The Black Cloud
It details the arrival of an enormous cloud of gas that enters the Solar System and appears about to destroy most of the life on Earth by blocking the Sun's radiation.The cloud unexpectedly decelerates as it approaches and comes to rest around the Sun, causing disastrous climatic changes on Earth and immense mortality and suffering for the human race.When the scientists alert the cloud of this plot – risking imprisonment for treason and passing on military secrets – it turns the missiles back upon their senders, killing thousands of people, but does not otherwise retaliate.[1] Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale stated that he had not expected "such a noted cosmological theorist" as Hoyle to be a fiction writer but praised the novel "for the high quality of the narrative".[2] Damon Knight described Hoyle's plotting as "masterly", saying the novel was "more elaborately convincing and a lot livelier than the usual gloom-laden treatment" in similar stories.