Review | Obscura by Joe Hart

A new disease called Losian’s is discovered in the near future; a form of dementia where the victims behave in frightening ways. When Dr Gillian Ryan lost her husband to the disease, she decides to dedicate her life to finding a cure. But her daughter has contracted the disease and her time is running out.

Then Gillian is contacted by an old friend offering an opportunity to further her research with NASA. The catch is she has to travel to a space station where the entire crew appear to be infected by the same disease. Gillian soon finds herself caught in a nightmarish journey with no one to trust – not even herself.

She’d watched him for several eternal minutes, a tingling unease building exponentially, before clearing her throat, which brought him out of the fugue. He’d smiled and come to greet her like normal, but there had been a strange expression on his face when he first turned around. 

Almost like he hadn’t recognized her.

Space? Isolation? Something unknown out there? Yes to all of the above! Happily, Obscura delivers on the suspense and thrills of space exploration and how everything can possibly go wrong. While the concept is familiar – an outsider has to go to space for a particular reason as they are The Expert – the book provides enough intrigue to keep my interest. The buildup to the journey into space is interspersed with flashbacks of the origins of Losian’s Disease, so that I was not left in the dark to the situation.

I thought the main character, Gillian, is a fantastic protagonist. Her desperation to save her daughter and her grief for her late husband are palpable on the page. She relies on prescription pills to get through her day and this eventually causes problems for her. The book does a great job showing her as an outsider amongst the astronauts and how isolated she feels. The description of her journey to the space station is claustrophobic and tangible with a gloomy atmosphere. When she starts experiencing strange events and feels her mind breaking down, I was on her side, wanting her to come out of the dark and succeed in her quest.

If there’s one thing I wanted more is for the supporting characters to be more rounded. I also thought the technical details could have been tighter especially towards the ending. But there’s still plenty of surprises in store. For a fast space thriller it also packs an emotional punch. Obscura is an exciting, affecting page-turner that is absolutely recommended!

About the author: Joe Hart

Photo by NASA via Unsplash