Customer Reviews

" X-files " : Ground Zero

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Kevin J. Anderson crafted not only an X-Files masterpiece, but also a science-fiction masterpiece. Ground Zero is an action-packed science-fiction thriller. I love it is worth every cent. Kevin J. Anderson wrote both Mulder and Scully perfectly in tune with their TV personalities. Ground Zero really deserved it's number one spot on the London Times Bestseller's List. IF YOU ARE AN X-PHILE, OR YOU JUST LIKE THE X-FILES, THEN YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK! Ground Zero is a book about a typical X-File, people die under mysterious circumstances on federal property so Mulder and Scully are called in. Ground Zero is pretty much about nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon testing, and one man's revenge. It all starts at a nuclear weapons research facility where Dr. Emil Gregory sits down to work. Eventually his secretary brings him a package. In the package is a ziploc baggy containing a strange black ash and a note that says "for your part in the past". A short time after that there is a power shortage in Dr. Gregory's office. After a minute of panicking, a fireball spontaneously appears in the center of the office and engulfs Dr. Gregory.

So, how can I say this succintly and clearly?

The abridged audiobook is not good. It is bad. It is not well read. It has few of the best qualities of the TV show.

Read by Gillian Anderson, the abrdiged audiobook clocks in at about 3 hours and read unenthusiastically by Gillian Anderson. One of the reasons I picked this one up is that I figured she'd read it well. It says it was recorded in Vancouver in 1995 (where the show was filmed) and it sounds like she read it between takes. She sounds tired and completely uninterested in the text.

Then again, when you look at what she was reading, I cannot blame her for being uninterested. This book has none of the zip of the show. Mulder's lines are almost non-existant. No smart-aleck lines or observation. No wry sense of humor that makes even the weakest of the TV shows watchable (I love the X-Files but let's face it - every episode is not being shipped to the TV Hall of Fame...). This book is a tired and pale imitation of what the show was. You can see the ending coming and you wish it would just hurry up and get here. Perhaps the abridgement gutted the book but I was glad it was abridged.

The science behind this audiobook is laughable. Not the supernatural stuff - that's what the X-Files is all about. I mean the atomic science. Does the author really think that anyone can explode an atomic bomb without radiation detectors picking up on it? Remember Chernobyl? The West knew it had gone wrong long before the Soviets admitted to it because it was detected by Western atomic sensors. Atomic blasts show up on seismographs. That's how we knew India and Pakistan had them. But, let's ignore facts like that and roll right along with a silly premise.

Skip this one.

This is a review of the audiobook version of Ground Zero by Kevin Anderson read by Gillian Anderson.

Set against the world of government sponsored nuclear weapons research , Ground Zero has agents Mulder and Scully investigating the death of a researcher who is blown to bits - but the rest of his office is intact. There is no known personal sized nuke- so what happened? The audiobook is read by Gillian Anderson , and the abridgement has the focus on Scully's part of the investigation and the unlikely supernatural conclusion that takes the agents to the south pacific and the site of a planned above ground test of a new super weapon.

Anderson's reading is great! I got a good chuckle out of her comments about how that Mulder's theories were bound to be way out there and not grounded in science. Well paced, the book moves along with action and theory and some cool supernatural mysticism concerning a lost tribe , wiped out by an above ground nuclear test in the 50s and their long journey to retribution and vengeance from beyond......

This book is an excellent choice for a sci-fi fan who loves the 'unexplained' or the 'unknown'. The book is based on the television show The X-Files. Mr. Kevin J. Anderson uses the usual characters Mulder and Scully as FBI agents investigating unusual cases.
A small area in Pleasanton, California at the Nuclear Research Facility, a nuclear scientist, Dr. Emil Gregory is experimenting with what he called the Bright Anvil Project. He was also a minor technician for the Manhattan Project half a century ago. Peace protesters constantly bother him outside of his office; at the same time the Energy Department is very anxious to see his developments. Something goes wrong late one evening lights flicker, an intense humming sound grows, smoke and heat become so unbearable that it hit him in all one swoop and the doctor was charred to a radioactive cinder along with his whole laboratory and research.
This case is brought to the FBI, because of its being on Federal lands, so Mulder and Scully travel down to Little Pleasanton to investigate this bizarre incident. As agent Scully did an autopsy on the Doctor's body she finds strange problems with the way the body was burnt verses the reports and usual burning cases. Was it sabotage by protestors, was it accidental, did the doctor go too far with his work that it killed him, or is it unexplainable...
I highly recommend this book, it's excellent.

