The Last Astronaut

By: David Wellington

Narrated by: Megan Tusing

Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2020!
"A terrifying tour de force." --James Rollins
"Readers will be riveted." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Sally Jansen was NASA's leading astronaut, until a mission to Mars ended in disaster. Haunted by her failure, she lives in quiet anonymity, convinced her days in space are over.
She's wrong.
A large alien object has entered the solar system on a straight course toward Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate. Out of time and out of options, NASA turns to Jansen.
But as the object reveals its secrets, Jansen and her crew find themselves in a desperate struggle for survival -- against the cold vacuum of space, and something far, far worse...
"Breathless, compulsive reading." --Christopher Golden
"A suspenseful, fast-paced story of first contact." --Kirkus

Critic reviews

"A gripping story that reveals its horrors one inexorable, plausible detail at a time. Readers will be riveted - and will want to keep all the lights on."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A suspenseful, fast-paced story of first contact....A race against time to save humankind, a veteran astronaut trying to make things right, and an utterly strange and genuinely horrifying alien world to explore--this story's got everything."—Kirkus

"Timely and terrifying, The Last Astronaut propels us deep into the mysteries of space for a near-future SF/horror hybrid that's breathless, compulsive reading. This book deserves to be the one you see everyone reading on the subway or at the beach."—Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The Pandora Room and Ararat

"If Stephen King had written a haunted house story set in space, it would look very much like The Last Astronaut. Written with an uncompromising, white-knuckled pace, here is book that will leave you shaking and looking at the cold depths of space with equal parts horror and wonder."—James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Crucible

"Wellington deftly plays with scale, from the aching intimacy of his human cast to the vastness of space and the enormity of their destination. Journey into a phantasmagorical alien landscape, where paranoia, loss, longing, and resolve interweave into endlessly shifting and always more terrifying configurations."—Caitlin Starling, author of The Luminous Dead

"This is sci-fi horror at its most terrifying-if only because the science behind it is grounded and all-too-possible."—B&N SciFi & Fantasy Blog

"The Last Astronaut bridges the worlds of science fiction and horror perfectly--Wellington melds the awe of discovery with the terror of the unknown to keep readers riveted to every page."—Fred Van Lente, New York Times bestselling author of The Con Artist

Outstanding! Creative! A 6 for the narrator!!

Outstanding! Creative! A 6 for the narrator!! I wouldn't change a thing! Simply a thrilling listen from start to finish!

Good stuff.

Narration was great. I wanted something different and I got it. Damn good book

Interesting

Interesting story, but the characters all felt very flat and uninteresting, didn’t feel compelled by their stories at all. Also didn’t help that it felt like their was an extreme dislike for private space exploration, especially the k space astronauts, that felt far to attached to the company. Enjoyed the idea, but the characters made it hard to get through. Also the whole “author” wrote this in after the fact and was in the story was a little to meta and felt out of place especially when he basically admits it was written not according to how a character felt it actually went. Not a great way to close it out.

Believable

I think this is completely believable. The character development is pretty good. I think it could have used a bit more character development so it was harder or more jolting when they died. I think the descriptions of the internals were very cool. The narrator was very good!!

Nice production, excellent performance.

I'm writing this review to praise Megan Tusing's performance mainly. The story was decent enough to serve as a framework for the audio performance. If I'd read this book I wouldn't have had as enjoyable an experience, but listening was engaging and it moved at a good pace, was consistent, and kept my interest. I OFTEN lose interest in sci fi stories at about the 60% point where I realize the author is in over their head. The books I truly love to read Audible doesn't produce, or I prefer to read them to lengthen my time with them. This story however kept me coming back to find out what happened and I largely attribute that to the performance by the narrator.
Her ability to switch voices was quite impressive and I always knew who was talking, male or female. The interstitial elements (flashback type things) were nicely differentiated by tone and sound effects so they didn't confuse things. The overall production and quality was top notch, some of the best I've enjoyed on Audible. It's no Rendezvous with Rama (hint!), but gems like that are rare. I agree with an Amazon review saying it is made for the screen. This is a good story and a great performance which makes it recommended for the entertainment value. Killer for a long road trip!