Daniel X is back on Earth and has settled in the small community of Holliswood. Our 14-year-old Alien Hunter (think Men in Black) is focusing on trying to deal with Number 5 on his list of most dangerous aliens on Earth. It is expected to be the biggest challenge he has.

Fortunately for him, his own alien nature gives him special abilities such as the ability to bring to physical form anything he can imagine just like DC Comic's Green Lantern Corp. This allows him to bring back his parents, who he watched killed by his first nemesis (the Prayer), and a group of friends, ready with kung-fu and smarts, to help him take on outsiders.

Number 5 is a unique villain. He is out for fame as he uses his attacks on worlds around the galaxy as the basis for reality television. He tapes everything that he does, and it gets him great ratings. He even brings along Number 21, pretty much a tough grunt, to help.

Our nefarious villain starts by sending cans of caviar to all the residents of Holliswood. Before long, all of the females are pregnant, and almost everyone is walking around willing to do whatever he askes, including periodically falling into song and dance High School Musical style. He also has the ability to network with all electronics, giving him access to everyone in the town.

Daniel also gets his first chance at romance when he meets a waitress named Judy at the local diner. He brings her into his circle of friends and knowledge about who he really is. She proves to be pretty tough, for just a human.

The concept of this series is actually pretty good. The first novel was a strong story that brought Daniel across the galaxy as he takes on the man who killed his parents (think Harry Potter). Now that Daniel has returned to his post on Earth, the concept is interesting, but I find that the whole book just tries to much and doesn't really live up to the potential. Maybe it is because so many of the plot devices and character details are stolen from other sources (just check out all the reference in just this short review). It also tries to really be funny, but most of the time it is corny.

The characters are interesting, but it ends up just being really sad that everyone in Daniel's life is imaginary and exist solely because of his imagination. In some ways, this just makes Daniel a very sad and pathetic character rather than making him seem strong because he accomplishes his heroics basically on his own. I am not sure I understand why he needs to be solitary. Granted, he seems to move to a new location with each book, but lets give the kid some real friends.

It is a light read... in fact, I finished the whole thing in about 2 hours, which is not really all that different from most of Patterson's books. I find them fun, but I am hoping that the writing gets stronger in the next book in the series.