Obscura

In 2028, neural radiologist Gillian Ryan, the heroine of this outstanding standalone from Hart (the Dominion trilogy), joins a shuttle mission to an Earth-orbiting space station, where she hopes to work on developing a treatment for Losian’s disease, an Alzheimer-like neurological disorder that afflicts her eight-year-old daughter, Carrie. Gillian agrees to leave Carrie behind for months in exchange for the promise of unlimited funding for her research and a chance to cure her child. Soon realizing that she’s not been told the truth about the mission, Gillian becomes involved in both a murder mystery and an increasingly desperate effort to survive and return to Earth. The unexpected consequences of an exciting new experimental technology help drive the page-turning plot. Hart’s empathetic and flawed lead keeps the novel’s speculative elements grounded. Fans of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines series, with its combination of mystery, horror, and science fiction, will find this right up their alley. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (May)