Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the eARC in exchange for a fair review.


Gillian Ryan has been working on a cure for Losian's since her husband was diagnosed with it. She has been running out of funding and time since her daughter was diagnosed as well. Losian's is new aggressive form of dementia. Once her funding runs, she surprised by a visit from an old boyfriend.


Carson is offering the chance of the lifetime for Gillian. She has a chance to go to space and study people who are affected by similar symptoms as Losian's. The difference is no one is for sure what is causing their symptoms except that they were all using a teleportation device.



But, Gillian has a bit of a secret too, since her daughter was diagnosed she has slipped back into her addiction. She secretly hopes this trip will help her get clean, but shortly after they leave she finds out that she was lied too, and they aren't going to a nearby space station. They are on there way to Mars, and Gillian isn't happy.


I would get into more but spoilers. I have to say this isn't what I was expecting. I didn't actually read the whole synopsis so I was expecting a mystery and I did get that, but I also got a fantastic space read. It reminded me of some movies or movie that I have seen (the names are eluding me at the moment) where the narrator is unreliable or maybe something crazy is going on. So you don't know what is going, who is crazy, and all in the setting of space which just seems to fit that situation so well that they are made for each other.


This might not have been the thriller I was expecting but it was science fiction done right. I am weird about my science fiction. It is very hit or miss for me, sometimes I love certain things and I will hate something else. This appealed to everything I love a dark mystery, space, crazy, violence, and one woman desperately trying to figure it all out or is she just crazy?

Page-turner is so overused that it has become trite. Here is how I felt about Obscura by Joe Hart. I…COULDN’T…PUT…IT…DOWN! Literally! I was reading my kindle at stop lights, during boring parts of a telephone conference call at work (with my office door closed of course) and when I should really be sleeping. The plot is completely different from what I usually read. It is a mystery but set in the future that included copious comingled science fiction and science fact.

Humans are increasingly becoming victims of a vicious type of dementia that resembles quick onset Alzheimer’s. Dr. Gillian Ryan’s husband falls victim to it. When their daughter also catches it, Dr. Ryan, a neurologist, tries to find a cure using rats. When her funding is cut, she takes a wild gamble on a six-month trip into space to try to find a cure for an even more virulent version of the disease by using human subjects in her trials.

Unfortunately, revealing any more of the plot would be a spoiler. The best part of Obscura are the wild twists in the plot. What is causing the disease to become more intense in space? Will Dr. Ryan find a cure? What will happen to her daughter?

This book is superb. It is recommended to anyone who wants to read an intriguing rollercoaster ride with a scientific bent and a near future setting. 5 stars! At the time of this review, this excellent read was available on Kindle Unlimited. It is definitely worth picking up!

Thanks to the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Wow! Just wow! The best book I've read this year. Dr. Gillian Ryan is trying to find a cure for Losian's disease, which eats up people's memories and personalities. She lost her husband to it, and her daughter is now sick. When she is about to lose her funding, an old ex-boyfriend shows up with a solution: help NASA find out what's happening in their space station and get unlimited funding after that. The catch is that she needs to travel to space, away from her daughter, to test the crew for Losian’s. Since Gillian is out of options, off she goes and, as soon as she leaves Earth's gravitational pull, her journey turns into a nightmare. Now, we know from the beginning that a disaster ended the mission and that all its members are dead. So how did this happen? Why is Gillian having horrifying visions and are they real? Is there someone else on the ship who should not be there? The novel mixes horror, psychological suspense, thriller and space adventures in a perfect balance. As you get to know the crew, they are very well defined. My favorite is Birk, Gillian's huge Swedish research assistant who follows her into space. And the climax is so suspenseful that I couldn't breathe. Even in Earth's atmosphere, where there is oxygen. Gripping and suspenseful, I love this book!

Fans of fast paced, action-based science fiction novels will find a lot to enjoy in Obscura. The tale of a spooky ship, a creepy mystery and a stalwart heroine, this book is a quick and easy read.

