Alien Agenda

Paranoia strikes deep in this thorough--and thoroughly slanted--report on alleged aliens in our midst. Marrs, who in his bestselling Crossfire sifted the evidence in the JFK killing and found a conspiracy, now does the same with evidence relating to UFOs, their occupants and any possible cover-up of them. ""[T]here can be little doubt,"" he concludes, ""that a small clique of the wealthy elite exercise unprecedented conspiratorial control over much of the world's business and government...."" It is this clique, Marrs suggests, who may be covering up the facts about UFOs, primarily in order to control any alien technology. But even those who scoff at this conclusion should relish Marrs's lively run-through of just about every important UFO and alien development and incident ever, from tales of ancient astronauts to recent abduction accounts. In his drive to cover the waterfront, Marrs shows little discrimination, overemphasizing dubious phenonmena like remote viewing and crop circles, and giving nearly equal weight to ludicrous pretenders like Billy Meier (who claimed close encounter with Pleiadians) and sophisticated commentators like Jaques Vallee. Marrs even devotes a chapter to theories that the moon may be a UFO, and he refuses to rule out obvious frauds like the alien autopsy tapes. But if rigorous analysis escapes Marrs, little else does; this is the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years. Photos not seen by PW. $40,000 ad/promo; simultaneous Harper Audio; author tour; first serial, dramatic rights: Paraview. (June)