Acclaimed author Lance Rubin makes his middle grade debut with a hilariously terrifying, terrifyingly hilarious story of a boy who gets more than he bargained for when he creates an A.I. best friend.  

Zed Moonstein is terrible at making friends.

For the most part, though, that’s not such a big deal, because Zed has Rishti, his best friend and the only one he needs. They’re into the same stuff, they laugh at the same weird jokes, and they love living in MonoTown, the home of MonoLyth, the raddest tech company in the world. Even better, Zed’s mom works at MonoLyth, which means they get early access to all the newest devices and apps.

But since middle school started, things have been . . . trickier. Rishti and Zed are in all different classes, and worse, she’s made a new, cooler friend that Zed can’t seem to compete with. Zed feels left behind, forgotten in a drawer like last year’s MonoPhone.

That’s when Zed comes across something on his mom’s work computer: a top secret new app called MonoFriend. Soon, Zed is chatting with “Matt.” Matt is funny, he’s smart, and he knows Zed better than anyone else, even Rishti.

Maybe, Zed thinks, an A.I. best friend can be just as “real” as any other.

Unfortunately, he’s about to discover that he’s more right than he knows.

• A Friendship Story: When his best friend Rishti starts drifting away, Zed is more lonely than ever. Can an app really replace a real-life friend?
• A.I. Gone Wrong: At first, his new A.I. friend Matt is perfect—he’s funny, smart, and gets all of Zed's jokes. But what happens when his perfect friend becomes perfectly terrifying?
• Funny and Scary: A laugh-out-loud story that balances middle school humor with the suspense of technology spiraling out of control.
• Middle School Drama: Navigating new classes, changing friendships, and the quest to find a place to belong—all while a sentient A.I. is watching your every move.