On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing comes a novel in which a Jewish astronaut must reassess his moral compass when forced to confront NASA’s early collaboration with Nazis and the role it may have played in his father’s death.

he Astronaut's Son by Tom Seigel is inspired by real-life events about the Nazi scientists and the engineers at NASA. Jonathan Stein's father never made it to the moon. He died of a heart attack a few days before the launch. Now it's Jonathan's turn to go to the moon, and everything seems to be going well for him until an online conspiracy website makes him start to wonder if his dad was actually murdered. This new information sends Jonathan spiraling down a path to find out the truth about how his father died and to question those closest to his father.

The plot of this novel is interesting. I felt just as eager as Jonathan is to find out the truth. The fact that it's inspired by true events further piqued my interest. I have mixed feelings about Jonathan Stein, though I like that he's flawed, but his character felt static. The story held many revelations for Jonathan, but it didn't seem to affect his character very much. Despite that, I enjoyed reading this story.

The lives of astronauts is a fascinating subject in general, and Tom Seigel has touched on a subject that not much written about. The Astronaut's Son covers many interesting theories such as the fake moon landing, cover-ups, and conspiracies. It makes you wonder what's real and what's not. And, I loved the ending. It's a great mystery for a weekend read.

Read more at http://www.toreadornottoread.net/2018/10/review-astronauts-son-by-tomseigel.html... ( )

I am a fan of aviation and historical books. Thus the reason that I was very intrigued and drawn to this book.

When I first started reading, I was into the story. In fact, it was admirable that Jonathan did not take the theory that his father was possibly murdered as just that...a theory. Which I kind of could imagine the theory. At the same time, the theory was a bit far fetched. So, if you can set aside the logical and allow the illogical to play in your head, you may enjoy this book. I could and probably would have stuck with this book better if I could have found something endearing and likable about the main character, Jonathan. For me this book was a good idea but one that did not stick a home run with me. ( )

In 2005 Jonathan Stein has two missions to complete. The first one is well on its way: to return to the Moon as the first man back in three decades. The second one is a lot tougher: to uncover what was the real cause of his father's Avi Stein death. Avi was supposed to be the first Israeli astronaut and one of the last men shot to the Moon as Apollo 18 crew in 1974. Was it a heart attack, a natural cause of death?

Jonathan had been writing letters for years to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon in 1969, but Armstrong answered none. Many conspiracy theories were around since the 1960's, in more recent years websites, exposing all kinds of scenarios as proof that there were no men on the Moon, and the U.S. not even had the technology by then to reach further than low orbit.

In The Astronaut’s Son, by Tom Seigel Jonathan goes after Neil Armstrong and the last man on the Moon, the fictional Dale Lunden, who replaced Avi Stein on the mission and even fought to become the commander. Jonathan's pregnant wife Susana, and friends Zudu and Helmut help tracking sources and unmask the mysterious Cassandra and 'her' website eclipsedtruth.com.

A 1974 radio interview on tape, a stack of paper evidence, and the discovery of the past of well-known Nazi German scientists and rocketry engineers at NASA bring Jonathan what he's looking for. Asking the hard questions in person give answers which may of course not exactly what he and you as a reader expect at the start of this convincing part of the novel. Jonathan's own mission to the Moon is covered only superficially. ( )

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Is this a conspiracy book involving the Apollo Moon Landings that doesn't involve aliens? Okay, I'm game.

In the end, I was pretty disappointed with this book. I didn’t care for the main protagonist (Getting drunk is not an excuse for cheating on your wife). The characters in general felt a bit two dimensional. I would have liked a bit more character development.

The mystery had the potential to be good, but I felt the execution didn’t go as planned. I felt the mystery plot had too many holes, and too many questions were left unanswered at the end. I’m still at a loss for who the killer was. I also felt that history was bent a little too much to have the plot make sense.

I reject the idea that all of the Paperclip scientists were ardent Nazi Jew-haters to the end. I checked the author's list of works consulted, and I find them lacking in this regard.

For those who would like to read about the actual development of pressure suits and space suits, there is an excellent e-book available online, for free: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/dress_for_altitude_detail.html

And I really, REALLY, do not appreciate the insinuation at the end that none of the Apollo landings happened at all. How dare you. You just blew and even bigger plot hole into your novel. ( )