Final Orbit: Apollo Murders #3    by Chris Hadfield Order:  USA  Can Little, Brown & Co., 2026 (2026) Hardcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson Final Orbit was the first of Chris Hadfield's Apollo Murders that I encountered. Reading it made me immediately get hold of the two earlier episodes. They are alternate history based thrillers. Despite this, Hadfield tells us that 'Many of these people are real. Much of this actually happened.' The series lead is astronaut Kazimieras 'Kaz' Zemeckis, grounded after a seagull strike on his jet caused him to lose vision in one eye. As this episode opens in 1975, Kaz is military liason CAPCOM for a joint Soviet-American Apollo mission. Three NASA astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts (including Major Svetlana Gromova, who plays a key role this time) are to dock with a Russian Soyuz craft. As the mission progresses, readers are shown a smuggled Chinese cargo; Kaz grows suspicious of a local Chinese restaurant (drug runners?); and the first Chinese spacecraft secretly launches from east Asia into dangerous proximity with the Apollo mission. Meanwhile, Weather Underground bombers, working with the Chinese, have planned sabotage on Earth. All this builds to a tense, engrossing tale, with both Kaz and Svetlana at the center of action and betrayals - in space and on the ground - with high collateral damage. Enjoy this episode and don't miss the Author's Note at the end that addresses 'The Reality behind Final Orbit'! Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews