Rocket Girl
Twenty-four-year-old Kathleen (“Kick”) Johnson is newly widowed. The dealer repossesses the family car, and bills pile up faster than her secretarial job can cover them. In this Dallas summer of 1961, nearby North Texas State University is opening NASA’s regional center for rocket science research. Kick applies for one of the center’s job openings and lands a position as a math aide. Kick has always done well with numbers: she took college math courses but quit for an office job and steady paycheck. She excels in the new work supporting America’s fledgling space program. Her prospects look great, until she discovers the dead body of a co-worker. The local police conclude the death was murder. The victim had previous ties to Kick’s late husband and held important positions in rocket science. The murder threatens the Dallas NASA center along with Kick’s job and future. Kick cannot leave it alone and investigates—to multiple dead ends and great risk for herself.
A variety of secondary storylines and characters sensibly tie to the main who-done-it plot. But some feel plugged in. Kick finds new romance, has a serious falling out with her older sister who helped raise her, and even now looks out for her. Kick gets alone time with astronaut Virgil Gus Grissom, spends an evening at the saloon of Jack Ruby (who later killed Lee Harvey Oswald), and takes a harrowing small plane ride. The novel would have been enhanced with more about how Kick became a math genius and more details of her and her team’s calculations. The prose, dialogue, and settings are believable and maintain a good pace to a page-turning ending. Recommended for readers interested in the early US space ventures and the struggles of talented women at that time.
