Another piece of work by Grant to presumably pay the bills. This time a much better story than [b:Goblins|219471|Goblins (The X-Files)|Charles L. Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1223640823s/219471.jpg|212498] since Grant basically steals the story from his own Oxrun Station novel [b:The Bloodwind|898619|The Bloodwind|Charles L. Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1231822677s/898619.jpg|883806]. Move it to the Southwest US from Connecticut, call it Sangre Viento (get it?), and voil��, instant X-Files novel. Doesn't even require an original idea. Instead of snow and ice, we get sand and gravel. Grant seems to forget this is a new novel and in the final third of the book he forgets to even call it the Sangre Viento anymore and just calls it Blood Wind. Probably the pressure of deadlines.

This isn't a bad book, and like I said, its better than [b:Goblins|219471|Goblins (The X-Files)|Charles L. Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1223640823s/219471.jpg|212498]. This novel is more like the early X-Files episodes before it jumped the shark and became exclusively about multi-episode government conspiracies and cover-ups. This is a self-contained story that doesn't require a detailed familiarity with the back story or following the interconnected, overly complex conspiracy plot week after week.

Grant seems to have been "written-out" later in his career and doesn't produce anything near as good in long form as the Oxrun series or [b:The Pet|219472|The Pet|Charles L. Grant|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312066961s/219472.jpg|353222]. His later short stories are much better than his later novel work. In fact, now that I think about it, even his early Oxrun short stories were better than the Oxrun novels. ( )

I started this book but wasn't really enjoying it, so I am going to release it without finishing it.

Surprisingly sophisticated for a media tie in. The character voices are pretty much spot on, as well. ( )