The Grays

Excellent fictionalizing of alien abductions and the purposes behind it. The characters were well realized, sympathetic, and well-entwined with a plot encompassing a grande future for human society.

By Whitley Strieber, 2006

5 Stars

After previously reading and reviewing Strieber’s 2012: War for Souls# it was a bit of a struggle to pick up The Grays . However, Strieber completely redeems himself. Fans of the “alien-abduction” genre and sci-fi genres will equally be pleased with this involving work of fiction.

Synopsis

A family, who’s members have been manipulated by aliens (“the Grays”) for generations produce Collin Callaghan, the most intelligent human child ever to exist. As Collin comes to grips with his capabilities under the loving assistance of his parents, a military cover-up organization begins to understand the obscure intentions of the otherworldly invaders. Collin, at the interface of two species, becomes the single-most important objective of both species as military, aliens, and family collide in colossal fray.

The Good

The character-writing in The Grays was fantastic! As with “2012” Strieber captures so many of the nuances of general family life: the dedication, the sorrow, the love, the solidarity. Where so many sci-fi authors focus on selfish sex, Strieber focuses on a level of altruism that any loving parent will instantly relate with. Outside of the family, the accessory characters are just as understandable. They all seemed very real and quickly captured my compassion as a reader. The villains are not simply type-cast vignettes, but also capture nuances of humanity and bear their own form of altruism in their motivations.

The action and story-telling were on par or better than James Rollins (another guilty pleasure of mine) at his best. Equal parts mystery, horror, amazement, this fast-paced story is an intersection of various government and military factions, aliens of initially mysterious motivations, and their corresponding representative characters.

The Grays, the aliens themselves, were perpetually piquing my curiousity. From their physiology to their psychology, Strieber delivers. He constructs them in such a way as to invoke both fear, awe, and compassion. They are great. They are terrible. They are also universally altruistic. They are indeed alien.

The pacing of the story is impeccable. From the terror of abductions to the military conflicts revolving around defeating/assisting the otherworldly visitors with the Callaghans stuck in the middle, the book is one ever-amplifying crescendo. The closer the end drew, the less certain things became, although The Grays never lost focus. Strieber had a clear vision of how to resolve this book, never feeling rushed or lost.

The Bad

There are a few inconsistencies regarding the aliens and their mental powers over humans, but they were sufficiently insignificant as to render them negligible. These were in relation to how they understand humans, what exactly the alien implants are capable of, etc… Do they only broadcast ideas? Can the aliens only grab impressions from human minds? If they can’t directly communicate in words then how can they assume limited mind control?

Still, these faults are probably just me being nit-picky. Let me re-emphasize, the goods vastly outweigh these minor bads.

The End

The Grays was definitely a rewarding reading experience! I don’t want to give any more away. Read it. Read it!