by Ben Mezrich
First published 2011
Thad Roberts has everything going for him. He's been selected for a prestigious NASA fellowship, putting him on track for a possible astronaut career. But Roberts wants to give his girlfriend something no one else can offer: actual pieces of the moon. He hatches an audacious plan to steal priceless lunar samples from a heavily secured NASA laboratory. Roberts recruits his girlfriend and another female NASA intern to help him breach multiple security checkpoints, crack electronic locks, and navigate camera-monitored hallways. The trio successfully pulls off their heist, but possessing stolen moon rocks creates a new problem. The samples are so valuable that merely owning them is illegal. Roberts must figure out what to do with his ill-gotten lunar treasure while staying ahead of federal investigators. His brilliant mind, which earned him his coveted NASA position, now works against him as the FBI closes in on the perpetrators of this unprecedented crime.
Genres: science-fiction, suspense, crime, thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: crime-gone-wrong, heist
Setting: NASA
Period: 21st-century
320 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday