I can always appreciate a book for tweens that's not afraid to get a little disturbing. Smith clearly knows how to lay the tension on thick, providing us with a seemingly unreliable narrator as well as giving us a clear, honest picture of their fear through voice and tone. There were moments where I was genuinely unnerved by what seemed like the mental unraveling of Simon, a middle schooler that believed he was abducted by aliens. Even before the encounter, Simon always seems a tad paranoid, afraid of otherworldly threats and experiencing feelings of being watched. The fast paced nature of the book heightens a sense of tension, as it never really gives you a moment's rest.

However, what initially came off as a horror story about a boy fearing capture by unknown forces and constantly going unheard by everyone around him really loses any effects it had by the end. The climax of the final chapter, while rushed, provides such a bleak ending yet feels complimentary to the rest of the book. Unfortunately, all of that is undone within three pages. We go from an epic turning point in the story where our main character's fears are fully realized, the future is unclear, and we don't know what sort of danger awaits him, only to rush forward 100 years to see everything was always going to be hunky dory. It seems drastically disappointing. I understand that this book was written for younger audiences, but I've seen countless books that were able to go to similar places and stick their more unhappy endings. And dang, aren't those the ones that stick with you in your childhood?

And yeah, continuing the stigma of "parents are never going to listen to you so don't tell them anything/therapists are only there to pump drugs into you to make you behave" is not great. It's concerning that these elements are still found in stories for youth today, where mental health is becoming more rampant of an issue. I understand it might have worked against the conflict of the book, but Simon deserved some sort of validation somewhere or got his moment to feel understood.

I won't count reading this book as a total loss, since I was able to finish it in a day and got some sort of emotion out of it. The representation of a biracial lead is drastically needed in more sci-fi/horror stories, so I'm glad that it's here, but sadly representation doesn't exactly make up for a poor story.