This was ok but nothing special. But one interesting thing about it: A major thread of the book is spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories, ripped straight from the headlines. The book culminates in a major character, a scientist, making a massive assumption due to what they observed, but it's never proven to be true at all. I could suggest alternative hypotheses that match all the evidence. After all, when presented with the alien, your first reaction to it might not be correct. So the book ends with the birth, potentially, of a consipiracy theory that could suck in everyone on earth and cut off actually learning something profound.

I think that was an unintentional irony. A better book might have realized this irony and developed it a bit more.