Henry is relentlessly bullied at school, his boyfriend recently commited suicide, his grandmother has Alzheimers, and his brother has dropped out of college. And, since he was thirteen, he has been repeatedly abducted by aliens, who are now forcing Henry to decide whether to save the world by pressing a red button. While in the midst of making this choice, Henry meets Diego Vega, an artist with a mysterious past.
Publisher’s Description:
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.
Only he isn’t sure he wants to.
After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year.
Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.
But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.
Genre: Contemporary, Science Fiction
Representation:
Gender:
Cis boys: Henry and Diego
Sexuality:
Gay/Queer: Henry and Diego
Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book. Presumed to be the same as the characters’ sexual orientation.
Race/Ethnicity:
White: Henry
Latinx: Diego
Trigger Warnings:
Henry’s boyfriend Jesse has committed suicide before the novel starts. Henry get physically beat up by the boy he is having a secret affair with.
Henry is extremely depressed and could be considered suicidal.
Ownvoices: The author is Queer and white.