Whitley Strieber is the bestselling author of the horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger, and this memoir, Communion—all of which were made into feature films. His books The Grays and 2012: The War for Souls are both being made into films, and his Web site, unknowncountry.com, is the largest of its kind in the world. Strieber was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas.
YA Strieber has a reputation for writing well-researched nonfiction. Were it not for this reputation, readers would be more tempted to dismiss as fantasy this account of visits he has received from a non-human group. In the winter of 198586, the visits became both more frequent and more visible. Strieber sought the help of a counselor/hypnotist, who did not accept the alien hypothesis. Eventually Strieber's wife was also hypnotized. The accounts both Striebers gave under hypnosis and the memories that surfaced after hynosis, as well as several witnesses to aspects of the visitations all corroborate that something abnormal occurred. Strieber is careful not to jump to any conclusions; in fact, he philosophizes at length about the possibilities which include aliens, an as yet unidentified aspect of the human mind, or some generally invisible earth inhabitant such as fairies. The book is fascinating as long as it sticks to the basic account, and the ways in which the Striebers chose to research the phenomena. The passages of hypothesizing are more longwinded and will be of less interest to young adults, but they do remind readers that the Striebers have not accepted a single answer to the puzzle even now. Any readers who have interest in the unexplained will appreciate this book. Dorcas Hand, Episcopal High School, Bellaire
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