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V #15
Below the Threshold
When psychologist Jack Pages' patients, many of whom are struggling to cope with the alien invasion, begin to lose their fear of the reptilian Visitors, he races to discover the secret of the aliens' mental manipulation
- GenresScience Fiction
246 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2016
This book started out just a bit slow but actually turned into one of the better V books, especially since it does not feature any characters from the '80s TV series other than a couple of brief mentions. The book is told entirely from the point of view of Jack Page, a Vietnam vet and clinical psychologist who starts out trying to track down a disappeared patient and ends up stumbling onto a Visitor plot to overcome human resistance (naturally).
Incidentally, this leads me into my pet peeve with the whole V series - the Visitors, really, are awfully incompetent. With all their ships, power, and technology, they are continually outwitted by scruffy groups of a few humans, usually with little to no military training. The Visitors want to take our planet's water and resources, turn humans into slave labor and food, eat most other animals, and basically turn Earth into a lifeless hunk of dirt. Given that, why don't they just do it instead of all the petty scheming and pussyfooting around? Is it a cultural thing, or what? I always felt that this was never satisfactorily explained and it has always taken away from the franchise as far as I am concerned. But I digress - this is a structural fault of the franchise rather than this particular book.
As I mentioned before, the book focuses on human characters rather than Visitors. Too many other books in the series spend far too much time showing how the Visitors in charge of whatever scheme was underway at the time are either evilly laughing at the stupid humans or continually plotting to betray each other to curry favor with higher-ups. This got very repetitive and it was a welcome break not to have to deal with it here.
Overall, worth reading if you care about V at all. The ending was a little rushed but not too badly.
Incidentally, this leads me into my pet peeve with the whole V series - the Visitors, really, are awfully incompetent. With all their ships, power, and technology, they are continually outwitted by scruffy groups of a few humans, usually with little to no military training. The Visitors want to take our planet's water and resources, turn humans into slave labor and food, eat most other animals, and basically turn Earth into a lifeless hunk of dirt. Given that, why don't they just do it instead of all the petty scheming and pussyfooting around? Is it a cultural thing, or what? I always felt that this was never satisfactorily explained and it has always taken away from the franchise as far as I am concerned. But I digress - this is a structural fault of the franchise rather than this particular book.
As I mentioned before, the book focuses on human characters rather than Visitors. Too many other books in the series spend far too much time showing how the Visitors in charge of whatever scheme was underway at the time are either evilly laughing at the stupid humans or continually plotting to betray each other to curry favor with higher-ups. This got very repetitive and it was a welcome break not to have to deal with it here.
Overall, worth reading if you care about V at all. The ending was a little rushed but not too badly.
January 2, 2009
A kidnapping mystery - did the aliens do it, or was it the mob? Props for a very different take, although the ending feels chopped off.
December 17, 2010
Actually I didn't even get halfway finished before I was bored out of my mind...There has only been a couple of V books worth reading in this series..
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews