The Grays by Whitley Strieber
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Book Reviews of The Grays
Book Review: A good book
Summary: 4 Stars
Even though I think the whole UFO thing is ridiculous I enjoyed this book. Say what you want about Whitley Strieber, and I have enjoyed his other books as well, the difference between this story and other far fetched UFO/alien stories is the writer. Whitley Strieber is an excellent writer but he actually believes this UFO stuff so there is added passion in his writing. Kind of like Carl Sagan writing about physics.Book Review: Mysteries Magazine review
Summary: 3 Stars
Whitley Strieber's long-awaited alien novel The Grays succeeds, if only barely. Departing from the Roswell mythos that was so convincingly rendered in his previous novel Majestic, The Grays introduces us to an extraterrestrial that supposedly survived the alleged UFO crash in?Roswell, NM of 1947, a plot contrivance that sets the stage for a page-turning yet disappointingly hollow fictional treatment of the alien abduction theme.
From its opening pages, The Grays reads with a predictability that is at odds with Strieber's knack for suspense writing. The end product is an entertaining thriller that lamentably excludes much of what made Majestic so haunting and effective. Strieber essentially asks readers to suspend awareness of a decade's exposure to abduction-themed media saturation, challenging a post-X-Files readership to find a plot element in his novel that has not been incorporated elsewhere.
There are some fine moments here but they unfortunately run the risk of being too little too late.
Mysteries Magazine
Book Review: Ummm.....
Summary: 3 Stars
This was a good thriller, but I can only give it three stars. Here's why:
- Whitley Strieber has had some very profound experiences, which I have found very compelling over the past twenty years. So, after twenty years, I come to find the meaning behind these experiences is the plot from the X-files.
- There is an issue with the characters' ages at the beginning; which really annoyed me. I expect better from an author of Whitley's caliber. But, proof-reading should have caught this, as well.
- The book does end by setting-up a sequel. The reviews of 2012 do not make it sound like a sequel.
Overall, I expected much more from this and was let down.
Book Review: Alien -ated Fan
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me start out by saying that I'm really not sold one way or the other on alien abductions. I believe they are possible, but nothing I've read or seen has convinced me to either viewpoint. So I keep an open mind.
I've read several of Whitley Streiber's abduction books, and I believe, at the very least, that Mr. Streiber believes what he's saying about visitors from another planet (or dimension). With that said, I picked up The Greys expecting to find a fictionalized version of what the author believes is really going on concerning alien visitors.
What I got was a poorly thought out story,filled with difficult to believe actions, and characters who were highly one dimensional.
Spoiler alert: I am going to discuss some events from the story, so if you haven't read the story, and plan to, you might want to skip this part:
There are so many absurd events that take place in what otherwise might have been a fine story, I can't help but feel a vague sense of disappointment! Why did the villain, Mike, go to such amazingly elaborate lengths to have connor killed. Why not just sneak up and give him 2 in the back of the head. If the future of mankind depends on his death, shoot him and be done with it! On the other side of the conflict, if Connor was so important to the Grays, why did they let Mike roam around unchecked. Implant him, use mind control, have him commit suicide, and BE DONE WITH IT! Come on, this is a race that's millions of years old and super intelligent. They are also supposed to be devoid of emotions, so it can't be guilt that's stopping them!
Some of the other actions the grays take strike me as slightly retarded. Not what you'd expect from an alien race millions of years ahead of us. One example is the fire at the silo in Wilton. Why did one of the 3 thieves have to drop himself on the roof to try to destroy the antenna transmitting the signal to all the pre-programmed assassins If they are so advanced, why couldn't they destroy it with some weapon, or the device they use to levitate people, or some form of their higher technology? It just smacks of a poorly thought out plot contrivance. The problem with this is that the events that followed seemed forced and fairly unbelieveable because of it.
Things like that permeate this story. Like the member of the trust who hijacks the TR and uses it, and a program code, to redirect the scalar weapon to destroy the President and all the Senators in Washington. I was in the Navy for a time, and one thing I learned is that really dangerous weapons (like nuclear missiles) must be triggered by at least 2 people, to prevent just such a disaster from taking place. An invisible ship zapping the White House with an earthquake inducing ray is difficult enough to swallow, but expecting the readers to believe the fact that he did it without overcoming any restrictions other than inputting a code number is an insult to our intelligence.
This leads to the ultimate question of the whole story. If Connor and his "super intelligence" was so crucial to the survival of the Gray race, why was he the only one. If I were the Grays, I'd be pumping Connors out by the dozens. Even mega geniuses can die from an accident or illness. If it takes a triad of aliens to do something worthwhile, why didn't they think to make their uber-humans work in threes just like they do? It doesn't sound like a plan designed by a race of superior intelligence to me.
Needless to say, I was let down by this story. Parts of it were OK,which is why I gave it the 2nd star, but I really expected more from a writer of Mr. Streiber's caliber. It did nothing to advance the debate about aliens among us, and it disappointed me as a work of fiction.
Book Review: Started off good...
Summary: 2 Stars
The only previous work of Strieber's I had read was "Communion" 20 years ago. Truly spine tingling.
"The Grays" seems to be a fictional account of something Mr. Strieber himself had gone through, but on a grander scale.
The story starts off really well and is definitely a page-turner, but after a while, it just seems to fall flat. The ending is rather ambiguous and quite a letdown. By the time all is said and done, the reader doesn't really seem to care what has happened or what will happen to the characters of the story.
The book also seems to be a sermon disguised as a work of fiction by Mr. Strieber as to what HE believes these "aliens" to be and why they are here (if, indeed they are even here at all - I am a true skeptic).
All I can say is that I read a lot. When I finish one book, I pick up another. If a book is good, I may read twice more. If it's REALLY good, I will read it once a year or so. "The Grays", however, I read once and will probably not read it again ever.