This book is pure fun. Even the marketing understands what it is (Die Hard meets The Martian meets Knives Out), so don't read this if you're looking for a super thought provoking and life changing tome,. But if you love a super creative story that happens to be set at a billionaire hotel in space, I urge you to go for it.

This was a lot of fun. It was like Die Hard in space. When bad guys take hostages, biophysicist Chloe is another area of the new space hotel, and she creates chaos while trying to evade capture. Taking place over a short period of time, this book follows Chloe as she works against her captors, who are trying to extort ransom from the hostages.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this.

In "Exit Black", Joe Pitkin aims to captivate fans of action-packed sci-fi thrillers in a story marketed as —Die Hard meets The Martian with a sprinkle of Knives Out.

The setting is the Imperium, a space hotel with a past life as an orbiting lab. Dr Chloe Bonilla, a biophysicist, finds herself fighting against threats to her and a group of wealthy tourists caught by terrorists. These terrorists, who want to erase economic inequalities, demand an extortionate ransom, kickstarting a tense fight for survival.

"Exit Black" has a strong premise and has moments, delivering on its promise of action and suspense. However, the story sometimes loses its pace, and it didn't make me care enough about Chloe or the supporting characters, which - for a lover of character-driven narratives like me - dampened its overall impact. For me, emotional investment in characters is crucial for action scenes to truly hit hard and for the story's commentary on socioeconomic issues to resonate more deeply.

"Exit Black" offers an adventurous narrative filled with potential, showcasing creativity and ambitious themes. While I would have preferred a main character I clicked with, *Exit Black* demonstrates Pitkin's ability to imagine and explore the complex interplay of action, science fiction, and social critique, underscoring the challenge of balancing intricate themes within the broad scope of speculative storytelling. I liked it (3.5 out of 5), and think the wrap-up was executed well. I would definitely pick up another book by the author.

#ExitBlack #NetGalley

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Exit Black by Joe Pitkin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 323 / Genre: Sci-Fi

Imperium is an orbiting laboratory that is now a space hotel for the top 1%. The very first wave of vacationers has just arrived via a private rocket. Unfortunately, there’s also a group of terrorists hidden among the staff. Calling themselves the Reckoners, they demand $8 billion from their wealthy guests. But they didn’t expect their resident biophysicist Dr. Chloe Bonilla to be such a wily badass. Chloe manages to evade capture and wreaks havoc on their plans.

I really enjoyed this very fast-paced and exciting space thriller. And I absolutely loved Chloe, who was a strong, smart heroine who totally kicked ass.

Thank you, @NetGalley, @BlackstonePublishing, and @Joe.Pitkin for my gifted copy. I loved it!

Totally disappointing read. I really wish publishing stop comparing books to certain movies or to other books. When they fail to live up to the comparison, it's so frustrating. The characters were plain, their handling of the situations were too over the top. I just couldn't wait until I finished reading. This book may work for others, but it was such a disappointing experience for me.

#JOEPITKIN. #EXITBLACK. #NETGALLEY

I had high hopes, based on “Die Hard meets The Martian—with a dash of Knives Out“. That would have been fast-paced fun with snark, action and a dash of oddball characters.

Sadly, this wasn‘t it. It lacked suspense. There was no narrative tension. It felt slow, didn‘t flow smoothly and lacked emotion. It was bland, almost like reading a lab report, not like a thriller in space involving criminals and a mass kidnapping.

The characters were without depth or emotions and felt like caricatures. I did not care for any of them.

Yes, about halfway into the book we finally got more direct action. Still, people dying in the off and getting shot without any graphic details—those events didn’t make for a thrilling experience.

A lot of the story felt like a list. She did this. She did that. She did the other. No emotions, no reflection, the events of the story had no discernible impact on the characters.

Mostly telling, not a lot of showing.

The character development consisted of rare, short and oddly disjointed looks into someone‘s past. Unrelated short snippets that left me confused rather than giving me character insights.

Do people really still use Skype? And mobiles work on space stations? Skyping home? Sounds strange.

The plot idea is nice enough, the execution just wasn’t very good.

Soundtrack:
Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher or author through NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to give a positive review. Sorry, this wasn‘t for me.

I do not recommend this. I would not buy it for others.

