When Anna begins exploring the base, everything seems very familiar, as it should since she has walked the halls a hundred times in training mersives, but she also finds herself instantly disliking Dr. Arnolfi, the base neuro-physicist and resident shrink, along with being oddly drawn to handsome Dr. Elvan, both of whom she just met. What's more, the resident Mars TV show host, Dr. Banks, a man Anna had always been a fan of back on Earth, seems to hate her instantly and begins insulting her without provocation. Even his buddy, Dr. Petranek, has to scold him about it. And then Anna finds a note behind her bed, in what appears to be her painted script, warning her "Don't trust Arnolfi!" and she simply doesn't know what to make of it. Is she going insane, is it a case of immersion psychosis, or is someone playing a cruel joke... or worse? When other things start to not add up such as the number of items she brought with her being different than what she recalls or even a personal item that seems to be a fake, Anna really starts doubting herself. But then she finally gets released to go outside and explore Mars and things only get more weird.
What is happening to Anna and more importantly, is she doing it to herself or is something shady going on at the base? An old mersive of her family might just be the cure for her case of homesickness or whatever this is, but then she gets a secret message inserted within the mersive from someone on Earth and she begins to doubt everything around her. Anna becomes determined to discover the truth, but she just might regret getting to the bottom of the mystery, before all is said and done.
Once again, Emma Newman artfully explores the feelings of doubting ones sanity in Before Mars, just as she did in Planetfall. This is a very different book than both previous titles, and Before Mars seems to blend psychological drama and a thriller aspect together. While I personally didn't find the character of Anna Kubrin to be too likable, I don't have to root for the characters to enjoy the story. She just seemed incredibly selfish and a bit bratty to me, but I guess she has her reasons and I imagine they'll be more fully explored in a future book. While Before Mars does resolve by the end of the story, it also leaves room for much more of Anna's story to possibly be told. If you have been following the Planetfall series, you'll definitely want to check out Before Mars.
