Review: Light Years From Home

Light Years From Home by Mike Chen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Shao family had become a textbook case study in trauma. But with aliens."

I first heard of Mike Chen on the Reading Glasses podcast, as he's a friend of their show. This book is a different sort of read because it really is more about this one family than it is a more traditional science fiction novel, and even the idea of whether it is a science fiction novel depends on which character you find most trustworthy.

It's been 15 years since Jakob disappeared on a family hike at a lake, and 14 years since the father died trying to look for him. Kass, the self proclaimed responsible one, is caring for her mother who has dementia, while Evie has become the host of a show about alien abductions. Evie and Jakob are twins and she's convinced he was abducted. Kass is pretty sure he is dead or being irresponsible, probably on drugs in some foreign country. Then Jakob returns, dot dot dot.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. The book came out January 25, 2022.

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