The Forbidden Zone

by Whitley Strieber

Whitley Strieber has long been renowned as one of America's most spellbinding storytellers, a writer whose novels have consistently broken new ground in the exploration of the dark unknown. With The Forbidden Zone, he continues his journey beyond the cutting edge of terrifying suspense into the sphere of a relentless psychological thriller only he could have written. Every small town has a special place like the mound. Lovers go there to woo, families picnic in summer, children sled in winter. For the community of Oscola, New York, the mound has never been dangerous...until now. Now something beyond cunning or imagining, something that appears undeniably evil is hiding beneath the mound. The terror comes from out of time, space, and the depths of the human mind with its alien needs and desires. It spreads its roots in secret...changing, transforming, reshaping reality. It seeks to sweep aside all that the good townfolk love and cherish: their past, their hopes, the promise of their souls. It fills the innocent earth with its presence - it screams with power. How can ordinary people protect themselves from this evil? How can they fight its weapon of soulbreaking potency - a sweetly seductive yet unspeakably savage pleasure too intense to resist? Brian Kelly, a courageous physicist still grieving over the hideous death of his first wife and child, suspects that the shell of reality must have been torn to let in this monstrosity. He must discover a way to repair the rift. His very pregnant second wife, Loi, a beautiful and brilliant refugee from the pain of Vietnam, has battled demons before. She's ready to dare anything to save her unborn son. The tough yet dangerously vulnerable EllenMaas, a big-city reporter trying to revive the local paper, must finally commit to destroying the beast - or perish herself. Bob West, a cop who saw every kind of madness and violence during the war, will return to the law of the jungle - or worse - if it will save his family. They

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller, Lovecraftian

309 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1993

About the author

American writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma.

Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.

His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel has a frenetic pace from start to finish. I enjoyed the nod to Lovecraft and this also has shades of King's "the Mist." This is a reread and a decade later, I still enjoyed it. This is the only Strieber novel I have read, so I really cannot compare it to his other work. 3.5 stars.

[Joey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scary. The first half of the book better than the latter. It got a little long-winded in the second half, as the two main characters kept getting into the same situation repeatedly time after time to make it somewhat tiresome. But if Lovecraftian type far out horror is your cup of tea then this is for you.

[Mikayla Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot overall, the main highlight for me is the overall tone of the book. Definitely creeped me out from the beginning. It gives this very classically spooky vibe, almost like a more refined version of stranger things (the content is similar)with a cosmic horror touch.
The downside I'd say is that it's a little long-winded for what it is, it seems to drag in parts. So if you're someone who doesn't mind that and enjoys the other things I mentioned, I'd surely give it a try.

[Pretentia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good horror from the unknown typically. The idea was there but the execution was very flat.

[Doug Brunell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ultimately, this book is disappointing in all the worst ways. I found myself asking several questions throughout it. "Did the editor quit halfway through?" "Has Strieber ever listened to people talk?" "If an eleven-year-old with no discernible skills suddenly hot wires multiple vehicles, and answers 'I forget' when asked how he knew how to do that, isn't that concerning to the reader in some way?"

I liked the Lovecraft influence (and I think this book may have influenced the creators of "Stranger Things" a bit), but moments that should have been really creepy always seemed to get ruined by some bad descriptive writing that made the situation become unclear. For a novel to show so much promise and then lose it fairly early on ... unforgivable.

Anyone want to buy my copy?

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every town has a place like the mound - a place where lovers go to meet, picnic and sleigh ride. But for Oscala, New York, the mound has become a place of terror. I found that this story started out very scary, but then turned very much science fiction. I don't really like science fiction too much. I give it a B+!

[Betty · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was like driving down a really bumpy road trying not to spill your drink!

[Rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trigger Warning: Rape (I'll give the warning again when it's about to be mentioned in case you still want to read the rest of the review)

This book is carried by the intrigue of the 'what's underground?' mystery of the opening chapters, my personal need to finish books I start, and the Lovecraftian horror show of the final act. But the middle felt like a hot mess.

