Finished 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad. I received a copy of this from the publisher on Netgalley.
In the year 2018, NASA is going back to the moon. Obviously, they’re sending astronauts and specialists but they’re also sending teenagers. Why? Well, because NASA could use the boost in interest. They do a Willy Wonka-ish lottery, but it’s not just luck that will get you chosen. The three winners are carefully selected, based on a variety of factors. Sounds pretty awesome, right?
Except it isn’t. Because there’s a reason we’ve stayed away from the moon and we never, ever should’ve decided to go back.
I loved the premise of this book, because it sounded TERRIFYING. I love all things scary, and this sounded like a mix of Alien and maybe Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The execution, however? Not so much.
I read this on my Kindle, so that’s why this is in percentages. The first 75% of the book is interesting enough, but nothing happens. And the parts that would be the most interesting (the astronaut training, for example) are completely glossed over. I’m guessing that’s because this would be really, really hard to research.
The last 25% of the book is where it gets really, really good (and yes, really, really creepy). The Alien-meets-Body-Snatchers idea is accurate, with a small dose of Carpenter’s version of The Thing thrown in for good measure.
Here’s how I would’ve made the book better: I would’ve kept the viewpoints strictly with Mia, Midori and Antoine (the three teens). There are bonus narrators (astronauts/NASA people, plus an elderly man who was part of a previous moon mission in the 1960s) and I think they detracted from the story a little bit. I would’ve gotten to the scary part a lot faster, and would’ve had a lot more action on the actual moon.
Still, this isn’t a bad book. If you want to read it, though, be prepared to wait for a while before the fun (read: scary) parts come.
