I’ve been a mild fan of Jack McDevitt’s books for a while. He does soft science fiction with a decent sense of wonder pretty well, though there’s usually a mild sour note here and there that keeps his books from being an entirely positive experience. The Cassandra Project fit that description for most of the book, which is essentially a “What if” take on the fake moon landings theory. But when I read the epilogue, I wanted to throw the book across the room.
If you skip the epilogue, you might enjoy the story of an unraveling conspiracy that manages to link the moon landings and the Watergate burglaries. As is typical of a McDevitt book, it’s an almost entirely intellectual exercise; there’s no sense of action or excitement, just a series of puzzles to figure out. That said, it is engaging if you are scientifically inclined or merely a fan of real-world space exploration.
That’s about as much of a review I can give without spoilers.
Just don’t read the epilogue.
