The world changed on a Tuesday.
When a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the universe. With that realization everyone freaked out for a little while.
Or almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years the ship did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better than the people who lived right next door.
Sixteen-year-old Annie Collins is one of the ship’s closest neighbors. Once upon a time she took every last theory about the ship seriously, whether it was advanced by an adult or by a peer. Surely one of the theories would be proven true – if not several of them – the very minute the ship decided to do something. Annie is starting to think this will never happen.
One late August morning, a little over three years since the ship landed, Edgar Somerville arrived in town. Ed’s a government operative posing as a journalist, which is obvious to Annie – and pretty much everyone else he meets – almost immediately. He has a lot of questions that need answers, because he thinks everyone is wrong: The ship is doing something, and he needs Annie’s help to figure out what that is.
Annie is a good choice for tour guide. She already knows everyone in town, and when Ed’s theory is proven correct – something is apocalyptically wrong in Sorrow Falls – she’s a pretty good person to have around.
As a matter of fact, Annie Collins might be the most important person on the planet. She just doesn’t know it.
The Spaceship Next Door is the latest novel from Gene Doucette, best-selling author of The Immortal Trilogy, Fixer, The Immortal Chronicles, and Immortal Stories: Eve.
Very entertaining I bought this for my middle school aged son after talking with the author and determining that it was age appropriate. Then I decided to read it. Sometimes young adult fiction is great (Hunger Games) sometimes it insults your intelligence (TwilIght). I don’t know if Mr. Doucette set out to write a story for young adults, but it’s very appealing to them because the main characters are teenagers. The plot is very original, the writing is clever and the rapid fire dialogue reminds me of a 1930’s…
First Contact with a 16 year old girl…but not in that way. Great Funny Book, if the my bad humor didn’t make it clear… Have you ever had a moment of amazing cleverness that gave you a feeling of intellectual invincibility? If yes, then this book is for you. If not, first I’m sorry, but this book is also for you since it will help you understand what the rest of us have enjoyed. But on a side note, this book is very good and will make you laugh out loud which is always awkward when you’re at work and supposed to be working… Basically read the book.Â
Thanks for two sleepless nights, Gene! This book was unexpected in many ways. A spaceship lands in a little town… And nothing happens for three years. That, in itself, was such a novelty that I found myself wanting to know what else this author had in mind for the little town of Sorrow Falls. The heroine is a sixteen year old girl, but I wouldn’t call this a young adult novel. There is an attractive man who needs her help & in no way is he set up to be her love interest. How refreshing! Then there is a group of weirdo misfits…