I received a free copy of this books for review purposes.
I haven't previously read any of Joe Hart's work, but I had heard his name mentioned in various genre circles. The basic scifi concept of this books sounded appealing to me, though its a little bit softer of sf than I was expecting going in.
First off, Joe does a great job being both realistic and inclusive in his choices of characters. We have a strong female protagonist struggling with mental illness and addiction. We have upper class gay male foreign couples. Representational diversity is definitely a strength here. The story resolves around said protagonist's struggles as a medical research scientist to find a cure for a new disease effecting populations world-wide, including her daughter, with symptoms akin to dementia. Her search for solutions leads her places she never would have imagined going, including space and Mars.
For much of the book, I felt like I was in for a ride similar to what one would get reading Crighton or Weir, in terms of the blending of scifi, real science, speculative fiction, and storytelling. Though, as I said, the science gets a little soft as the story goes on. And honestly, the shades of event horizon-ish thriller near the climax were really exciting. But the author's explanation of the flaws in the teleportation technology of being related to the degradation of the 'soul' really lost me. While we had been given to know the protagonist had a religious background in childhood, religion was not something we had been led to believe played much of a role in her life anymore. No other characters show any hints of religious beliefs, and come from a variety of highly scientific backgrounds. The story itself has been setting up the reader to look for scientific solutions to various problems. Then out of nowhere we're tossed this explanation for one of the major challenges the characters face being about some existential/spiritual issue and its very grating. It also feels a little lazy. Its a simple explanation that the author doesn't have put too much thought or word count into explaining because of its very nature, even though it doesn't fit with the themes and overall narrative we've been presented.
Barring that failing, and its relatively close to the end of the novel, its a fun, light read. If Crighton and Weir were too 'heavy' scientifically, but you want something with a similar feel, check this out. ( )

A well-written murder mystery with some interesting sci-fi ideas. ( )

Dr, Gillian Ryan lost her husband to the disease, and now her daughter is battling it too. A strange disease that takes away a person's memories, leaving them in a confused, fugue state. Losian's is a lot like Alzheimer's, but it can strike anyone, young or old. Ryan is working hard to study the disease and hopes to find a cure. But the powers-that-be don't believe it's a concern and feel her research is taking too long, producing too few results. Ryan is notified that her funding has been cut. Just as she is reeling from the loss of her support funds, NASA approaches her, offering full permanent funding if she commits to a six-month mission to investigate some problems on the international space station. When it's too late to back out, she discovers that it's an entirely different, and much more dangerous mission. Someone has a secret. Someone doesn't want this investigation. And some secrets are worth killing for.

I loved this book! The plot and suspense kept my attention the entire time! There are many stories about mysterious diseases and dangerous missions in space, but this book didn't fall into old tropes. The story is creative, thrilling and suspenseful! It would be so difficult to be on a dangerous mission in space and to not know who, if anyone, you can trust. Gillian Ryan is a flawed, but very intelligent and driven main character. Several times I was so mad about how she was being manipulated, but it just made the suspense and creepiness of the plot that much stronger. The story definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. Every time I thought I knew what was going on and what would happen next, the story zinged off in a direction I didn't anticipate. Awesome!! Just brilliant!

I listened to the audiobook version of this story. The audio is just over 10.5 hours long. Christina Traister narrates. She reads at a nice even pace with good inflection. I have hearing loss but was easily able to hear and understand the entire book.

Joe Hart is the author of several suspense/thriller novels including Singularity and Cruel World. I'm definitely going to be reading more by Hart!

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

A genre-bending book with something for everyone. Hart mixes science-fiction, suspense, psychological thriller, and even a touch of horror to make for a wild ride. ( )

This book combines sci-fi, horror, and suspense into a gripping adventure filled with surprises. I listened to this book every chance I had and stayed up late last night to finish it. As much as I thought I knew about how it would turn out, I was still surprised. ( )