Book Review

This isn't really a review, as I don't know how to write one. But this book irritated me enough that I wanted to bring up a few points. The book is The Grays by Whitley Strieber.

First of all, it's a novel about UFOs. If you believe, you will probably like it. I don't.

pg. 42 Refers to an "HO-grade" model train set. What is that? In my 47 years in the hobby, I've only heard it referred to as HO scale or HO gauge. I felt a little sick at this point.

pg. 45 Not a problem here, the book says Conner is 11 years old. A couple of people on Amazon.com said at the end of book, a few days later, Conner is 13. I couldn't find any mention of that.

pg. 162 "An Air Police captain"... According to my research, U.S. Air Force security forces haven't been called Air Police since the 60s. They were called Security Police back in the 70s when I was in the war. As it were.

pg. 163 An Air Force general calls a female Air Force colonel "girlie", and refers to her boobs. Well, I was not an officer, but I'm not believing THAT scene!

pg. 216 A "transmitter" from Radio Shack has "a far greater power output" by bypassing a couple of resisters. I'm not electronic expert, but I'm thinking ... not. I have READ that one can shift the frequency on certain synthesized radios by snipping a resister or so. What kind of transmitter does Radio Shack sell? Citizen's Band? 5 watts? 27 mhz? Why not buy an amateur radio transmitter and apple fryer and pump out a thousand or more watts, no bypassing needed, at 28 mhz? Ten meters rules!

pg. 245 Sounds like a Dyson sphere, to me. Why not just say so? Too technical for the intended audience?

(Foxfire CRASHES! Thank goodness for auto-save!)

pg. 286 Roumania. Maybe it's spelled like that in Romania (or not), but this book is in English, and that is a very odd spelling, to my thinking.

pg. 291 "Super-secure sideband" communications system. Try digital. Frequency-hopping. But what do I know? If you want to sound like a duck, go with sideband.

pg. 292 Enter the secret code, "...then one-niner one in six three three eight nanosecond timed sequence." I don't know about you, but I don't think my reaction time is QUITE that fast.

pg. 298 Just a typo, not worth mentioning.

pg. 300 The building is exploding, and yet the infallible power source for the transmitter keeps on going.

pg. 301 What is the portent of "the lonely way"? I don't get it, and it's not mentioned again. Maybe in the sequel?

pg. 303 How many people were "modified" by Wilkes? I thought it was mostly kids, and only around ten or less. Sounds like the whole town is running amuck!

pg. 305 Someone "far down the road" is standing on a car, shooting at him. Why stand on a car? Isn't that dangerous? They need a truck bed to stand on!!

pg. 311 Washington Monument collapses, weak marble is blamed. Well, it's granite on the inside. But I don't doubt it would have collapsed in a 7.3 earthquake.

pg. 313 The antenna is gone from the miracle transmitter, but the affected citizens still run amuck (I like that word!). Even AFTER the transmitter is destroyed the affected citizens are still bent on their killer obsession. Except when they FINALLY come to their senses. But then we've got the killer modified dog, which the author has pointed will stay affected even AFTER the radio is silenced. In animals, the radio only turns them ON, not OFF. Ok dokay there, hoss.

Well, I suppose if one believes in any sort of "religion", one might be attracted to its fictional representation by one of its adherents.

But, I'm not.