At times the description of what was going on was delivered vague and staccatto so you couldn't understand what it was even referring to. I wonder if perhaps the author's intent was to instill a sense of urgency and high stakes, and maybe to add some feeling of disconnection from reality. I can see how that would be a suitable answer in a high school English essay but I just found that I was left disconnected from the story itself. Then I just kinda read on detached until I reconnected with some words that bore usable information.

Other times, there were apparent mistakes. "There were x number of people gathered" and then describes the group as if it's x-2 people. But then when compared to later descriptions, it turns out there was x+1 people.
Or information is omitted. Like someone throwing themselves through something, then later the reader is told that their running slowed as they tired - the reader not realising until then that the character had even *been* running.

I think, in general, the author doesn't realise there is context needed to understand what he means, so he hasn't communicated it. He has the context - without realising it's necessary - so the meaning seems to him like it should be obvious.

Some of the characters were caricatures and either interacted with each other with little nuance (though the reader is told that there is nuance there), or whose character traits are contradicted by later revealed character traits.

TW: Rape
I picked up a sci-book about an evil terror hiding under a peaceful town's local hill, that would tempt people to their doom - pretty classic fare. I didn't realise that it wasn't temptation so much as it was forcing supernaturally-intense orgasms, onto almost every character with a name, against their will. Including penetration with a firely swarm acting as a cohesive creature with 'fingers'. This evil/alien/thing is rapey. Very rapey. Very not classic fare.

Another book to add to the 'Books should have ratings/warnings' side of the argument...

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

În mijlocul unei perfecte după-amieze de vară răsună un ţipăt lung, cutremurător. Pentru că era atât de stins, Brian Kelly se temu la început că era o amintire. Ar fi putut fi, desigur. Tânăra sa soţie, însărcinată, întinsă lângă el pe iarbă, nu părea să-l fi auzit. Ar fi vrut să se uite după căţeaua lui dacă a reacţionat cumva, dar aceasta dispăruse hăituind cu sălbăticie un iepure.

Ţipătul se pierdu în depărtare. Bărbatul se ridică în picioare şi scrută larga privelişte, căutând cu privirea o trâmbă de fum de la vreo casă în flăcări, sau o maşină tamponată pe marginea vreunui drum. Dar Oscola părea liniştit, iar lanţul sudic al munţilor Adirondack , ce se ridica dincolo de orăşel, visa cu inocenţă prin pâcla azurie a verii.

Putea să vadă pe după casa judecătorului terBroeck,   de-a lungul lui Mound Road şi mai departe, de-a lungul lui Main, până în centrul oraşului. În cealaltă direcţie putea să urmărească Mound până aproape de intersecţia lui cu Şoseaua 303, care se desfăşura către Ludlum, aflat la cincizeci de kilometri depărtare.În toată această cuprinzătoare privelişte nu era nimic nepotrivit.

Poate fusese un animal sau o pasăre, sau vântul.

Soarele dogorea. Curând închise ochii, lăsând tihna acelei ore să-l îndemne la somn.Timpul îl luă în stăpânire, aceasta stranie urzeala care reprezentase punctul central al carierei  şi vieţii sale...timpul, nepreţuitul lui mister.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning I was just like oh this book isn't that bad and it's not but when it got into the purple light stuff that's when I was like whoa what!? It was defiantly odd and maybe a bit weird, all the monster stuff was totally fine the pleasurable purple light is just weird. I have a love/hate Loi. I don't know I think Loi and Brian are an odd couple. I would have liked of Ellen and Brian got together I'd get that cause they can relate to each other. Just some of the stuff that Loi says when she complains about how he hasn't rebuilt the house. Honestly I'd slap her, doesn't she not understand how painful that'd be for him when he's not ready. Hell his wife and child died in the fire that took the house! At the end when everything was turning into sludge and pretty much the town was destroyed, I was just like man have fun cleaning that up! And did the Wests make it out, they never said if they did, unless I somehow missed that.

[Todd R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never make it through Striebers' novels, I try to, but they just have a blandness about them. I won't claim that Strieber is a copycat writer, but I always feel like I'm getting a lesser version of a good authors best-seller.
I do like his Communion work - I always feel like those are his most biting novels, whether fiction or non-fiction, they are interesting.

[Charlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like the use of the ‘Many Worlds Interpretation’… that’s it. That’s all I like.

This book is horribly written. It’s incredibly confusing for no reason. Dialogue is terrible. Couldn’t wait for it to end.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story premise - 4 stars

The execution - 2.5 to 3 stars

Interesting concept, lost in some of the muddled repetitive writing. A little disappointing with the first half building the suspense well but the second half getting a little too chaotic and disjointed.

[Eleanor Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF, abandoned about half way through. Motives were unrealistic, continuity was non existent, dialogue was corny. The story was boring, skimming didn't help, the author's attempts at foreshadowing via chapter cliffhangers didn't help, nothing can help this mess of a book.

[Michelle Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good.. though I didnt like the ending.. left some things unknown..

This book is definitely for adults.. with sexual situations..

[Georg Britzkow · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Thing, trifft auf Phantoms. Billiger Abklatsch beider Werke, interessant geschrieben, aber nicht lesenswert

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 1 out of 5]

An ambitious and poorly focused novel. Clearly an attempt to regain lost ground.

[Ian Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up just over half way through. A pile of tosh.

[Courtney Chambers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like this book at all. Terribly written.

[Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1994. Horror novel tribute to H.P. Lovecraft.

[Stephen Fodor · Rating 4 out of 5]

IT was very VERY good. And very Odd, but made total sense, which doesn't always happen when the story and plot are odd. I'd recommend it.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the suspense and the world created here.

[Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ik heb al andere boeken van deze auteur gelezen die wel goed waren. Maar deze is een in elkaar geflanst rommeltje.

[Anna Chav · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, scary, pit me on the edge of my seat, felt a bit convoluted by the end

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

the old books are the best this book was exciting and fast paced I loved it 4.5 stars

[Rob Barber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh my god this was boring. The characters were boring and unbelievable and the constant running away from tentacles with fingers grew old really quick. This was my first Whitley Streiber book and I really hope my next one is a lot better than this otherwise I will be throwing in the towel.

[Gavgav Doc · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first review, mainly due to the fact that I am bored and just finished this book today.

The plot was reminiscent of a made-for-tv movie on the sci-fi channel, but if there is a movie adaptation of this, I am thankful I have not seen it, even though it maybe would have provided some semblance of imagery on my part. As it stands, his descriptions were more grotesque than scary, and throughout every suspenseful moment of the book, I felt the imagery used was tired and cliche. I literally skimmed the paragraphs about goopy, icky, sticky, stuff, I seriously can only read the word "gel" about 30 times before I stop caring about the consistency of whatever nasty crap is stuck to something or what the texture of the butthole the main character crawled into is like . If he had used some of that ink to actually make the plot make *any* sense by the end of the book, the storyline might have actually been worthy of contemplation.

In the end, if you're the type of person who will watch an occasional B-rated science fiction flick on TV out of boredom, this may give you an afternoon or two of entertainment, but has little in the way of anything groundbreaking, or even thought-provoking. just a Chthulu remix.

[Pickleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read quite a few Strieber books in my day and have become a big fan. Warday, Wolfen, Nature's End, The Grays, for example, are all classics, and all pretty well written. This one however, seems really like a general lack of effort on the authors part. It reads like a first year college literature student's final exam paper or something. No continuity or flow in the sentence structure. Assumptions that the reader can fill in the blanks of a storyline that even at the end leaves you wondering what the heck you just read about abound. Maybe he couldn't afford an editor at this time in his career and had his teenage neighbor edit the thing. Anyway, unless you are a super fan, don't bother. Just remember, like I do, the good things he's done.

[William M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even if you don't like Whitley Strieber for his claims regarding alien abduction, one cannot deny that he is an incredible writer. From the opening sentence, he pulled me right in. The Forbidden Zone is one of those rare books where you truly feel that the evil is so overwhelming, there is no possible hope for the protagonist to survive. I love having that feeling.

And while some of Mr. Strieber's descriptions are confusing at times, he manages to stay on course through this highly original landscape of terror. This book came highly recommended to me and I am thrilled to say it was even better than the hype. I'll definitely be checking out his other fiction after reading this one.