Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. You know those reading ruts where,

I don't know, it's hard to get into the mood? Sometimes my brain gets distracted when I'm reading,

and like five pages in, I realize I haven't retained anything. This is where a good thriller

actually really comes in handy. You know,

you put down that arduous biography of some dude or whatever you've been trying to finish

and pick up something heavy on plot and murders and spies and lying liars. And that

reading rut just washes away. If you're stuck, we've got you.

Today, we're going to hear about two thrillers.

One's a 2015 interview with Anthony Horowitz about writing a more modern James Bond book.

That's a follow-up to the Bond classic Goldfinger.

But first, former NPR host Lulu Garcia Navarro talks to Chris Hadfield. He was an astronaut who just wrote a new thriller,

set in outer space called The Apollo Murders. It takes place in the 70s, right? And he talks about

bringing real-world facts into his narrative, like the secret space station the Soviets had with a

machine gun mounted to the top. Spies and space, it's fun stuff.

Here's the interview.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ground control to Major Tom.

ISS Commander Chris Hadfield was orbiting the Earth at thousands of miles an hour as he sang David Bowie's Space Audity in 2015.

This is ground control to Major Tom.

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