Johan Harstad

It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever. Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune. Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan. Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them. In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

172 Hours on the Moon

Three teenagers are going on the trip of a lifetime. Only one is coming back. It's been more than forty years since NASA sent the first men to the moon, and to grab some much-needed funding and attention, they decide to launch an historic international lottery in which three lucky teenagers can win a week-long trip to moon base DARLAH 2-a place that no one but top government officials even knew existed until now. The three winners, Antoine, Midori, and Mia, come from all over the world. But just before the scheduled launch, the teenagers each experience strange, inexplicable events. Little do they know that there was a reason NASA never sent anyone back there until now-a sinister reason. But the countdown has already begun ...

172 hours on the moon

tori 👻

** spoiler alert **
           Doppelgangers? Seriously? No, I mean, SERIOUSLY?
I'm actually quite sad because I had high expectations for this one, I guess it just wasn't for me.

Geoffrey Froggatt

172 Hours on the Moon was a fun science-fiction horror thriller. After a prologue set in 2010, the book begins in 2012, after NASA has announced its intent to hold a contest for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18. Three winners will be selected from all over the world, with the prize being a coveted spot on an upcoming mission to return to the Moon. The stunt is believed to be a way of increasing both funding and public interest, but the real reason is that NASA intends to study a mystical phenomenon with a sinister edge that was previously discovered during the original Moon landings. This is the reason that NASA stopped sending people to the Moon in the 1970s. Three teenagers from Norway, Japan, and France (Mia, Midori, and Antoine respectively) are excited at the rare opportunity to see the Moon firsthand as well as stay in the formerly secret lunar base DARLAH 2, which was built in the 1970s during Operation DP7. Their excitement is short-lived as they realize that this base might become their tomb. I loved the writing style because it felt like a proper science-fiction horror movie. The English translation of the book was done so well, that I was surprised when I heard that the story was originally written in Dutch. I loved the fast-paced storytelling and the alternating POVs. The main protagonists were all interesting and had their own distinct voices, and I loved that they came from different parts of the world, it gave the story a bigger international scale. I would love to see this story adapted as a movie or limited series. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves science-fiction horror movies.

In 2019, teens Mia, Antoine, and Midori are selected by lottery to join experienced astronauts on a NASA mission to the once top-secret moon base, DARLAH 2, while in a Florida nursing home, a former astronaut struggles to warn someone of the terrible danger there.

aisha

Oh wow. So mind-blowing and insane and scary and everything I hoped for. It's amazing.

mirin

Emelie

2,5owls

The ending was really underwhelming!

Amanda

A terrifying thriller for young adult fans of The Martian and paranormal space adventure that will be devoured in one heart-pounding sitting. It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever. It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space...no one is coming to save them. In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

Janne

I loved it. It has a good plot twist. It's pretty fast paced. The end shocked me if I'm honest. I think it is weird that it kinda felt like it took place in 2021. With the virus and everything going on. When I read the last 2 chapters I got shivers. The fact that her doppelganger made it to earth.

Toni Turner

I have the ebook still, but the writing just wasn't my style. I know tons of people love this book though which makes me sad that I don't have much motivation to finish it. I might one day, but for now I have dnf'd it. I was reading this book with Ratanna last year around Halloween.

Chelsea Hunter

I usually don't take the time to write reviews on books that I didn't like, but I feel like this is a must... if not to let others know about this book, then to let me rant about how disappointed I was in the book.

I have been hearing a lot of good things about this book, and maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't feel the need to write this review, but here I am... writing a review... or more accurately a rant.

I have been searching for some time for a good YA book that will actually scare me because I want to read a good YA horror story, and when I heard about how this book was creepy and shouldn't be read at night, I thought "Yes, the book I have been waiting for". I went out of my way to find and get this book, including waiting for about a week to read it. I was so pumped and ready to dive right into this book.

And was thoroughly disappointed. I love sci-fi and horror, and to hear about a book that was both sci-fi and horror was like a dream come true. This was hardly sci-fi or horror. The only reason I would classify it as sci-fi would be because it takes place on the moon. And it wasn't really horror because it just wasn't scary at all. I mean I even went to the lengths of reading it at night, because I knew reading it during the day wouldn't scare me, well it didn't scare me at night either. And the thing that was scary... (view spoiler)[dopplegangers, no evil aliens or anything like that, but doppelgangers... (hide spoiler)].

The characters weren't at all likable (view spoiler)[Mia was a spoiled brat who didn't realize how much her parents wanted her to experience opportunities that don't normally come knocking on your door, although I feel her parents did cross a line by forcing her, but still spoiled. Antoine was a creepy stalker, who couldn't let his feelings for Simone go. Midori wasn't necessarily unlikable, but she wasn't really likable, either (hide spoiler)]. Except for these issues, they had nothing about themselves that made them stand apart from each other. The other characters were also flat, and all of them acted very unreasonably at times.

