172 Hours on the Moon (Hardcover) by Johan Harstad

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

A 2013 YALSA Teens Top Ten Nominee
Dagbaldet's Best Norwegian YA Novel of All Time

Creepy and bleak, Harstad's story is both psychologically and atmospherically disturbing.--Publishers Weekly

Hard to put down.--Library Media Connection

Harstad combines the perfectly paced creepiness of classic Twilight Zone episodes with Battlestar Galactica's chilling portrayal of the vast, unknowable emptiness of space.--Romantic Times

Imaginative.... Well-crafted suspense.... Interesting and original.--Kirkus Reviews

Original, creepy, intense... 172 Hours is page-turning sci-fi that will stay with readers long after the shocking and heartbreaking conclusion.--School Library Journal

Surprisingly creepy.... The novel's strength is its rising tension and skin-crawling conclusion: Scandinavian thriller meets sci-fi horror movie.--VOYA

This irresistible premise is often intoxicating and occasionally downright terrifying.... pretty darn effective.--Booklist

About The Author

Johan Harstad won the 2008 Norwegian Brage Award in the young adult/children's literature category for 172 Hours on the Moon. He has also written several novels for adults, including Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, a Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction of 2011 book, which has been published in thirteen countries; four plays; a collection of short stories; and a prose collection. He has been described as one of the most important [Scandinavian] authors to emerge in the early years of this century. He lives in Oslo, Norway.