Customer Reviews

Millennium: The Frenchman (Audio)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found the Frenchman a facinating and heart stopping book that I couldn't put down. After renting it in the Library, I went out and bought a copy for myself to keep for years to come. Now I can read it over and over again whenever I want.

"Millennium" was an American tv series that was created by "X-Files" creator and scribe Chris Carter, and starred Lance Hendrickson for three years, 1996-1998, in which he played the moody, introverted, and psychic Frank Black. Black was a sexual criminal profiler, and now he's moved back to Seattle after ten years in Washington, D.C., and after recovering from a breakdown. After he has moved into his new house with his wife Catherine (Megan Gallagher) and child Jordon (Brittany Tiplady) he notices a headline in the morning paper in which exotic dancer Calamity, who worked at the Ruby Tip, is brutally murdered in her own home.

At heart, Black is an investigator, and something about this story catches his attention, and so he goes down to the police station to see if he can find out anything about the murder. Here he finds that his old friend Lt. Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich) is the head of the murder investigation. Black talks Bletcher into letting him help on the case as Black once worked for the FBI, something which will cause friction amongst the other investigators. As he investigates he learns that Calamity had a private session with "The Frenchman", an oddball amongst other oddballs, who mumbles poetry and constantly holds up signs to the women that seem to be written in French. Black also finds out that despite their not supposing to, the Ruby Tip actually has monitors in the booths, and that they now have a hazy video of The Frenchman.

Then there is a murder of a gay man, and the two murders seem connected, and Black's investigations will lead to a country hillside where gay men cruise to hook-up with others. Here he finds the killer, there is a pursuit, the killer escapes, but the incident inadvertently leads him to another victim. It is through the finding of this victim that a pattern will start to form that will lead to the capture of the killer.

This is a novelization of the pilot episode, and the book is printed on thick paper, wide margins, short chapters and paragraphs, lots of white space and empty pages, and a THIRTY-FIVE excerpt from the next book in the series, giving the impression that there is more here than initially seems. Therefore Elizabeth Hand's novelization really doesn't go into much depth in virtually anything, except for Frank Black, we really never get ANY detail on how anybody else looks; nor is there any detail on how the police investigate the murders. Black comes across as a rogue investigator whose techniques would get any case thrown out of court, and, despite psychically seeing some of the killer's delusions (which are done better on video) he remains a cipher as well. Thus this book is a good artifact of a show that is rarely seen here in America in syndication anymore, and Hand does a credible job as well, as this novelization is light years better than her awful The X-Files: Fight the Future novelization. However as a literary speculative fiction writer, she probably considered this novelization a step down.

This novelization also saw series regulars Lt. Bob Giebelhouse (Stephen J. Lang) and Jack Meredith (Don MacKay) first make an appearance, although Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn) makes an appearance in the tv episode, he and the Millennium Group don't appear in Hand's novel.

Although lasting three years, each season was completely different than the others. Frank Black went from chasing criminals with the help of the Millennium Group, to being chased BY them. The series also suffered from a continuing change of supporting characters, and creative personal. It didn't help that at the same time, there was another American series called "The Profiler" starring Ally Walker as Dr. Samantha Waters, which was a character who was also a psychic criminal profiler.

Both also had pretty rocky storylines, but both hunted extreme sexual serial killers, both had protagonists that were psychic, both fell apart at about the same time, and both only lasted about three years. Three stars for a good competent job, but Hand really doesn't do more than that, and adds nothing to episode itself.

For this site I have also done these other novelizations:

"Barb Wire": Novelisation by Neal Barrett, Jr.
The Frighteners: A Novel by Michael Jahn
Hitman: Enemy Within by William C. Dietz
Mutant Chronicles by Matt Forbeck
Plasmid by Robert Knight (a.k.a.: Christopher Evans)

Or does it? Flush with the success of his show The X-Files, creator/producer Chris Carter branched out into what seemed to be darker territory with Millennium. Rather than focusing on the paranormal (i.e. UFOs, aliens, and assorted monsters of the week) the new series introduced Frank Black, a man haunted by his ability to literally get into the minds of the serial killers he hunts, and the Millenium Group, a "consulting" outfit that also seems to function as some kind of secret society. The monsters of the week were from next door instead of outer space and the tension came from spooky fears of the approaching millenial change rather than government conspiracy and/or cover-up. The show seemed to have potential, but it never really grasped and explored its good vs. evil structure - despite taking some interesting turns in the second season. Plot turns that Carter ignored when control of the series returned to him during season three.

The Frenchman is a novelization of the premiere episode and, for what it is, it does a professional job of getting the feel of the show down. The reader will not come away from it with any greater insight into Frank Black, his family, or his new consulting job. Everything is pretty vague - it is all set-up for later episodes to build and expand upon. A deranged man is abducting, torturing and then murdering exotic dancers as well as gay men out looking for some companionship. Criminal profiler Frank Black, having recovered from a paranoid breakdown, has returned with his wife and daughter to their hometown of Seattle and taken a consulting job with the Millennium Group - an organization that appears to help state and county police hunt down localized serial killers. Black is quick to help an old friend hunt this most recent threat to Seattle. And that is about it. Lots of style, but very little substance to go with it. Then again, it is an attempt to turn a simple hour of television into a full length novel. With that in mind, it isn't bad for a rainy Saturday afternoon's reading time.

I usually avoid direct novelizations of television programs simply because they almost universally badly done. However, Hand seems to have found a way around the usual problems by utilizing a cinescopic viewpoint and concentrating on exposition rather than dialogue. I have to confess I haven't seen the episode that resulted in Hand's book but my guess (from other Chris Carter productions I have seen) is that she has been very faithful to the original without attempting a carbon copy.

A very dark, and somewhat confusing story about a serial killer and the detective that is somehow linked to him. I found the novel very well written, yet I could not fully provide 5 stars because of the constant change in perspective and the various tenses (past and present) that were used. Still, this was definately a good read, and I could not put the book down until I was finished.

This novel is very well written. The beginning is a little slow, but as you get into it you can't stop. This is a great book for Millenium fans. Elizabeth Hand puts the show, Millenium, on paper very well.

Considering that The Frenchman is an adaption of a "Millennium" TV script, the novel is re-worked with intelligence and care. The show's subtle nuances and characterzation are beautifully captured on paper by the pen of Elizabeth Hand. Much to my surprise, The Frenchman can stand alone as a serious and thoughtful work, full of poetic language, and not just as a novelization. I recomend it whole-heartedly.

Elizabeth Hand's wonderful skills come into the foreground on this, the first novelization of Millennium. For anyone who saw the pilot, this book will delve you further into the minds of the characters than the TV show could allow. Wonderfully suspenseful. And as the pilot episode's tagline said, "You can't stop it."

I liked this book alot! It was a great adaption of the Pilot Episode(also known as The Frenchman,Who Cares?) of Millennium and I like Elizabeth Hand's writing.