High schooler Nicole Hallett has just about had it with her brother Jay, so when a mysterious man appears with an offer to replace him with a better one, she doesn’t hesitate. Nicole has always been impulsive, but this time, she finds herself in predicament far worse than anything she’s experienced. Just like that, an average snow day—usually filled with hot cocoa and snowball fights—is commandeered by the stranger, who forces the siblings into a dangerous game.
Confronted by past reflections, tested by present complications, and threatened by future possibilities, Nicole has until the end of the day to disentangle the riddle of her life.
This suspenseful, yet winsome novel by award-winning author David J. Naiman explores the power of family and forgiveness. But take heed. The truth can cut like shards of glass, especially for those who’d rather avoid it. Sometimes, only the finest lies will do.
High schooler Nicole Hallett has just about had it with her brother Jay, so when a mysterious man appears with an offer to replace him with a better one, she doesn’t hesitate. Nicole has always been impulsive, but this time, she finds herself in predicament far worse than anything she’s experienced. Just like that, an average snow day—usually filled with hot cocoa and snowball fights—is commandeered by the stranger, who forces the siblings into a dangerous game.
Confronted by past reflections, tested by present complications, and threatened by future possibilities, Nicole has until the end of the day to disentangle the riddle of her life.
This suspenseful, yet winsome novel by award-winning author David J. Naiman explores the power of family and forgiveness. But take heed. The truth can cut like shards of glass, especially for those who’d rather avoid it. Sometimes, only the finest lies will do.
Nicole was so done with her brother it wasn’t even funny. She stomped up the stairs, hitting every step with the maximum force to express how annoyed she was. If her mom hadn’t already left for work, she would have called Nicole dramatic—and said it dramatically, bathing in that classic parental brew of irony and hypocrisy.
But Nicole didn’t think she was dramatic so much as rightfully expressing the unfairness of it all. Why should she be the one to go upstairs? Yes, she’d been watching her videos on the downstairs TV since she’d rolled out of bed to walk the dog, but did Jay need the TV now, right now, right when she was so obviously still using it?
After flopping onto the comfy chair upstairs, Nicole rolled her eyes at the boxy TV facing her. She wondered why they even bothered to plug it in, seeing as how nobody used it. The upstairs TV was a relic compared with the downstairs flat-screen TV. That was the theme in this house. A few nice things they got back when her parents actually made new purchases surrounded by ancient things from the last decade, patched together by duct tape and admonitions to please be careful!
Nicole pulled out her phone, but before she could cue up her videos, the TV sputtered and a fuzzy image of a peculiar man appeared on the screen. His eyes widened and sparkled. “Would you like a brand new brother?” a voice-over boomed. “Call now!” Above his head, the words CALL NOW flashed in golden lettering. At the bottom of the screen, a phone number scrolled.
Nicole located the remote and mashed her thumb into it, but she couldn’t turn off the TV. The same image and phone number persisted on every station. Nicole hadn’t the slightest doubt this was all, somehow, her brother’s doing. An impressive trick, she had to admit, but she was not going to tolerate his messing with her.
Leaning forward, Nicole prepared to race downstairs, to tell Jay a thing or two, to let him have it as she should have done yesterday. But when her fingers brushed against her phone, a thought popped into her head. It expanded into an idea, frightful and thrilling, displacing her anger with vindication, intensifying the more she mulled it over.
Maybe I should call, Nicole thought. A brand new brother sounds perfect.
“That’s it. New and improved! Call now.”
Nicole smiled, sensing a personal connection as though this commercial spoke directly to her. She cradled her phone in her hands. A fingertip flicked across the screen without her even needing to concentrate. Her phone had long ago become an appendage, as integral as a foot or a kidney.
After Nicole entered the number, her finger hovered above the dial icon. Something held her back, but she couldn’t imagine what it could be. She might have guessed self-preservation had she any means to gauge the lurking danger. Had she any inkling her impetuous nature would fix her on a chaotic course beyond her control.
She did want a new brother. As long as he wasn’t like Jay, who always said things to upset her and never did what she wanted him to do. She thrust aside her unease and tapped the icon. Instead of a ring, Nicole heard more of a choking sound, a gasp as if someone strangled.
“Hello, Nicole. Are you ready to change your life?”