It begins with an accident. Gillian Ryan is in the car with her husband when the culmination of the last few week’s events blurt out of her. He’s forgetting things. Too many things to be accounted for by stress. He needs to see a doctor. Just as she’s driving her point home, he enters a fugue state and crashes the car. They survive. At least for a while.

It’s called Losian’s. It’s an aggressive new form of dementia which begins with memory loss, progresses to fugue states and ends with violent episodes and death. It takes less than two years for Gillian’s husband to succumb. Her only comfort? Her daughter. When her beautiful, darling Carrie is diagnosed Gillian begins the fight of her life. Research and her daughter are the only two things that exist for Gillian after that moment. She knows given time, she will be able to find a cure. She also knows the one thing she doesn’t have is time.

Then comes the day that changes her life. Her current funding is pulled but an intriguing new option develops: An ex-boyfriend named Carson, a NASA big shot, has a proposition for her. She will travel to a (relatively) nearby space station with a NASA team where some members of the crew have begun to complain of memory loss, fugue states and in at least one case, a violent episode resulting in death. She will be gone from her daughter for six months. Six months where her research will be fully funded and she is guaranteed all the funding she needs upon her return. Money will never be an issue again. Gillian doesn’t want to leave Carrie, but she sees no alternative but to hope that this sacrifice will result in the miracle she is so desperate for. It should work. If only they don’t discover her secret.

There’s only one problem. That station is full of secrets. And someone is very willing to kill to keep them.

Plot, setting, character, conflict, prose (also known as style) and point of view are the main elements of fiction. When I review, I try to keep those things in mind and judge the book based on how well the writer executes them in addition to pacing and overall readability of the tale. In this case, Hart, an accomplished writer, nails the basics. He has a smooth writing style which is clear, concise and easy to read. He doesn’t have any struggles with point of view. The story is told in third person limited, presenting us with Gillian’s perspective throughout and the author does a great job with that. The setting is also handled well. We aren’t overwhelmed with details, but a clear image of the ships and station are drawn; we can easily picture what we need to see. The conflict is clearly set up. In terms of the execution, the tale is close to perfect. And the pacing! That perhaps is the best piece of the puzzle. What makes the tale interesting and readable is that the pacing is so brisk. We never have time to think too deeply about what is happening because the story moves so quickly, and each new revelation is so fascinating that reading is both enjoyable and mesmerizing. I just wanted to know what was happening, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as a result and I felt like I was running a race to the finish. If there had been a book two I would gladly have picked that up in order to continue the journey; I was that invested in the characters and their story.

Speaking of which, the author does a good job of painting the characters sparsely, which is necessary in a novel driven by action, but giving us enough time with them and information about them that we are able to bond. I never warmed to Carson, which I think was understandable given his behaviors, but I did warm to Gillian, Birk and even Dr. Anders. I liked what I knew of them and would have been interested in learning more.

Most novels have flaws, though, and I think in this one, the flaw lay in the plotting. Once you had time to think, the holes in the overall storyline became a lot more obvious. For example, the fact that much of what occurs relies on Gillian’s addiction felt a touch unnatural. For that to have been the first domino in a line of falling blocks would have worked, but so much that is crucial to the tale depends on her being an addict, meaning that it went from a plot point to near deus ex machina. For me, the tale works easily in spite of this, but others might find that to be more of a stumbling block. Also, once the solution to the mystery is floated by the characters – the ‘why’ of what is occurring if you will – it’s immediately obvious who the guilty party is. I still wanted to see how the story ended, so that in no way ruined anything for me, but some might find it annoying.

I thoroughly enjoyed Obscura and would be happy to pick up a sequel and see what happens there. While not a perfect novel, I think fans of space adventure science fiction set in the near future will find a lot to like about it, too.

