Book Review: Mojave Wells

Book Review: 'Mojave Wells' by L. Dean James

3 / 5 Stars

'Mojave Wells' (280 pp) was published by Avon Books in June 1994. The cover art is by Dorian Vallejo.

As the novel opens, archaeology graduate student John Caldwell agrees to accompany his mentor, Professor Hanover, on a field trip to the 'Devil's Playground' area of the Mojave desert. The Professor believes unusual scorings in the terrain are indications of possible extraterrestrial activity in the distant past. 

Caldwell digs into the sand and unearths a strange artifact: a small, rectangular box, made of an exotic black material. Even as he examines the box, Caldwell finds himself passing out..... for over four hours ! When he revives, John angrily denounces the Professor for exposing him to a potentially lethal dose of radiation.

But as it turns out, the exposure to the mysterious black box has not given John Caldwell a lethal dose of radiation. Rather, it has engineered a change in his physical being: transmuting Caldwell into an alien, a member of the race known as the Ral. 

As Caldwell struggles to understand his transformation, the residents of the small desert town known as Mojave Wells are going to find themselves caught up in a conspiracy to identify and eliminate what may be the beachhead for an alien invasion of the planet Earth. For the Ral are a race of conquerors, armed with technologically advanced weaponry and an brutal indifference to the fate of those they conquer. 

Unless John Caldwell can find allies among the disbelieving residents of Mojave Wells, he will be the unwilling gateway for a Ral invasion........

The first half of 'Mojave Wells' is the best part of the book. It reads very much like an episode of The X Files, and it's not hard to believe that author Jones was inspired to some degree by that TV show (which began airing in 1993). The plot revolves around a small team of everyday citizens who find themselves the target of a government operation, and must rely on their wits and shared expertise to avoid becoming casualties of a clandestine war. The narrative offers quick pacing, interesting characters, and a steady stream of disquieting revelations and double-crosses.

It's in the final third of the book that 'Mojave Wells' unwisely jettisons the X Files homage and starts to devolve into an overly belabored treatment of alien sociology and psychology (there is much exposition on the marriage customs of the Ral, as well as excursions into the otherworldly realm of Ral 'dreaming', in which individuals can share the same phantasmagorical experience). This shift in the book's emphasis saps momentum from the narrative, and leads to a denouement that drags on too long: Star Gates are opened, then closed, then opened again, as one crisis after another is introduced and dutifully resolved. 

The verdict ? I can't recommend 'Mojave Wells' as a book to search out. But if you are a fan of X Files - style narratives and you happen see 'Mojave' on the shelf, you may want to pick it up.