Run Away To Mars by Michelle Webster is a rather interesting story. Audrid Riley is a scientist and military officer working on Mars who has just celebrated her first anniversary with her husband Torias. Her current project is investigating a rather unusual cave near the base. During an initial exploration of the cave her protective suit is compromised by extreme levels of thetapolaron radiation and ends up hospitalized. After this Audrid starts showing signs of erratic behavior, normally a by the book officer she starts accusing her superior officers of conspiring against her. She also starts claiming that there are alien lifeforms in the cave and that they have done something to her. Specifically, that they have deposited their offspring in her brain and that they can only be removed by the beings in the cave and that if they are not removed she will soon die. Audrid also shows other signs of general recklessness that leads Torias and the base Doctors to closely observe her thinking she has become mentally ill and delusional. The more they claim she is ill the more she claims she is telling the truth, at least about the aliens anyway.
I want to say that this book was not necessarily what I expected based on the description but it was also a pretty good read even if it went in a direction I was not expecting it to. What was really interesting was how well it depicted the mental illness that Audrid suffered from during the majority of the story. I don’t know much about that type of thing or about the proper treatment for it but it does seem like either the author really knows their stuff or did tremendous amounts of research prior to writing this. That being said, it doesn’t actually provide much of an explanation in regards to the aliens in the cave which I was surprised by. Other similar stories frequently end up explaining them and their presence in some way towards the end but this one didn’t. I think perhaps it was done because the story wanted to keep the focus on the supposed mental illness Audrid was suffering from which does make sense. It just wasn’t necessarily what I was expecting. Definitely still a good story and perhaps even better since it repeatedly breaks expectations like that. At the same time it also makes the story feel more like it is a thriller than a work of science fiction. I enjoyed it nonetheless and am happy giving it four out of five stars.
This is a good work that is a blend of the science fiction and thriller genres in many ways as it is science fiction due to the setting but the plot feels more like a thriller than anything. There are a few scenes that would probably limit this book to a primarily adult audience as there are several adult scenes and references though nothing extremely graphic. The violence was more or less non-existent though except for a few extremely mild scenes towards the end, and I do mean extremely mild. It was an interesting read though so if it sounds like something you might like consider giving it a try. As always feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments if you do. I acquired this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.