Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Aspiring MIT student Gideon and his older brother Ishmael are testing a seismograph Gideon has made in his laboratory on their farm, but Ishmael overestimates the explosives needed, and the result leaves a large crater in their backyard. A lie to avoid repercussions quickly morphs from a story about a meteoroid falling into one about UFOs, aliens, and abductions and then becomes a bona fide hoax as the brothers actively work to perpetuate the myth they created. But that's not the only deception afoot in Lansburg, Pennsylvania. Their mother's latest business venture turns out to be a multilevel marketing scheme involving a line of health products; that company's charismatic founder is drawn to the town, claiming to be waiting for aliens to deliver the formula for eternal youth. But even as both the boys' hoax and the health product hoax start to unravel, Gideon strengthens his ties with his boyfriend (with some bumps along the way), finally making their relationship public. With wit, humor, and snappy dialogue, Gideon narrates the story after the fact; his narrative is complemented with interview excerpts, text messages, footnotes, and other evidence from the police investigation. Sedoti's (As You Wish, rev. 1/18) entire cast of characters is drawn with warmth and loving eccentricity, and there is just enough thematic depth to give readers food for thought. (c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A nerdy teen loses control of an out-of-this-world lie. Sixteen-year-old Gideon Hofstadt has predicted his future: college at MIT, career at NASA, and, somewhere along the way, a discovery that forever alters human knowledge. For now, he’s vying to graduate as valedictorian and running a backyard laboratory on his family’s ancestral Lansburg, Pennsylvania, farm. When Gideon rigs an explosion to test a homemade seismograph, his goofball brother Ishmael’s interference results in a blast larger than either anticipated. Under interrogation, Ishmael ad-libs, eventually alleging extraterrestrial visitation—and, shockingly, people buy it. The astonished brothers watch as the prank takes on a life of its own with townspeople, ufologists, and media contributing otherworldly additions to the hoax. Though pacing occasionally sags, Gideon’s first-person confessional is buoyed by deadpan humor and interstitial text messages, interviews, blog posts, and news articles. Things finally grow dangerous when J. Quincy Oswald, the predatory con man behind a multilevel marketing scheme, decides Lansburg is the perfect launch site for a phony immortality elixir. Gideon’s struggles—with introversion and insecurity; commitment issues with his boyfriend, Owen; and habitual mistreatment of his friend Arden—complement this central narrative tension. Can Gideon come clean while his life is still worth salvaging? Or has he ultimately conned himself? Excepting Gideon’s best friend, Cassidy, who is black, all characters are assumed white. A balanced exploration of maturity, vulnerability, human connection, and our innate desire to believe. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.