If you enjoy books with a main character who finds herself in the middle of a crisis and hoping to survive, then look no further than Joe Pitkin’s Exit Black . Imperium is an orbiting laboratory that still has working labs, but is now the first low orbit space hotel for the wealthy. Dr. Chloe Bonilla, the resident biophysicist wonders whether babysitting space glampers is worth the distraction from her research.

A private rocket delivers several billionaires plus a sponsored social media influencer. However, among the staff are members of a global group called the Reckoners intent on changing the economic inequality on Earth. This group takes control of the space hotel and demand $8 billion in ransom from their wealthy hostages. Additionally, they forced the other support staff in the room with the wealthy hostages. Their problem? Chloe woke up and left her room before they got to her. It’s up to her to save the hostages.

While most of the book is from Chloe’s point of view, readers get insight into a few of the other characters as well. Chloe has insomnia, can be stubborn when challenged, has a sense of detachment, and enjoys brainteasers. The other characters have varying degrees of depth, but felt rounded with complex traits. This includes a couple of the antagonists.
What a beginning prologue! It pulled me into the story immediately. While the story is descriptive, it doesn’t slow the pacing, which is heart-poundingly fast. After the opening gala for the space tourists, the velocity of the tale increases significantly. I felt like I was fighting for survival along with Chloe.

The story instills in the reader a feeling of deep anxiety for Chloe and the safety of the hostages as Chloe tries to save them and herself. It was compelling to see how different people act and react under stress. The book has a wonderfully executed action thriller plot and good character development along with a low earth orbit setting that adds another dimension. The worldbuilding was excellent. I was transported into the terrifying situation Chloe and the hostages found themselves in. The epilogue contains some surprises that completely caught me off-guard. Themes include wealth inequality, social inequality, oppression, injustices, loneliness, relationships, lies, secrets, anger, moral and physical struggles, and much more.

Overall, this is an action-packed science fiction thriller that is also thought-provoking with complex characters and plenty of angst and suspense. It kept me guessing what would happen next throughout the novel. The author is a superb space action-thriller storyteller who kept me on the edge of my sear rapidly turning the pages.

Blackstone Publishing and Joe Pitkin provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for February 20, 2023. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

This book had me hooked from the start. It had shades of "The Expanse" series with the excellent descriptive power of the author to bring the spatial environment to life. it also had me thinking of certain elements from the series "For All Mankind" with the space hotel aspect. it was a great read with suspense and action and some twists in it that the reader didn't see coming. The pacing in some parts of the book tended to slow it down, perhaps more than intended, but overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Joe Pitkin's works.

It was a fast-paced science fiction thriller.
From the beginning, with the description of the station and of the way the characters move, I had the impression of being in space. I really liked the format of the chapters going back a few minutes in time and describing the same events to us through the perspectives of the different characters. We experience the action from every angle.

I was tense throughout the reading, expecting something to go wrong for the main character as she hides, survives, and fights back. It was a very entertaining story.

A must read for fan of locked-room thriller and Die Hard.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing the ARC.

I found I lost concentration with this book, possibly because I’m not a huge fantasy reader. I was trying to challenge myself but I didn’t manage to finish this book. I think it would be really good as an audio book. Thank you for the advance copy.

This was such a fun book! Set on a space station laboratory now open to high paying tourists, this book is a combination of Die Hard and The Martian. Dr. Chloe Bonilla is the resident scientist (biophysicist) pulled into helping entertain rich clientele that pay millions to stay a week in space. When a group of terrorists take over the station and hold the clientele hostage, Chloe must outrun, outwit, and “out-science” the terrorists before time runs out. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for a chance to read and review this book! I will absolutely keep an eye out for more from this author.

The simple pitch of “Die Hard in space” was immediately enough to sell me on giving this book a chance. Despite some pacing issues here and there, it largely delivers on this promise. The author excels at his descriptions, giving the reader a clear image of the space station and the many action sequences that take place in its corridors. He does a great job building tension, making the book a real page turner. Some of the book’s humor didn’t quite work for me, but this did not really affect my enjoyment of the book overall. “Exit Black” makes for a breezy, enjoyable read for Sci-Fi and Thriller fans.

In a rotating murder wheel, our heroine Chloe must survive and fight the Reckoners (whose name and philosophy remind mee of the Middle Age Levelers from England).

