AFTER THEY CAME

A 70-year-old failed businessman is chosen to act as humanity’s spokesperson to a race of benevolent aliens in Harary’s SF novel.

Jonathan “JT” Tuckerman is estranged from his adult children. He lost his first wife in a car crash (which was his fault) and is acrimoniously divorced from his second. He has business debts. On his 70th birthday, JT sets out to drown himself in the ocean off Malibu, California. This, however, is the day the alien “Benevolents” reveal themselves to humanity. They rescue JT and fly him in their spaceship to Dodger Stadium, proclaiming him their representative on Earth. JT is to liaise with world leaders and interest groups and meet monthly with the 7-foot-tall male alien Jorthon and his 6-foot-tall female counterpart, Kalyssa, to request their help in solving problems that plague the world. JT is given an office at the United Nations. He and his team petition the Benevolents to eliminate a host of social ills, and the aliens intercede in each case. People worldwide hail JT as their savior, and the future looks bright for everybody. But what will happen when a second, less friendly race of aliens comes calling? The author’s prose is workmanlike but functions effectively to tell a multilayered story. Jorthon and Kalyssa’s interventions smack of childish wish fulfilment—some of their solutions are naïve, and little thought is given to the chaos of instantly transitioning to a world free of hunger and war—but Harary nonetheless succeeds in highlighting the issues in question. JT is not especially likable (“Interminably unfulfilled, JT was the survivor of a traumatic existence which held no joy for him”), and few readers will judge him worthy of adulation, but the turnaround in his fortunes suggests that there is hope for everybody. One important facet of the novel is the way the author extends JT’s team’s scope to countries and problems beyond the United States, presenting a diversity of religions, ethnicities, and genders. While individual characters don’t always act or speak in particularly distinctive ways, the spirit of togetherness and inclusivity lends additional appeal to JT’s journey.

A hopeful, wide-ranging exploration of loss, love, and salvation.