Obscura can be described as a science fiction psychological thriller novel that includes elements of drug addiction, teleportation, a mysterious severe mental condition, and a murder mystery. The story focuses on Dr. Gillian Ryan, a woman whose life is turned upside down when her family becomes victims to a horrible new form of dementia that she has spent her life trying to find a cure for. This journey takes her to the world of NASA to solve the mystery of why the crew of a space station is suffering from similar symptoms as her family. She finds herself taking a trip to space and getting wrapped up in a murder mystery while dealing with her personal drug addiction and suffering from what appear to be mental breaks. Space madness is the term that came to my mind. I thought the author captured this part of the story really well. It was dark, disturbing, and emotional. Most of the book is spent trying to unravel psychological mysteries - what are the origins of this mysterious form of dementia? Why do some suffer from it and others don't? Why is Gillian and her crew members hallucinating and suffering from sever mental breaks? There is an element of advanced technology development with the teleportation aspect of the story, but readers won't find themselves drowning in too much science. Considering the author tried to roll in a number of different kinds of genres, I though he did an admirable job of not losing focus. Good pace and very entertaining.

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi thriller eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .

obscura (Joe Hart)
Title: obscura
Author: Joe Hart
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (Amazon's fifth publishing imprint for new mystery and thriller debuts)
Publication Date: TODAY!!! (hardcover/e-book)
ISBN: 978-1503949898
Source: NetGalley

This was categorized as a thriller, which I don't normally read. However the cover and title were fascinating so I went to see what it was about. Well turns out it has a lot of science fiction elements so I happily got a copy. And what a thrilling ride this was!

This book follows Dr. Gillian Ryan who studies the brain and a serious new form of dementia. Her fight against the disease is a personal one because it killed her husband. And now her daughter has it too. She needs a cure. The major problem is that her funding has been cut. So when NASA offers her unlimited funding in exchange for a 6 month trip to space to help with astronauts suffering similar problems, can she say no?

I found Gillian to be an awesome protagonist that I was continuously rooting for. She has an addiction problem and at times thinks she is going insane. And yet she is smart, driven, and savvy. She will do anything for her daughter. I was riveted by her journey and didn't want to put the book down.

The science sections dealing with both the brain and space were fascinating. The novel was character-driven, filled with tension, and truly atmospheric. Poor Gillian is continuously put in harrowing and unexpected situations. Of course nothing goes to plan. The combination of thriller, horror, slight mystery, and sci-fi made this a wonderful read that I highly recommend.

So lastly . . .
Thank you Thomas & Mercer!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

She’s felt it before…the fear of losing control. And it’s happening again.
In the near future, an aggressive and terrifying new form of dementia is affecting victims of all ages. The cause is unknown, and the symptoms are disturbing. Dr. Gillian Ryan is on the cutting edge of research and desperately determined to find a cure. She’s already lost her husband to the disease, and now her young daughter is slowly succumbing as well. After losing her funding, she is given the unique opportunity to expand her research. She will travel with a NASA team to a space station where the crew has been stricken with symptoms of a similar inexplicable psychosis—memory loss, trances, and violent, uncontrollable impulses.
Crippled by a secret addiction and suffering from creeping paranoia, Gillian finds her journey becoming a nightmare as unexplainable and violent events plague the mission. With her grip weakening on reality, she starts to doubt her own innocence. And she’s beginning to question so much more—like the true nature of the mission, the motivations of the crew, and every deadly new secret space has to offer.
Merging thrilling science-fiction adventure with mind-bending psychological suspense, Wall Street Journal bestselling author Joe Hart explores both the vast mysteries of outer space and the even darker unknown that lies within ourselves.

To visit the author’s website go to:
Joe Hart - Author

To buy the novel please visit:
obscura - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:
Yer Ports for Plunder List

Obscura starts with a boom and just gets better. In the future, a disease akin to Alzheimer's is destroying lives both young and old. Our hero, Dr. Ryan, is tasked with going into space and treating some of the astronauts on the shuttle who are suffering from this dreaded and unknown disease. Unfortunately, all goes terribly wrong during the flight. The reader is asked to cope with horrors both real and imagined, not seen except in space and on this cataclysmic flight of mercy.

