The Experiment

If there were a prize for Weirdest Children’s Book of the Year this latest story from an experienced writer would surely be a contender. At a time when Nathan, its 12 year-old hero, should be growingly aware of the changes takin place in his own physiognomy his attention is focused instead on a more urgent development. For he is actually starting to grow a tail. Already believing that he and his parents are aliens from another planet, this new feature does not come as much of a surprise as it might. .And very soon the tail itself turns out to be even odder than its very existence in the  first place, starting to pat  Nathan on the back when he needs support and reading signals unclear to the human eye during the many trials yet to come.

Driven by curiosity, he finally makes it to the powerhouse directing him and others in keeping their alien origins a secret from everyone else in contemporary middle class America. But all is not well. A girl in a similar situation he has secretly been corresponding with is now virtually imprisoned and Nathan’s own future seems uncertain. And is Hester, their stern, unyielding leader of indeterminate age, all that she seems? She is still hoping that one of them may turn into a saviour that will lead them back to the planet from whence they came. But is she telling the truth?

Hooked readers who make it so far have plenty of exciting action to look forward to, but the plot line, never very secure, becomes increasingly hard to take. Although tautly written, with Nathan’s parents allowed to develop as equal characters, there is still something not quite right about this ambitious story that never quite seems to know where it’s going or what it’s trying to say.