A tale that blends supernatural powers and monsters with some well-crafted lessons on belonging, forgiveness, and choosing to do what is right.
Sixth-grader Hector used to be best friends with his classmate Blake. They had met in the middle of fourth grade, after Hector’s mom remarried and enrolled Hector at St. Lawrence’s Catholic School for Boys (despite not being Catholic) so that he would be at the same school as his two older stepbrothers. But when Hector asks Blake if he’ll be his boyfriend, Blake (despite having two moms) breaks off their friendship and starts bullying Hector, calling him homophobic names. Hector retaliates by setting fire to Blake’s science project, which only exacerbates Blake’s actions and encourages other boys to bully him as well.
He finds little sympathy at home. His stepbrothers are into sports, while Hector prefers playing piano; his stepfather, a cop, has a “boys don’t cry” attitude and tends to favor the older boys and their interests. His mom is more sympathetic, but Hector is reluctant to tell her what happened.
When hiding from Blake one day, however, Hector discovers he can become invisible—which at first seems like a superpower but soon reveals a dark side: lost and abandoned things are trapped in invisibility and stalked by the tentacled gelim, which preys on their fears. While invisible, Hector encounters another student, Orson, one of the few Black students at the school, an outsider who has been unable to return to the real world for years.
Hector, for the moment, seems to be able to move back and forth between invisible and real, and must work with his few allies—including new student Sam, the school librarian, and several other social outcasts, to stop the gelim once and for all before he, too, is stuck forever in its realm. Can he do so? And is there any hope for his broken friendship with Blake?
Author Shaun David Hutchinson deftly keeps the story of a monster that “singles out boys no one will miss” from becoming just a clunky analogy about the horrors of being an outsider. The monster and its ways are not as straightforward as might first appear, and the characters and their morals in responding to it are nuanced.
I’ll say a little more about how the book depicts homophobia, but this will reveal some spoilers, so I’ll write in white on white below; click and drag over the area if you want to know:
Blake’s actions turn out to be motivated not by homophobia per se (although they are homophobic in execution), but rather by a fear of losing Hector’s friendship if Blake isn’t interested in him as a boyfriend. His tangle of feelings led him to lash out—and having been picked on for having two moms, he knew that homophobia was an effective weapon. Hector’s stepdad, although he is a masculine exemplar, is actually understanding when he realizes Hector wanted Blake to be more than a friend.
A few revelations at the end add some twists and hint at a possible sequel. A recommended read that is both fun and affirming.