Joe Hart is a very talented writer who will only get better and better. Here, he has proven himself deserving of all the accolades that he has received. Obscura is a book that demands to be read.

OMG. Losian’s. That is what I fear. A more rapid form of Alzheimer’s, it takes a person’s mind and leaves them to be a violent unrecognizable shell of their former self. Gillian, in an effort to find a cure for her daughter Carrie after losing her husband to Losian’s, agrees to join a NASA space mission after her research funding was cut. However nothing is what she had originally agreed to once she was in space.
This book had all the right elements to keep me reading. Obscura is a perfect blend of science fiction, thriller, and mystery that keeps you wanting to know what happens next. If you are a fan of Stephen King books, I recommend reading Obscura.

Thank for this copy of Obscura!

This was my first Joe Hart book so I cannot compare to his other books.

This book was awesome! Science thriller and murder mystery as one. Sometimes while I was reading I felt like I was reading Dan Brown. Lots to learn and follow through as the story progresses.

Highly recommend!

Joe Hart captivated me with this book. Filled with unexpected twists Obscura held my attention through to the end! This was a fun, and interesting read from a master storyteller.

Joe Hart takes us into the near-future in Obscura, to a time when the Earth is severely polluted and global warming is set to pay a disastrous toll. A deadly new virus, Losian, has emerged, cursing the afflicted with an Alzheimer's-like memory loss on the way to fatality. Although science hasn't had much luck curbing mankind's deadly carbon footprint, it has made some headway into developing a new, cutting-edge method of travel currently being tested in space. Inexplicably, though, the human test subjects are developing violent psychoses and memory loss - symptoms that bear remarkable similarities to Losian. After losing her research funding, Dr. Gillian Ryan is recruited by NASA to continue her work and develop a cure for those afflicted aboard the space station. Easy, right?

Hart does a tremendous job building up the story of Obscura, giving Gillian plenty of personal reasons to be involved in the search for Losian's cure, while also making her an important and striking character in her own right. Smart, tough, and resourceful, Gillian is a terrific heroine, but one who also has an important weak spot in her addiction to pills. On the science front, Hart's fresh mode of travel will be old-hat to plenty of sci-fi fans, but the technology is given a shiny new coat of paint here thanks to some refreshing plot elements and unintended consequences.

While Obscura is a thrilling read, Hart infuses plenty of creepiness throughout, injecting some welcome elements of horror that will keep readers guessing. There are a few memorable scenes, and characters, etched into my mind thanks to Hart's vivid descriptions and scenarios that packed a lovely bit of wow factor. The story itself is what truly grabbed me, though - murders aboard a space station, drug addiction, and whole lotta paranoia - all perfectly paced and flawlessly executed. I absolutely had to know what was happening, and what was going to happen next.

Obscura is the kind of read you need to clear your calendar for because this is one hell of a page-turner from start to finish. Fans of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter and Pines should feel right at home with this cutting-edge thriller.

[Note: I received an advanced copy of this title from publisher Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.]

An interesting fast read that mashes up sci-fi with medical thriller with murder mystery. Gillian is a physician desperately seeking a cure for the disease that killed her husband and now is afflicting her daughter. She's also an opioid addict. The one glitch I found in this was that she was willing to give up six months with her daughter to travel via teleporter (cool) to a space station. Rationalizing that this time might lead to a cure for her daughter, she goes and then finds much more than she expected. I'm not a big sci-fi reader but this one was grounded in enough possible scenarios that it engaged me. Thanks to net galley for the ARC.

Can you imagine a world where an aggressive form of dementia is plaguing the world. It shows no prejudice of age or mercy? OBSCURA drops us right into that frightening world, one I never hope to see.

