From Publishers Weekly
Syndicated political columnist and novelist Anderson (The Japan Conspiracy) obviously wanted to craft a major statement about the U.S. government's alleged UFO cover-up, but this flaccid potboiler reads more like an egocentric fantasy than a tough-minded expose. Hard-nosed Washington, D.C., syndicated columnist Mick Aaronson meets an extraterrestrial, Klaatu (yes, the same name as the alien in the 1952 film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, to which this story bears more than a few resemblances), who in 1999 has come to Earth in human form to warn the President that our planet will be subjected to mass sterilization unless humanity overcomes its arrogance and complacency. Turned away from the White House, Klaatu delivers his message instead to Aaronson, who writes columns spreading the word. Meanwhile, Ghost, an inner-city drug dealer, has stolen Klaatu's magic rock, which confers powers of mind control, enabling this gang leader to seduce, rob and murder with impunity. The cast also includes an apocalyptic New Age preacher, who seeks Dead Sea scrolls that foretell a Judgment Day linked to the alien's visit; a decadent heiress and UFO abductee, who falls in love with Klaatu; and a headstrong woman reporter, who gets in too deep. Though its take on the supposed alien/human breeding program popularized by writers like John Mack and Budd Hopkins is certainly timely, Anderson's wisecracking novel falls short of success as both science fiction and thriller.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
From Booklist
Veteran investigative reporter, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, and host for the national radio show
Watch on Washington, Anderson certainly has his finger on the pulse of America, a position he puts to good use in his fiction. In his latest thriller, he slyly links the fast-approaching end of the millennium with the Second Coming, extraterrestrials, and the fate of our violent and destructive species. He begins with a classic rural UFO abduction, then shifts to the streets of Washington, D.C. It's 1999, and alien powers have concluded that the human species has become too morally degenerate to live. A renegade alien attempts to visit the president to warn him of the impending demise of the human race, but fails to accomplish his mission. Sent away by a bored White House security guard, he's promptly mugged by a gangbanger named Ghost who makes off with the alien's diabolical mind-control device. While the now invincible Ghost goes on a rampage, a supersecret government agency responsible for suppressing information about extraterrestrials springs into action, and soon doctors, cops, a street preacher, and a cokehead socialite are all caught in the web of deceit. There's plenty of action and lots to ponder here, but hokum and self-aggrandizement almost scuttle the story once Anderson introduces his hero: a longtime Washington columnist named Mick Aaronson.
Donna Seaman
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
