Review: 'The X-Files: Goblins' by Charles Grant

Call it nostalgia or sentimentality, but I’ve been craving a trip down memory lane to revisit the original tie-in adult novels of The X-Files from the late 1990s, a hallmark of my teenage years. Despite the show's meteoric rise during its original run, only six novels were published from 1994 to 1999 (seven if you include the novelization of the feature film Fight the Future). It's worth noting I’m not counting the middle-grade or YA titles. I first picked up the first book, Goblins, during my Junior High days, and even then, I couldn’t help but notice the dissonance in tone. If you can overlook the copious f-bombs that were never uttered in the series, the writing style feels surprisingly juvenile. Perhaps back then, I was just a young reader grappling with stories meant for adults.

Written by the late horror maestro Charles L. Grant, Goblins is his first of two contributions to The X-Files, the other being Whirlwind. Admittedly, it’s not a literary masterpiece; at best, it reads as an average thriller. I felt that way in 1994, and here I am in 2026, revisiting the same worn paperback while listening to the 2015 audiobook from Blackstone Audio. Why indulge in this modest narrative again? Nostalgia is my only answer.

At its core, Goblins is a traditional monster-of-the-week tale. Considering the television series premiered in September 1993 and the book was released in January 1994, I imagine Grant didn’t have much material to work from. It’s as if he were navigating a murky landscape in which the characters of Mulder and Scully hadn’t yet crystallized into their iconic selves. Mulder occasionally rings true, but moments later, he morphs into caricature traits that feel entirely out of character. And Scully? The version presented here is a shadow of her television counterpart, an enigma wrapped in inconsistencies. It seems the characters, much like the series itself, were still in development, which is likely why Goblins feels so disjointed. For the record, this isn't fanfiction. Grant was contracted by HarperPrism, lending his voice to what is an official tie-in. Whether readers choose to accept it as canon is debatable, but it certainly doesn’t fit the mold of fan-created content.

The plot follows Mulder and Scully as they team up with two other agents to investigate a series of murders near a military base. The twist? Witnesses claim the killer was invisible, some even whisper of a goblin. Without spoiling the twists of this decades-old story, let’s just say things hardly align as they seem, a sort of mad scientist subplot emerges, and you can fill in the rest. The villains present a strangely modern perspective, as if woke tropes were conceived before their time, though their relevance is ultimately moot.

Goblins is an oddity in The X-Files universe, like an unwritten prequel that was probably penned when Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were still mere sketches of who they’d become. As I mentioned, the story isn’t particularly strong, yet it boasts a premise that sparks curiosity. Grant did what he could with the limited material at his disposal; we can only judge the result against the larger backdrop of what we know now.

Now, regarding the audiobook. Narrator Patrick Lawlor does an adequate job, yet at times he seems bewildered by the story, struggling to convey the appropriate emotions for each character. The pacing drags significantly; the audiobook clocks in at about six and a half hours, and even at double speed, it feels sluggish. Whether it’s the story or Lawlor's narration that hinders the experience is hard to pin down, but it’s a slow listen that I can’t wholeheartedly recommend. That said, if you’re a die-hard X-Files fan, I do suggest picking up the book. While it’s out of print in paperback, you can certainly find used copies or grab it as an eBook on Kindle. Approach it at your own risk...but prepare yourself for a little journey into the peculiar and the inconsistent. ╌★★★✰✰

〜B.J. Burgess