controversial writer. Most of his work centered around the adventures of pilots and astronauts. A number of his books were notable for their reasonable, realistic predictions of then-futuristic technology.

Caidin's body of work was prolific and varied, ranging from additional speculative/SF novels such as Marooned, which was made into an acclaimed film and considered a harbinger of the Apollo 13 accident, to a novel based upon the character Indiana Jones. He also wrote many non-fiction books about science, aviation and warfare.

Caidin began writing fiction in 1957. In his career he authored more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books as well as more than 1,000 magazine articles. His best-known novel is Cyborg, which was the basis for "The Six Million Dollar Man" franchise. He also wrote numerous works of military history, especially concerning aviation.

In addition to his writing Caidin was a pilot and active in the restoration and flying of older planes.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baen published this suspense/thriller/spy novel at the end of 1985 with a cool astronomical wrap-around cover by David Mattingly. There was only one printing and the book disappeared rapidly. It's about sabotage causing a space station to begin to fall, headed towards New York, and the mission sent to deflect the re-entry to save millions of lives. It would have been a very good short novel or novella, with its kind of standard cut-out characters, but it unfortunately drags on for 370 pages, with far too much political discussion. It's an okay read, but not a memorable one.

[Mitchell Gehman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Burning in the 7th layer of hell is small potatoes compared to being subject to the Phillies bullpen in 2020 and reading this book.

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Second what the other negative reviewers have said. I rarely (I think I've only ever done it one time) put a book down after a partial read. I kept trying to restart this thing thinking, "Maybe there's something I missed, or something compelling to come." I made it 1/3 of the way through this book and threw up my hands.

The portion I read reads like an instruction manual crossed with a tour guide with a hint of schematics. The only characters of note are notable only in how dull and static they are.

Save yourself the time and don't even pick this thing up (unless you need some good kindling).

[Phorc Ewe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I quit at 1/3 through.
So far pretty much all that really happened was they told Earth about the storm, they inspected the ship, and they're making plans to add more stuff to the station.
The majority of the rest feels like I'm sitting in a classroom listening to a boring teacher describe paint drying.
Yeah, I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the idea.
I feel that a good book should grab you in the first couple chapters, and an even better one grabs you in the first few paragraphs!

[Devin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have loved this as a teen. As an adult not so much. Almost no characterization. It takes forever for anything to happen. The plot when it moves moves at breakneck speed.

[C.B. Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Killer Station is one of the worst science fiction books ever written. I picked this up, in spite of the extravagant title, because of the credentials of Martin Caidin. He's "claims" to be a scientific consultant to NASA, so I expected an interesting, but clearly plausible story. What I got was a story where the science was so bad I wanted to scream. Bad guys have caused a space station to deorbit on a perfect course for a major city. Now, anyone who has followed the decay of satellites or MIR knows you just can't target the landing point that well. Nobody thinks to just push the darn thing until the last minute, when it would be far less effective. And, worst of all, when the station deorbited, the empty shuttle fuel tanks in the same orbit FOLLOWED IT! Yes, when Mr. Caidin needed them for people to escape into, they were right there next to the station, but for some reason were not going to burn up in the atmosphere with it.

This book is an insult to anyone who likes hard science fiction and should be avoided at all cost.

[Bryan457 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more political thriller than sci-fi or adventure.
I found it a slow read.