Ah, the classics.  Occasionally, I will go back and re-read a book I haven't picked up in decades.  Gateway is such a book.  It has been so long, I couldn't even remember the plot.  Oh, I remembered the premise alright, but the details of the plot were lost to me.  This classic of Sci/Fi has spawned sequels, imitations and a pretty decent (1992) computer game. 

Gateway is the story of a reluctant explorer in the hunt for Heechee artifacts.  The Heechee were a race of ancients that left a space station, dubbed Gateway, complete with several hundred FTL ships.  Once discovered, they were quickly experimented with to find that although no one could figure out how to program them, random combinations of the controls would send a ship out and return to Gateway automatically.  Untold riches awaited volunteers who could ride the ships and return with more artifacts, if any are to be found.  Of course, many dangerous and fatal things were on the other end of the trips, and chnaging the controls mid-flight meant certain death.  Our hero is one of the volunteers who must overcome his very reasonable fears and make some trips out.

Gateway is told from a split perspective.  We know that the protagonist is ultimately successful, as he is very wealthy and undergoing therapy, the primary vehicle of the plot.  However, the therapy hints at horrible trauma and the deaths on his conscience.  The well executed plot leads to a suspected, yet surprising ending that is very satisfying.  There are many reasons why this is a classic, and well justified.