E – Bookreport 9

GEHRI Thomas

8C

Rg

6 1996/97

Charles Grant, The X-Files – Whirlwind

This book by Charles Grant is the second one of the “X-Files stories”. Once again the two
special agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate mysterious cases beyond imagination.
This time the story takes place in New Mexico.
At the beginning a rancher in New Mexico discovers two dead human bodies that have been
skinned. In the meantime Mulder is thinking over the murder of five women. He discovers
that the murderer is slicing the letters of his name into his victims. Then Scully tells him of
the dead men of New Mexico.
At the same time, in New Mexico a boy is killed too by something barely visible. Mulder is
told by another agent about the murderer of the five women before he and Scully go to New
Mexico. The local police tries to find conventional explanations for the murders, but they
don´t even believe them themselves. We also learn of some special Indian rituals, but without
their exact meaning. Scully examines the dead bodies, including these of several animals that
have died in the same way, and she concludes that they died while at full consciousness. Then
another man is killed without noticing a murderer.
The two agents learn to know the local police, and at first they change their clothes into
something suitable for the desert. Then they meet the woman who had discovered the first
bodies and investigate the place. When they ask about the local Indians, they also hear about
the “Sangre Viento”, what means bloodwind. An Indian servant at the ranch tells Mulder
about the religion of the Konochine. When a priest of them dies, another one is appointed, and
during this ceremony the Sangre Viento blows.
Mulder and Scully eat with the local forensic doctor, and they learn the details of the deaths.
The skin was practically rubbed off. Afterwards Scully talks with a dealer who sells Indian
jewelry, who tells her some facts about the life of the Indians. At the parking lot of the police
station they secure some proofs from the car of the last victim. After a short but intense rain
they meet with the Indian who sold the jewelry to the dealer in the town.
In the meantime the dealer wants to leave the town because she has fear, but she is also killed
by a mysterious wind. Some time later Mulder has an experience with the wind too, during a
walk through the garden of their hotel. They investigate at the reservation, and while they go
there Mulder explains the connections to Scully. He is sure that the psychic energy during the
Indian appointing ceremony manifests as the Sangre Viento. But it seems that someone is
able to control the wind.
After they´ve visited the reservation at the Mesa, they go back. But the Indian who brought
them there is the one who uses the bloodwind to kill others, and now he tries to kill them too,
while they´re alone in the desert. They run and get to a house, where the Indian is able to hunt
Mulder down, while Scully can get into the house, where she´s safe. But finally Mulder is
able to shoot the Indian, and when he shoots a small medicine bag, the Sangre Viento
immediately disappears.
I found this book quite interesting how it mixes fictional elements into the culture of the
Mexican Indians. The story also has some really good comic elements, like Mulder near
Roswell ...