Dr. Gillian Ryan lost her husband, her young daughter is suffered greatly from the symptons too and her research is extremely epenseive and the money is running out. She is scared for her daughter and frustrated not knowing what to do. Gillian has been offered a job working with NASA in space working on their project they have going on. The job will take her away from her daughter, but when the missing is over she will have all the monetary resources needed to continue her work. And there isn’t anything a parent won’t do to save their child and in the process hopefully be able to save countless others.

Gillian agrees to the job, but she finds out quickly that things aren’t what they seem on board the ship, they a aren’t going where she was told they were going. So, of course she’s angry, I don’t blame her. She’s been lied to. When a body of one the crew is discovered dead, she is the #1 suspect and things pick up at a fast pace. Her POV takes us through the events both on board the ship and gives us snippets of an interview after the fact as well.

With the crew in stasis, Gillian decides to stay awake and work on her research and of most certainly clear her name. I really like this strong and determined woman, but with no human interaction and the sheer isolation aboard the ship, she begins to sense things, hear and see things that she doesn’t want to believe. Is she losing her mind? Or is something a little more sinister going on? It was great to sit back and follow her while all the pieces fall into place. Eerie and suspsenful moments run throughout this, and then there is of course the modern mystery that plagues Gillian. All this lead up to one freakin fantastic ending.

I will tell you, there is a lot of sciencey talk going on and while I didn’t understand most of it, I’ve never really read anything about the science behind telporartion but it was completely fascinating to read about. OBSCURA had all the right ingredients for a great psychological thriller, the suspense and eeriness alone had me turning the pages. I just had to know what was really going on out there in space. There are quite a few characters that I would like to smack up side the head, but there always has to be a villain I suppose, it does make for a great cast though.

Fans of thrillers like this with a little bit of science fiction mixed in will enjoy this one. I certainly did!

When I saw Obscura was due out, many months ago, I was excited to see a new book by one of my go to authors. I’ve been a fan of Joe Harts work for years. I love the creativity in his plots and the characters I know I will miss when I finish the book. Joe Harts thrillers are nothing less than fantastic and they always keep me engrossed. He has taken his talent for thrillers, which I love trying to solve, and mixed that with science fiction, which I also love. As if that wasn’t enough to make this a must read, there was the psychological aspect that gave the book a tight, claustrophobic, and chilling atmosphere with plenty of paranoia reminiscent of the movie 2001.
The only trouble I had was early on, and it was connecting with Gillian, the protagonist. I couldn’t get a good hold on her, and it made liking her difficult. She had a strange ‘something is off’ quality about her. But as I got deeper into the story the more I started to like her, especially her time alone on the ship, and as she started to piece together the clues to the illness. This illness was truly scary and I loved the mystery Gillian was up against as time was running out for her daughter.
The further the story continued the more I was wrapped up in the case. Each time I was sure I had the direction of the story figured out it took another turn. Characters flipped from allies to adversaries and I didn’t know who to trust. The multiple mysteries in Obscura kept me guessing and Joe Hart gets me every time. Near the conclusion of the book the tension was so high I could feel the characters anxiety. I was sweating right alongside Gillian as the shit hit the fan. I never know how much research is done to make something feel real, but the science components felt solid and legit and I loved it all. If you love thrillers and/or science fiction you should get a copy of this book and enjoy the ride.

My review will be posted on May 8th at thescaryreviews.com.

Brilliant

I have never read a book by Joe Hart before Obscura and I'm pretty mad at myself now.  This is one of the most brilliant books I've read in quite some time.  It was real, gritty, and cuts to the heart of a ton of issues that are going on now.

Obscura tells a story of a woman on a mission.  A new form of dementia is affecting people and causing them to lose their memories far too young.  No one knows what causes it, if it's easily spread, or if it's curable. Dr. Gillian Ryan is out to try and change that.  Along the way, she is promised something she never thought anyone could get - unlimited funding.  But it comes with a catch.

