172 HOURS ON THE MOON BY JOHAN HARSTAD
Genre: YA, Sci-fi, Horror
“In space, no one can hear you scream.”
-Johan Harstad, 172 Hours on the Moon
Synopsis:
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. [Goodreads]

172 Hours on the Moon is a frightening book that gave me chills. Its a nightmare inducing horror/ sci-fi book that deals with one of my greatest fears and makes me never EVER want to go to space.
NASA is holding a lottery for teens for the chance to win a trip to the moon. The three teens that win the chance all have their own reasons for wanting the opportunity to go to the moon. They go off to train in the US and than head off to the moon where things start to go downhill.  I really enjoyed that the teens were from other places around the world other than the US and that is shares a little of the country and culture as well. Harstad unfolds a story that gives the background to each teen and the history and reason for this trip to the moon.The writing is dark and ominous. Harstad crafted a slow building (in a good way) terror novel that until the end of the book the full terror never fully sets in. Throughout the book there were points that had chills running down my spine and had me completely creeped out, but it wasn’t until I finished the book that everything actually fully hit me.
I really enjoyed the characters. I thought they were all well developed to a point and each had their own quirks. Their actions and reactions to the situations that were presented to them was the same responses I would have had. I do not think that this is a very character driven book , but it works for the story.
Overall this book completely sucked me in. It was intriguing, gripping and made my claustrophobia even worse. I read this book super fast and could not put it down. I enjoyed the pictures and visual aids used and thought they added to the atmosphere of the story. I was enticed by the terror that was created and did not see the twists coming at all. At the end of this book your mind will be blown. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves horror, creepy and terror and wants a different kind of spine chilling read that is based in outer space, just the whole no oxygen thing gives me chills thinking about it.