The pacing of the story was slow and super drawn-out. It was about halfway through before they even got to the moon, and then even longer into the story before anything "scary" happened. And it was supposed to be a horror story that takes place on the moon. I realize the author was trying to familiarize us with the characters, but there was probably a way he could have done it better and faster.

I liked the changing of perspectives, but at times, it was hard to follow. It would be one character's perspective, then another character's perspective the very next paragraph. There were also a few perspectives that I thought were really unnecessary (like Simone's... I honestly didn't see the point of it). 

The relationships were not so great. You didn't really get to see how the friendships were formed. One second they weren't friends, and then bam, they were all hanging out and practically bffs. The romance was really unnecessary. There was no real connection between the two characters (view spoiler)[except Antoine watching Mia often... because he's a stalker (hide spoiler)]. It felt super rushed, and it didn't last long.

The ending was predictable. I mean I didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but I knew that something like that would happen after a character said that it was very important to make sure nothing like that happened. (view spoiler)[Everyone in the world dies... basically, because all of a sudden the doppelganger can create multiples of itself (hide spoiler)].

A few other issues I had with the book was the unreliability of the character's perspective near the end, the use of illogical foreshadowing, (view spoiler)[all of the death scenes involving the characters on the moon because they weren't made to be emotional, they just sort of happened... honestly the only deaths that really made me sad were when Mr. Himmelfarb and Murry died (I think that is how their names are spelled) (hide spoiler)], and then there are some plot holes and unresolved questions.

On a last negative note... none of the three were excited to go to the moon for the reason of just going to the moon, they all went to gain something other than being the only teens to step foot on the moon...

The reason I gave it two stars instead of one was because of the Japanese urban legends and the story of Emilie Sagee. Those were definitely my favorite moments.

Laura Aurora

OH. MY. GOD.
Well, then, that's me terrified of the moon!
I have never read a more thrilling book in my entire life. I finished this book on the plane from London to Norway and I was straight out crying. Yep. I was so scared, so freaked out, so sad and distraught. This book is absolutely terrifying. In some ways, it reminded me of the Doctor Who two-parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, which scares me to death even after so many years. 

I was a bit hesitant about this book being written by a Norwegian author, as I normally don't like Norwegian books at all. That is also why I chose to read this in English rather than Norwegian, which is my native language. The translator has done a brilliant job. The writing is alive and flows well. I loved it.

Definitely read this book if you like creepy, twisted stuff. You won't regret it. You'll never look at the moon the same way again!

Britt Jansen 

Diana

Oh my goodness, this was so bad. Boring as hell and I predicted every twist before they even left for the moon. If you can get past the whole sending teenagers to the moon thing, the concept could have been really cool. This had the potential to be a really great sci-fi horror novel, but it just fell completely flat. Maybe if it had been adult as opposed to YA, the horror part could have been drawn out more and the suspense could have been there, but it wasn't so this just didn't work for me the way it was written. Everything just felt way to fast to make me care for these characters, or to build any suspense. Basically a massive flop for me and I am now on the hunt for a great sci-fi horror since this wasn't it.

Mary Graham

Wow this book was amazing. Definitely one of my favorite books I've read all year. This book had so many twists and turns in it. I was never expecting anything that was coming. This book was amazing and terrifying at the same time. It was especially terrifying because these things could actually be happening on the moon right now and we would have no idea. If you're skeptical about reading this book, read it. I could not put it down.

Adrianna Giunta

4.5 stars

This book was fucking TERRIFYING. The whole way through there was this overwhelming sense of dread that something bad was going to happen and this author did such a good job with pacing. I loved this a lot more than I thought I would and I can’t stop thinking about that ending!

Anastaciya

I remember being super intrigued when I first heard about this book. Can't say I had some high expectations, but I'm still a bit disappointed. The whole concept of sending teens to the moon and believing it to be a good idea to solve some problem is... ahh, that's what bothers me - it should be cool, but I just don't buy this here. (There are other books where it's done well, take Illuminae for example. Yeah, there are teenagers in space, but they are prepared, it's part of their lives, it's the reality of the world; but here there's a threesome of absolutely clueless teens chosen via a lottery to be sent to the moon with minimum preparation and what feels like no skills 🤦🏻‍♀️)
The whole main "issue" of the story is interesting, yet feels somewhat shallow, not fully explored. well, maybe it's supposed to stay a huge mystery. But at the very end we get some info that makes me question how and why, and what actually happened, like, turns out it wasn't all that bad after all?.. Left feeling confused. 
p.s. the spookiest part was the Japanese urban legends 😱☠

Rebeca 

This book is terrifying. It's creepy. But the author did a great job, the book is interesting and it gets you thinking, "What if this really did happen?" I shudder every time. Excellent Johan Harstad, excellent.

172 Hours on the Moon

Reviews