Strange Days by Constantine Singer - NO

Strange Days by Constantine Singer, 422 pages, G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin), 2018, $17.99.

Language: R 100+ swears, 100+ “f”; Mature Content: R (descriptive sex scenes, teens smoking); 

Violence: R (descriptive account of teen killing a person, blood, gore);

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Alex Mata doesn’t believe in aliens. A true teenager, all he wants is hang with friends, play his guitar, and skateboard. One morning as he gets ready for school, his head is filled with phantom music that makes it hard for him to think. He sneaks home from school in time to see an alien kill his parents. Suddenly he is a believer. He follows directions from a voice he hears inside his head and a letter from himself that he doesn’t remember writing and is lead to the one group that knows about the aliens and is trying to save the world. He becomes a glide in the witness program and helps this company who is trying to overcome the aliens. Or are they? Alex meets the resistance and quickly becomes aware that the aliens are in charge of the witnessing program, and he is helping them take over the world. He is torn between staying in the program and saving his fellow witnesses, and saving the world. What will he do?

As I read about Alex and his fellow characters in this book, I felt the potential for teens to make an amazing difference in the world. This is a good story. The explicit sex scenes, graphic portrayal of teens killing people, and excessive swearing did not add to the story line and end up with me not wanting to encourage teens to read this book.

Reviewer: Clara Pickett