Midnight on Strange Street by K. E. Ormsbee (review)

Ormsbee, K. E. Midnight on Strange Street. Disney Hyperion, 2020 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-368-04768-5 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-368-05230-6 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 5-7

Four seventh-graders living in a Texas town in a dangerous near future discover they have mind powers, and the kids hope to use their abilities at this year's glow-boarding race. First, though, they must convince the aliens who brought Earth the mysterious substance of "glow" not to destroy the planet, and then they must avoid capture by the Gloworks CEO, who wants to turn them in to the government and put them to work using their powers in the global war. Although the story is drawn out, suspense builds steadily as race day approaches: sporadic, incomplete telepathic messages arrive from the aliens, the tweens wrestle with authentic personality clashes, and mounting evidence suggests they are the targets of a shady Gloworks scheme. Overall, though, there's not much depth—the aliens get little descriptive attention and the war is conveniently distant—and even for an action story it's a pretty superficial take. This could nonetheless please readers looking for a quick undemanding read that is ultimately about a team that comes together.