Description:

Leo and Tim are abducted by aliens—and find themselves in the middle of an intergalactic feud

Leo is driving his best friend, Tim, to the station to catch the midnight train to New York City, where Tim hopes to sell his science fiction drawings to a publisher. But they never get there. While on the road, Leo and Tim see a strange circle of lights in the sky, and before they know it, creepy, tiny-headed creatures are taking samples of the boys’ blood on some sort of spaceship. Suddenly, Leo is back in his car and Tim—along with Leo’s memory—is gone. Worse, when Leo finally starts to remember what happened, no one believes him. Before long, the 2 friends find themselves in the middle of a cosmic contest between warring alien races—and the people of Earth are caught in the crossfire. Time is running out, and it’s up to Leo and Tim to save the planet from catastrophe.

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From Publishers Weekly

Leo is driving his friend Tim to the bus station so the latter can sneak off to New York to show his drawings to a publisher, and neither teen is prepared for what happens next. They get abducted by aliens and taken aboard a spacecraft, where samples of their bodily fluids are drawn by disgusting tiny-headed creatures at the behest of even more disgusting huge-headed creatures. The aliens decide to keep Tim, whose drawings they admire, and hapless Leo gets dumped back in the car, with no memory of what happened. Ensuing events, down to the ironic ending, are straight out of the sci-fi cliche vault; savvy readers will recognize elements from The Outer Limits TV series, The Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as well as environmentalist tracts. This is not one of Sleator's (Others See Us) more inspired efforts, but for those whose idea of mind candy includes plenty of slimy creepy-crawlies, it may be just the ticket. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10?One night Leo and his artist friend Tim are abducted by aliens. The kidnapping follows the standard scenario described by those who claim to have undergone such an experience (the car engine dies, they are taken up into a hovering spacecraft, and subjected to strange medical procedures), but these aliens are different. The physical work in their society is done by tall, thin creatures with tiny heads, operating under the order of squashy bodiless heads with multiple protruding eyes. After the medical procedures, during which they speak of their enemies, the Others, they keep Tim but return Leo to Earth with his memory erased. After a tense encounter with both sets of parents, Leo has a hypnosis session with the strange Dr. Viridian, who, for purposes of his own, obscures Leo's real memory of the event and supplants it with a false one. Two days later Tim returns, appearing to have aged two years, and with vivid three-dimensional drawings he did of destroyed civilizations and alien worlds. Now a cat and mouse game ensues, as the boys question the motives of the Heads, suspect that Dr. Viridian is one of the Others, and wonder what to do with Tim's drawings. It is not until the very end of the book that the boys (and readers) find out what is going on and who is good and who is bad. Although perhaps not as original as some of Sleator's earlier work, this fast-paced science fiction romp is very entertaining and will keep readers turning the pages.?Lyle Blake Smythers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.