Noah Bienstock is a shy, lonely sixth-grader, who's been having weird dreams lately about being hunted by a monster he can't escape. But then, he meets and befriends Monroe, the new kid in town. Except there's something odd about Monroe, and soon, Noah starts to suspect his new friend might just be a monster.
This book provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Noah's parents do the usual disbelief thing and it's actually made worse by the reveal that they are all monsters, as they knew he was right but didn't tell him due to some rule about letting him discover his inner monster himself.
- The Bully: Harlan, but this time the protagonist gets his revenge at the end after finding out he's a monster.
- Cool Teacher: Mrs. Fielding, who's the only person nice enough to call Noah by his real name.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Noah has frequent dreams about being chased by a monster, and discovers his new friend might be the same monster. It turns out to be symbolic, as Noah is the monster.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title at first refers to his friend, who is thus his monster. But with the twist, the monster is himself, and the story has the vibe of a coming of age story, so he is meeting himself by the end.
- Figure It Out Yourself: The climax reveals that it's forbidden to tell someone about their inner monster; they have to figure it out on their own. Lissa and Monroe only tell him after he's figured out that they're monsters and nearly exposed them in his desperation to figure out the truth.
- In-Universe Nickname: Noah is called Bean by everyone, even his parents.
- Shout-Out: At one point they play a game called "Rock Guitar Dance Party"
- Significant Anagram: Noah's apartment building is called Sternom house. It's an anagram for monster, as everyone who lives there is one.
- Tomato in the Mirror: The end reveals that Noah is a monster, as is everyone in his apartment building.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: The climax reveals that throughout the book, Lissa and Monroe have been trying to trigger this trope, aiming to scare Noah's inner monster out of him so he'll hurry up and be able to transform like them.
