Alien Under My Bed

Shadow Zone #9

by J.R. Black

Hayley is miserable. Her dad has just remarried and now she's stuck with a strange new stepfamily and a strange new house. Things go from bad to worse when she finds a space alien has chosen her new bedroom as his home away from home.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens

127 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 1994

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low-key family drama plays a part in several Shadow Zone books, but nowhere more effectively than Alien Under My Bed. Sixth-grader Hayley McGarrigle doesn't get along with her new stepsister. Angelique Carlyle is also in sixth grade, but immediately joined the popular crowd after moving with her mother, Chloe, to Hayley's hometown of Larkspur, California last year. Hayley's father began dating Chloe, and soon the girls were part of a blended family. Hayley wouldn't mind Angelique's good looks, athleticism, and smarts, but does she have to be smug about it? A few nights ago Hayley started seeing eerie lights outside their house, and though Angelique thinks Hayley is delusional, the danger proves real when a metallic alien emerges from under Hayley's bed one night. Chuck, as the alien calls himself, has a mission to complete before his spaceship returns to pick him up, and he demands that Hayley help.

Chuck transforms into the likeness of a famous teen heartthrob so he can accompany Hayley to school. The alien seems more quaint than evil, but after the first day he tells her the details of his mission. Chuck must procure the perfect human specimen to take back to his planet, and he's zeroed in on Angelique. Hayley dislikes her stepsister but has no wish to let her be dissected; what will happen to Chloe if her daughter disappears forever? Hayley discourages Chuck from kidnapping Angelique, but as she grows bolder with him, he makes it clear he's not a friendly E.T. from the movies. Chuck is a serious threat, and Hayley may have no way of preventing him from grabbing Angelique and leaving the planet.

Every girl at school swoons over Chuck in his guise as a teen idol, but Hayley knows a violent alien hides within. She tries to devalue Angelique as a specimen in Chuck's eyes—if he sees her as less than perfect, he might lose interest—and when that fails, Hayley begs her stepsister to believe Chuck is bad news. Angelique scoffs, going out of her way to make Hayley look bad in front of their parents. They were aware of Hayley's discomfort with their blended family, but her resentment becomes a problem when Chloe, who hosts a television program, sets up a reality miniseries about stepfamilies, featuring the McGarrigle-Carlyle bunch. Angelique purposely vilifies Hayley in front of the cameras, but Hayley refuses to feel happy about her stepsister's imminent demise at Chuck's hands. The cold-eyed alien is almost ready to remove Angelique from the equation permanently, but can Hayley exercise her own human abilities to defeat the enemy and keep her family together?

Alien Under My Bed might the best of the thirteen Shadow Zone novels. The story is unpredictable and its emotions feel real, a rewarding journey as Hayley goes from wanting Angelique gone to realizing she wouldn't give up her sister for anything, even if she usually can't stand her. The path from rivals to siblings is painful and complicated, as one would expect from a real blended family. Will Hayley risk her life to save Angelique in defiance of Chuck's convincing demonstrations that he's a terrifying foe? The emotion is compelling, and the twist near the end is impressive. I'd rate Alien Under My Bed two and a half stars, and almost rounded up to three; if the story packed a bit more punch, I would. Books like this are why I enjoy the Shadow Zone series.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

J.R. Black decided to hone in on the drama genre for this Shadow Zone volume, and uses a freaking alien as a catalyst (indirectly yet very directly at the end) to enhance the characters and emotions as they progress. Shadow Zone has genuinely pretty consistent so far and it’s no less true with this solid entry, albeit flawed. The drama here is well-done and there’s a solid conclusion to it all, the add-on chapter at the end was delightful, and Chuck was a pretty interesting “villain,” filling in the typical monster-main character role that these books seem to have and doing so with the most ambiguous moral alignment yet. The writing is good, there’s some interesting ideas at play with Chuck and the stuff he brings to the table, and I found this book to be very fun as SZ is per usual. Though this one isn’t without its issues, starting with the TV stuff. Chloe makes a dumb character decision (which she even clocks at the end) in deciding the have the family be a part of a program about merging families that she’s hosting. It makes sense—until you realize that’s gotta be the most stressful shit to put on your very recently merged family. And I didn’t really find it too compelling to even include; it was a useless tool in this toolbox per se. There’s some tonal inconsistency in the middle but nothing too major, the whole “mind walking” thing is confusing and a bit cheap (when it aids the protagonist), and—whilst I liked the idea of the reveal with Chuck in the last chapter—the twist nullifies a LOT of this book. Really good volume but very flawed. Overall, 8/10. Probably my least favorite Shadow Zone so far but that’s not a huge sentiment since it’s still a good score. I am indifferent on Chuck using seduction to lure a teenage girl 😭 nice try, Alien Diddy.

[Chantal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book for kids. I found it a little to easy to read for grownups and a little to perfect. It could have been better with a less pages.

[Emi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heel leuk boek en het is ook super spannend! Het was ook heel eng...

[Wiktoria Zielińska · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25