Whirlwind

(The X-Files 2)
by
Charles Grant

Harper, June 1995, 264 pp.
ISBN: 0-06-105415-1

Genre: Science Fiction
Subgenre: TV Tie-In / Paranormal
Reviewed: 7/15/2001

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Read Part of the Book

"Are you the agents from Washington?"

"Yes," Mulder answered. "And you are...?"

"Dr. Rios. Helen Rios. I performed the autopsies on those poor people."

He stood immediately and offered her a chair while introducing her to Scully. When they were all seated again, he told her he was pleased to see her. Garson wouldn't have to make the appointment after all.

"He wouldn't have made it," the woman said.

"I...what?"

"You read my report?" she asked Scully.

"I did. To be honest, there weren't a lot of--"

"It's wrong."

Scully looked at the table, then back to Dr. Rios. "Excuse me?"

The woman opened her purse and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "This is what I wrote first. What you read before is what I was told to write."

Mulder couldn't believe it.

Nor could he believe it when Scully opened the paper, skimmed it, and said, "Oh my God."

Review

Bodies are being found in Arizona. But the bodies are unique in that it looks like they have been ground down by a belt sander. After four killings, Mulder and Scully are sent out to investigate. There they find another FBI agent that seems to have his own agenda, a sheriff that seems busy playing county hick hoping he is fooling the agents, an old movie star living on a ranch, a Native American everyone seems afraid of, a woman selling Native American goods, and another Native American that went to college and then returned to help his people. No one seems to want to give Mulder and Scully the straight scoop on how those people died...and what is the connection between them is?

This is the second X-Files book. It is a book based on the hit FOX television show. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are FBI agents that investigate the paranormal and weird happening that occur in the United States. Scully is the skeptic while Mulder is the believer.  This story takes place pretty early on in the shows life when Mulder and Scully have just gotten Skinner as their boss, but does not appear in this book. 

Charles Grant has done a better job of portraying Mulder and Scully in this book then he did in Goblins. I was pleasantly surprised with the better characterization of the agents in this book. A lot of the beginning of the story focuses on the people in Arizona and the building of the story. But once the FBI agents arrive, the story starts rolling as more people end up dead. This book is a fairly quick read and quite enjoyable, if you like the television series. Even if you haven't seen the show, it is still a good book to read, especially if you like mysteries of the paranormal. So, if you love The X-Files as much as I do, and really want to know if the truth is out there, maybe this book will help you get a little closer to it.

I rated this book a 7½ out of 10.