I would coin this as being a psychological science fiction thriller. Hart wrote a world that is stunning in its description but also simple and easy to understand.  Things are worse - we're a little into the future and we've basically doomed a group of people without even knowing how.

I took care of my grandpa who had dementia and Alzheimers - Hart hits the nail on the head with his description of this new disease and how people react to it.  It was almost hard to listen to at times because I couldn't imagine watching my wife or someone that I'm intimately close with (like a kid) go through the same issues.  Even the way that Hart had Gillian and her daughter describe it from a kids point of view was chilling. The Fuzzies is a term I won't soon forget.

I want to spend a lot of time writing about the latter parts of the book but I just can't.  Hart wrote a book that is like an onion - it had so many different layers to it.  The deeper I got the more I wanted to know.  The way that Obscura is set up, it could have gone a hundred different directions but the ones that Hart went with, making this easily one of the best books I've read this year if not ever.  The story itself and the way that Hart weaved science fact in with science fiction was reminiscent of some of my favorite Michael Crichton books.

I had the privilege of listening to this a little early and my wife and I literally finished it during our drive to Washington DC.  We started and finished it in one trip - and sat in silence after it finished because we couldn't believe just how good the story was.

The narration for Obscura was done by Christina Traister who I thought did a perfect job.  The scenes of paranoia and panic at the mid-point of the book were perfectly voiced with the right amount of emotion and panic in her voice to really nail Gillian as a real person and not just a character in a book.

Overall, Obscura... seriously might be one of the best books I've ever read.  I had a feeling I was going to like this book, but wow. I liked it even more than I expected.

Um, wow.

I enjoyed Joe Hart's book The Last Girl- my only qualm was that I haven't been enjoying YA as much in recent years, so I was delighted to find this new scifi/thriller (two of my most frequented genres!). I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis for this book and was delighted when Thomas & Mercer approved my request for an ARC on NetGalley. Thank you, NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer!

The book does a great job of pretty much immediately you pulling in with short, captivating chapters jumping in time from 8 years before, two months before, and present day, before continuing mostly in present-day chapters. It's incredibly suspenseful and a true page-turner- I just wanted to keep reading (I try not to do this usually, but I was near the end of the book on my commute to work and ended up reading as I was walking because I just. Couldn't. Stop.) The chapters are occasionally broken up by logs from Dr. Ryan's space journal and by brief media blasts that give you a glimpse into the future and only make you desperate to read on and find out how the Future Event (I won't be more specific than that to avoid spoilers) happened.

Truly a thrilling mystery set in space! The last page brought a tear to my eyes (I won't specify whether it was a happy or sad or in-between tear though). Phenomenal!

Overall interesting idea but all the time jumping made it somewhat hard to really get into it and feel for the events unfolding. It felt like a very simple plot presented in a twisty way, ironically calling for a word obscure as its main describer.

LOVE the cover art.

Also, the cover art is a very accurate replica of the vibe inside this book - so in this case, I guess, it's the exception of the rule not to judge the book by its cover.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

In the not-too-distant future, a neuroscientist who is losing her young daughter to the same mysterious disease that killed her husband must make a wrenching choice: either embark on a secretive NASA mission in the hopes of curing the disease, or stay on Earth with her daughter for the little time she has left before the child's memory is entirely gone. Obscura is a smart, satisfying novel about space travel and the future of humanity, and it also happens to be an intelligent examination of addiction taken to its most terrifying extreme. A locked-room mystery for sci-fi fans that will have modern readers saying, "Beam me up, Scottie."

I nice blend of sci-fi and thriller with twists and turns, some of which are expected and some surprising.

Good characters and very well written.

The kind of thriller that keeps you turning pages for Dr Ryan is not sure what is up and what is down.
Her addiction to pain killers does little to help her in deep space
Great read