crew suffers damage due to explosion that almost causes them to die of suffocation. Allusions/references to actual history and current science This novel, and its prequel, uses concepts adapted from the Mars Semi-Direct mission profile proposed, and under active research, by the Mars Society. As such, these novels are two of the most realistic novels yet written that describe what the first crewed mission to Mars, and the program of which it is a part, might look like and how it might actually work. Literary significance and criticism The Fifth Man continues the trend in Christian fiction away from the preachy, tract-like novels of the 1990s and toward novels with "crossover appeal"—that is, novels that a non-Christian might appreciate nearly as well as does a Christian. Christian science fiction is very rare, primarily because of the inherent restrictions that apply to a Christian novel—in this case, that such a novel may not create a character or a situation for which the Bible holds no warrant. Thus, while the title of this work strongly suggests an extraterrestrial visitor as an agent that assaults the astronauts (and ultimately murders one of them), some Christians find it impossible to accept such a concept. Thus the agent of the mayhem that plagues and pursues the astronauts must be a human agent. The realization of this fact has led some readers to criticize The Fifth Man severely, accusing the authors of the literary equivalent of bait-and-switch. Yet a close read of this novel and its prequel Oxygen clearly shows that the same character responsible for killing Astronaut Hampton and almost killing the rest of the crew, was also responsible for the failed "lifeboat" mission in the earlier novel. More to the point, however, a Fifth Man does exist on Mars. The surviving astronauts see him very briefly before they make their hurried take-off. They do not recognize him, but anyone who has read the third chapter of the Biblical book of Daniel probably will. Thus the Fifth Man is extraterrestrial, after all—but not in the usual sense in modern popular culture. Awards and nominations The Fifth Man was a finalist for the Christy Award for the best futuristic Christian novel published in 2002. It lost to Time Lottery. Another finalist in that same year was the novel Ice. External links Randall Ingermanson home page Official page for The Fifth Man 2002 American novels 2002 science