Blue Darker Than Black

In the second book of the Blue Gemini trilogy, Air Force Majors Scott Ourecky and Drew Carson continue to fly highly classified missions to intercept and destroy suspect Soviet satellites.

But after experiencing numerous close calls in orbit, the astronauts soon discover that not all perils reside in the sky. With his marriage already at risk because he cannot explain his frequent absences and strange activities to his wife, Ourecky learns that his unborn child may be in grave danger as a radiation consequence of his flights into space.
Even as the Ourecky and Carson accumulate successful mission after successful mission in space, other crucial events occur much closer to home. Interservice rivalries reach new heights as a caustic but highly influential Navy admiral schemes to steal control of the Project from the Air Force. Realizing that a Soviet GRU agent is operating in their midst, a shadowy team of counter-intelligence operatives scramble to shield the Project’s secrets from discovery, leading to a confrontation that bears fatal consequences.

As they train to accomplish more difficult missions against complicated targets, Ourecky and Carson are asked to volunteer to risk their lives one more time in an extremely hazardous rescue mission. The stakes are high; even as they leave the launch pad, there is no certainty that either man will return.

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Mike Jenne is a licensed pilot, lifelong aerospace aficionado, and amateur space historian. As a child, he felt the ground shudder as the Saturn V moon rockets were tested at the nearby Marshall Space Flight Center. Trained as an Army Ranger and Military Free Fall (HALO) Parachutist, he has served across the globe, including deployments to Africa, Central America, Haiti, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. Mike and his wife, Adele, make their home in Trussville, Alabama.

“Spanning the period from 1969 to 1972, Jenne’s suspenseful second thriller centered on Blue Gemini, a covert U.S. operation in space, dramatizes what might easily have been another front in the Cold War. At the end of 2015’s Blue Gemini, Air Force Maj. Drew Carson and Scott Ourecky, an Air Force engineer, learned of a new category of 'Soviet satellites suspected of carrying nuclear weapons.' But they did so while operating without authorization and have been grounded. This sequel explores the implications of their discovery, interweaving Carson’s and Ourecky’s lives with those of a wide range of characters, including Eric Yost, an Air Force sergeant who believes that the U.S. government is using Blue Gemini to conceal the existence of aliens, and Soviet Maj. Anatoly Morozov, who hopes to recruit Yost as a spy and give the U.S.S.R. the upper hand. Despite the high stakes, Jenne manages to integrate some wry humor into the narrative, and despite the book’s length, he keeps things moving briskly.” —Publishers Weekly

“Tom Clancy and Dan Brown have got nothing on Mike Jenne!”—Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly

“Author Mike Jenne puts you in orbit on a secret mission to keep the Cold War from turning hot. Jenne knows the spaceflight business cold, and this 'deep black' space war scenario will rocket you to the edge of your ejection seat—and keep you there.” —Tom Jones, veteran NASA astronaut and author of Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir.

“Quite a tale! A real page-turner...Nice to see the underdog save the day!” —Douglas B. Shane, SpaceShipOne Mission Director