The voice on her phone was identical to the voice-over in the commercial. Nicole figured this guy must own the company or something. “Maybe,” she said. The man on the TV screen stared at her while she spoke. Nicole leaned to the left and right, and the man’s face tracked her each time. She hesitated. “How much does it cost?”
“Do you mean money? Oh, no. It won’t cost you any money. Not one cent. But there is a cost.”
“What is it?”
“Nothing for you to worry about, my dear. Nothing at all. Your satisfaction is guaranteed or your money back.”
“That seems fair. Wait, I thought you said—”
“Now, now. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll simply replace your brother with a better one. This offer doesn’t come around every day. It is, to be candid, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” The man on the TV winked but not subtly. His head dipped so low that his oversized hat nearly slid off. “Decide quickly. Supplies are running out.”
The words CALL NOW lit up in a sickly yellow, casting a jaundiced glow across the face of the eccentric man with the whimsical hat and sparkling eyes.
“Then yes! What do I have to do?”
The man lifted his head. His lips gave a twitch. The voice answered, “Nothing more, nothing more. You’ve done it! Congratulations, my dear. Call the same number if your new brother malfunctions, and I’ll send an attendant straight away.” When he disconnected, the TV flicked itself off and Nicole heard her father’s voice.
“Nic, come downstairs, please. Jay has something he wishes to say.”
When Nicole arrived, she sagged with disappointment. Her brother looked the same. Same broad chest. Same confident grin. Stupid, worthless commercial. At least it didn’t cost her any money.
“I’m sorry, Nic,” Jay said. “I only wanted to use the TV to kick you out. That was wrong of me. Please take the remote and accept my apology.”
Nicole stared open-mouthed. Jay appeared the same, his voice sounded the same, but this was not her brother. Sweet.
“Thanks,” she said.
He handed her the remote, flashed the kindest smile she had seen from him in years, and left the room. Nicole watched her videos in utter bliss. Once she was caught up, she decided to check on this new brother of hers. If he was going to be awesome, she might as well be friendlier. As she made her way upstairs, she thought about the number on her phone and doubted she would ever need to call it again.
Her brother’s door was ajar. Walking closer, she heard him chewing on something, maybe granola given all the crunching. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. Robot Jay took another bite of his phone and looked up at her. Metal and plastic bits ground together. He chewed slowly, savoring every morsel.
“Everything all right, my wonderful sister?” When she didn’t answer, he popped the rest of the device in his mouth and licked his fingers clean.
“Sure,” Nicole said, backing out of his room. “What could possibly be wrong?”
This holesome story reminded me of the fun and wacky Willy Wonka combined with the Spirits of A Christmas Carol. If you like a story about personal growth and lessons learned, then you'll pick up a thing or two reading this story.
There are so many great pearls of wisdom from the author, the Dad of the story, and the characters themselves as they learn and grow. These lessons are also articulated through the story as well. "You either change with somebody or you change without them." (65%, Kindle Edition). "You can never change what you've done, but you can always be a better person." (95%, Kindle Edition).
I loved the fun use of words and language. Phin, especially, loves to talk in alliterations and elaborate phrasings. Like, "I am the Grand Poobah of Grandiose Pontifications." (18%, Kindle Edition). The writing is very cheeky, especially the way Jay jokes with Phin and his dad about alternate realities while one is in the library and the way the bots are humorous. The dad even says, "I guess there's a certain magic to being transported into an alternate reality with high stakes." (42%, Kindle Edition). while there's a Nicbot at the table!
Nicole is forced to see some of the times when she was the most horrible and when her perception of events was skewed. She falls through interdimensional holes and into these scenes as view-only. No editing. At first, she doesn't think about changing the scene. Eventually, she sees that she often jumps to the worst possible conclusions, letting her insecurities get the better of her, and lashing out with the intent to hurt those like she herself was hurt. At the time she saw her actions as necessary, at the moment she did what she had to and had no other choice, but through the re-viewing, with the holes, she gains a new perspective. She can see the disheartening, destructive theme of herself as a freshman. Gradually she sees the errors of her ways and wishes desperately to interact with the past and make better decisions.
Nicole wants a brother to say nothing to upset her and do whatever she wants. Both Nicole and Jay make assumptions about the other because they stopped talking to each other, stopped sharing their lives, stopped being a family. Phin intervenes just in time for Nic and Jay to halt this path and move in the opposite direction, closer to one another. The book itself is divided into Jay's perspective and Nic's perspective. I really enjoyed reading each of their stories.