This book is an excellent choice for a sci-fi fan who loves the 'unexplained' or the 'unknown'. The book is based on the television show The X-Files. Mr. Kevin J. Anderson uses the usual characters Mulder and Scully as FBI agents investigating unusual cases.
A small area in Pleasanton, California at the Nuclear Research Facility, a nuclear scientist, Dr. Emil Gregory is experimenting with what he called the Bright Anvil Project. He was also a minor technician for the Manhattan Project half a century ago. Peace protesters constantly bother him outside of his office; at the same time the Energy Department is very anxious to see his developments. Something goes wrong late one evening lights flicker, an intense humming sound grows, smoke and heat become so unbearable that it hit him in all one swoop and the doctor was charred to a radioactive cinder along with his whole laboratory and research.
This case is brought to the FBI, because of its being on Federal lands, so Mulder and Scully travel down to Little Pleasanton to investigate this bizarre incident. As agent Scully did an autopsy on the Doctor's body she finds strange problems with the way the body was burnt verses the reports and usual burning cases. Was it sabotage by protestors, was it accidental, did the doctor go too far with his work that it killed him, or is it unexplainable...
I highly recommend this book, it's excellent.

We recieved a copy of this book as a gift and when I saw that it was written by Kevin J. Anderson, I realized that I had read some of his work before. He has also written some "Star Wars" novels and while his stories are interesting, his writing style bothers me. In my humble opinion, Mr. Anderson has not captured the personalities of Mulder and Scully at all. It was like reading about two other characters. In fact, it should have been two other characters. I remember feeling the same way about his "Star Wars" novels. I do like his ideas but not the execution. Whenever I read something that he has written, I walk away thinking, "Close, but no cigar."

I really enjoyed listening to this story. Gillian did a great job narrating the story, and K. Anderson did a great job writing the story. It sure brought back memories of "Teller National Lab's" (aka LLNL). Any X-Files fan should buy this one!

I suppose being the die-hard X-Phile that I am sort of makes me a bit biased. Yeah, well it certainly doesn't hurt. If you've seen the show enough you can almost hear the voices of our paranormal protagonists speaking their written lines here. I found it to be one of the more far out plots that the X-Files has supplied us with, but since the X-Files movie is due in '98 all we can hope is that THIS will be it. This seems to be way too "big production" to be made as a special TV episode, so it would be well suited to the big screen. I enjoy Anderson's X-Files book much more than the other author (can't even think of his name but he did "Goblins" and "Whirlwind"). Anderson seems to really know his stuff about the show, keeping all the character's personalities the way they should be, unlike "the Other Author" who includes unknown characters and even has the audacity to leave out Skinner! Stick with Anderson's books and you can't go wrong. I loved it. P

I have to admit that I am a fan of "The X-Files" television series. I enjoy the interaction of the characters, their wit, and the way many things are left unsaid, leaving the watcher to wonder. I read Ground Zero to see if those qualities could transfer to the written media. Unfortunately, I found that the book's portrayal of those qualities was limited at best. I suppose, in the end, only David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson can bring the characters of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to life.

In Ground Zero Agents Mulder and Scully are assigned the case of the mysterious murder of a nuclear physicist. The book isn't horribly written, although it is very simple. I would only recommend this novel to die-hard "X-Files" fans

I was/am a big fan of X-files and I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and I didnt notice any dull parts. I have to say I enjoyed Ruins more but this was still good.