Roaming the streets of Chicago seems pretty typical, doesn’t it? As a resident of Illinois who often visits the city, that’s what I would say. But in The Deep Tunnel by Adam Alexander, Chicago is filled with aliens seeking sanctuary and revenge. Earthquakes are strangely predicted by a woman in white robes, and there are three middle school-aged kids including Andromeda, the hero, who is determined to protect her friends and father. Mahiri, a technological genius, and DeMarcus, the caring boy, will stop at nothing to aid their friends.

The Deep Tunnel by Adam Alexander is the second book in the Andromeda Chronicles. These books tell the story of the protagonist Andromeda, a seventh grader, and her friends as they try to stop an alien race named the Kulrada, who strive to take over the world and are extremely dangerous to Andromeda’s friends and family. However in this book, after Andromeda has stopped the villainous creatures, her dad hires a nanny to clean and overall help out with the house. Furthermore, a mysterious murder in the sewage system of the city of Chicago leads to the nanny being a secret Kularda alien hunting Andromeda and her friends down. Additionally, there is a strange lady who seemingly can predict the future and earthquakes appearing out of nowhere.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly although it was initially hard to get into because I didn’t read the first book. Alexander did include a catch up in the first part of the novel, which was pretty clever. His style of writing allows me to fully invest in this world and the descriptive language was magnificent. This helped me to see the characters more clearly as I read and the kind of world in which they lived.  The characters themselves are carefully crafted, and even though they are middle schoolers, they felt like high schoolers. They feel mature for their age which has helped me invest in the story. This will also bring in older kids like me to be more interested and middle schoolers can also read this.

Andromeda as a character has many attributes of a leader: wits, skill, and confidence. I can certainly tell why she is the primary leader. Next is Mahari. I thought that she was kind of a pest, but her smarts have won me over. She is extremely clever and thorough. And finally, there is Demarcus. He does protect his friends and is well rounded. With some background knowledge, there are plot points that seem to lead to his personality and character.

All in all, I’ve enjoyed reading this novel. It is full of adventure, thrills, drama, and shock. This book is a book I would recommend. It also felt like Doctor Who and today’s world both combined together. So go out and discover this alternate world of aliens and mystery!