I really appreciate the cat and mouse setting of the Imperium Space Hotel. Crossing the bridges and rims reminder me of trying to find a solution for the bridges of Königsberg.

I fully enjoyed this novel and can't wait for a sequel.

I was given an eARC by NetGallery.

5 stars, Sinister Motives

EXIT BLACK
by Joe Pitkin

This bo0k is easy to picture, Imperium, a space hotel for the fantastically wealthy. Cluster a bunch of wealthy people together and something sinister is bound to happen.

Members of the staff have been infiltrated by a terrorist group that sees only dollar signs and the instant access to some of the wealthiest people in the world.

Dr. Chloe Bonilla is the resident biophysicist, who is assigned as staff to the wealthy people. The staff guides the guests on space walks and other fun stuff. Chloe doesn't like the idea of hostages and kidnappers, so she goes to great lengths to stay free and thwart the terrorists.

Since they are sequestered on the Imperium in space, there is no place for anyone to run, to escape the horror that has come upon them.

"... Humans were the only ones who scared her." (predators) "I.Dislike.Foul.Language" I don't like it either, but there's no call for severely punishing someone for it.

This is an exciting, fast paced novel, quite entertaining.

Thank you to #BlackstonePublishing #NetGalley for the complimentary copy of #ExitBlack I was under no obligation to post a review.

#SciFi #Thriller #Mystery #Fiction

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Blackstone Publishing for an advance copy of this new thriller set in the future where space is open to only the very wealthy, which makes it very easy to find and contain them for nefarious purposes.

Sun Ra said, "Space is the Place", but the jazz master from the planet Saturn neglected to mention how much it costs to be there. Most of science fiction is filled with grand grand stations filled with science and science people doing science things. But this takes money. Lots of money. As the billionaires who shot themselves up into near orbit show, it takes cash, connections and clout. Something scientists don't have, but there are a select exclusive class who do, and the clout chasing that come from going to the stars will be too much to pass off. Great satellites, once thought of incubators of thought and life changing technologys will be floating Disney cruises with zero-g coitus rooms, top-shelf alcoholic drinks served in sippy cups, with music by the Apollo singers or the Mercury Sevens. However there is a danger to being the only people who can afford to go certain places. Other people can get to them, and with the only escape the cold void of space, great amounts of ransoms could be asked. Exit Black by Joe Pitkin is a story of a satellite, rich people, bad people, and one brave person doing her best to get out this situation alive.

Imperium is the premiere laboratory, one of the most expensive things ever built to help mankind. Orbiting the planet, Imperium was to be a grand place for science and thought, to serve mankind. This cost money. Imperium now serves mankind as a one of a king vaccum resort location for the superrich who have exploited as much of the Earth as possible, now look to the stars. Dr. Chole Bonilla is the station's biophysicist whose work is being disrupted by the guests coming to the inaugural opening of the satellite. Dr. Bonilla is not happy with the new security, some of the staff and the new people that seem to be everywhere on the station that she once knew well. Bonilla has the right to be suspicious as among the new staff are members of a criminal group, supposed terrorists with a taste for cash. $8 billion dollars, and are ransoming the station and guests to get it. Bonilla is trapped, and not knowing friend from foe anymore must do her best to stop these criminals, because the only way out seems to be an airlock and it is a far way down.

A very good science fiction thriller with a good premise, great action and a lot of good writing. Many will go it's just Die Hard in space, which is not a bad thing. Die Hard was a well-written thriller, with a great plot, and ideas. Just like this book. The opening locks one in, and from there slowly ratchets the tension up. Dr. Chloe Bonilla is a well written character, one with a particular set of skills in science, which she uses in interesting ways. The bad guys are bad, but with reasons. Imperium the station is well described, and the science behind it makes the story move well. A very good story that I really enjoyed.

Recommended for thriller readers, and people who like confined stories, with a lot of potential to go wrong. Would make a very good streaming show.

Exit Black by Joe Pitkin, a well written book just not for me. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book, I do think others will enjoy it just not a book for me.

Terrorists take over The Imperium, an orbiting laboratory converted into a hotel, just as the first group of tourists, a group of eccentric billionaires arrives. The terrorists call themselves the Reckoners and they demand $8 billion in ransom from the hostages. Dr. Chloe Bonilla, biophysicist turned hotel guide is the only one who can rescue them. Action packed science fiction thriller, a must read!