Ground Zero

I had not read Kevin J. Anderson before this (I've made it to the 5th of Frank Herbert's original 6 Dune novels). I had collected many of Anderson's books, and had started reading his blog around the release of his and Brian Herbert's "The Winds of Dune".

Recently on his blog KJA is doing a series of writing tips which is to be a part of a lecture he'll be presenting in Superstars Writing Seminar. Wish I could go... Anyway, in one of his posted tips he mentioned that he had written "Ground Zero" in six weeks, which piqued my curiosity.

I had been in love with Gillian Anderson (whoa, is there a relation?) when X-Files was airing and a HUGE fan. I had sort of fallen off of that cart even before the movies were released. I never have seen show more them, though I haven't seen most movies. That being said, when I first started reading "Ground Zero", I could quickly tell that the magic wasn't there for me anymore. Scully and Mulder seemed as faded ghosts of the past, and I was really beginning to regret picking up the book in the first place.

This all changed around page 100, where things were picking up. The historicity of nuclear warfare in the Cold War era was interesting if not disturbing. KJA really didn't make you feel sorry for any of the people mysteriously murdered, besides perhaps the 2 guys way down below ground. The old guy maybe, if he hadn't been such a patriotic grouch. His horse definitely.

I disliked that Scully went to Berkeley at all, but am excited that consequentially she may be a closet hirsute. It wasn't the same as when Philip Dick talked of Berkeley. Yes, I do realize Scully is only a character. Speaking of which, I just remembered when the X-Files series turned sour for me. It was upon hearing that Gillian Anderson was pregnant with her first child. X-Files was never the same for me.

My favorite chapter was 22—

Ryan Camida Residence,
Waikiki, Oahu,
Tuesday, 11:17 P.M.

I was carried upon a wave of nostalgia to Magnum P.I. and Charlie Chan's Hawaii. At this time within KJA's novel, there had also sparked for me a remembrance of things past. I exalted in KJA's description of Mulder's apartment, gloried in Mulder and Scully's Chinese takeout dinner, and was vividly envisioning Director Skinner's bald pate.

I'm glad I came, as the dead past was not helped to bury its dead, but enlivened a bit. show less

This was written just fine but the storyline didn't really interest me. The blurb pretty much tells it all. The Mulder Scully chemistry was missing too.

I chose The X Files; Ground Zero, by Kevin J. Anderson, because it started with an "X". That's the only reason I would have ever picked this up as I'm not a big fan of books based on TV shows or movies. I was, however, a fan of the show so I'm aware of the characters and mythology. This book was fairly stand alone plot-wise. You don't need to know anything about the show in order to understand the book.

The story is all about nuclear weapons. A reader might be able to debate whether the author had any particular political statements to make. It was clearly portraying the nuclear weapons industry in a negative light, but I don't want to get into that. Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate the bizarre death of a nuclear physicist. show more He was killed in a flash fire, which could only be compared to that of a nuclear weapon. The fire was contained in his office and nobody else was injured.

A few more similar deaths occurred before Mulder and Scully tie the pieces together. They are eventually led to a small island in the Marshall Island chain where a new weapon is about to be tested. I don't want to give any more away but this is where the typical supernatural explanation takes place.

It wasn't a bad read overall. I found it to be a quick, easy read. The subject matter bored me a bit and it read like fan fiction, but overall, the author captured the characters voices and created a decent story. I'm not going to recommend this to the world but certain readers will enjoy it. show less

A quick read which kept me turning pages but somehow it didn't quite jell for me in the end. I had picked this up at a library sale because I keep hearing about The X-Files (have never seen any of the TV show), but the story wasn't quite what I expected. It didn't put me off the series whether in video or print but I won't be searching them out either.

Epic X-Filer meshes revenge, ghosts, and nuclear power ethics with a tense page turning climax at the center of a nuclear test amidst a hurricane.

Awesome as tie-in novels go; character voices were well done and the plot was an interesting one.

The story begins with a scientist leading the development of a new kind of atomic bomb being found dead after an atomic explosion in an office where they only ever ran computer simulations of explosions.

Exciting but extremely far-fetched!