The Dark Side of Nowhere

For Jason Miller, life in Billington is routine, monotonous, and boring, with perfect parents and a world of predictability. Or so he believes, until the untimely, mysterious death of his best friend, after which the too-perfect life he has known unravels with terrifying speed. Jason Harris is the perfect match for Jason, maintaining his adolescent irony and self-deprecation, while voicing his building uncertainly, confusion, and fear, as he faces his ultimate decision--does he really want to be one of them? Harris delivers realistic and individual voices for the other adolescents and adults in Jason's world--from sinister to miserable--but he builds and changes the mood and tension in the story through his excellent portrayal of Jason. W.L.S. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

September 2, 1996
Jason Miller's life is like a Norman Rockwell painting--his parents enjoy woodworking and barbecues; his friends all play Little League; and his town, he says, is so uneventful that "whenever I heard people talk about someone going nowhere fast, I figured they were headed here." Why, wonders Jason, is everyone so insipidly happy? And why do some people need injections every month, but others don't? Shusterman (The Eyes of Kid Midas) delivers a science fiction page-turner in a classic mold: Jason realizes his town houses 30 extraterrestrial families--and his is one of them. They are scouts, prepping the earth for an invasion that is now imminent. Where do Jason's loyalties really lie? Cyber weaponry and strange bodily transformations keep the action speedy, and Jason's puppy love (a brash pitcher named Paula) rounds out the plot convincingly. Finally, the hero comes to empathize with the small-town cheer that once repulsed him. Pretty flowers and the taste of home cooking win out over the temptations of super-intelligence and world domination, proving that anatomy is not destiny--even if your parents are aliens. Ages 12-up.