Millennium

by Jack Anderson Northman and Jack Anderson

Book Overview

One day in our nation's capital there appears an extraterrestrial--disguised as a human. Before he can warn us that an alien power is bent on annihilating the entire human race, he is mugged and left for dead. He recovers to find an obsessed government agent and a crazed drug gang dogging his steps. His only avenue to survival hinges on an aging journalist and his assistant.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312854013
• ISBN13: 9780312854010
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Interesting first novel from an experienced writer

To begin with, you've read this story before; or, at least, you've likely encountered its components. Anderson's narrative weaves together several traditional concepts of science fiction and UFO lore: extraterrestrials who visit earth not to invade but to warn us off of our self-destructive path; alien abductions as part of a breeding program to create a race of hybrids; advanced technology falling into the wrong hands and contaminates a culture. Though the bits and pieces are highly derivative, the manner in which Anderson links them together and provides a rationale makes this novel something more than a retread. Likewise, most of the characters satisfy existing archetypes: the tough but caring cop; the bored, nihilistic heiress; the frustrated street punk; and two reporters--the crusty veteran (a stand-in for Anderson himself) and the overeager rookie. However, given the opportunity to interact with one another, they become something more than themselves, and are never really boring. Anderson's novel has numerous legitimate high points; I was impressed in particular with his depiction of a tidbit of alien technology and its effects when in the wrong hands, and likewise with a monologue on journalistic ethics that would serve many of today's newspaper scribes if it were made mandatory reading. However; to put it blatantly, much of the novel's narrative strength is compromised by its ending, or lack of same, where virtually nothing is resolved. While this is excusable, or even desirable, when handled well, Anderson's ending elicits frustration on the reader's part rather than introspection. More significant than a small disappointment, however, is what I consider the novel's major flaw, a philosophical nit that I would also pick with the "alien give a dire warning to a world poised on the brink" movies from which the novel is partly derived. Anderson's premise is that we are at a tipping point in history, about to slide inexorably into evil, and are thus about to be destroyed (a theory shared by those who see signs heralding the biblical end times and disregard the fact that all historical periods have seemed to be full of these kinds of signs). Anderson's contention, or that of his alien, is that human misery at an all-time high. Others are free to disagree, but I simply can't buy this. At no point in history have so many people been free to determine their own destinies; at no point has the standard of living been so high for even the lowliest among us; and there simply has never been a time, until now, when making aggressive war on one's neighbors wasn't the normal state of affairs rather than an aberration. If a galactic civilization were really charting our progress, this would be the high point rather than the nadir. I cannot, however, let my philosophical disagreements with Anderson's novel stop me from recommending it if you should happen across it. It is interesting; it is engrossing, and it's a pleasure to watch everyone

Great book

I thought that this book was great. At first I thought that the intoduction of so many carracters was a bit much but it all tied together rather nice. I had trouble putting it down and that says a lot because i am not a big reader.

A hard to resist and also upsetting book.

Jack Andersons Millenium was many things. A deep, hard to put down, thriller but, at the same time a very frustrating novel to read. All in all you really get sucked in to this book an u feel the problems of the characters as if you were really there. Jack does a wonderful job of creating a fantasy world of magnificent proportions that tells the story of the way life could be.