Book Review "The Thing" By Alan Dean Foster

First of all, let me just say that I am an avid fan of John Carpenter's The Thing, so naturally when I heard about a novel adaption, I was immediately interested. I did my research and happened to find the book on Amazon.com and bought myself a used copy. Once I received the book, I started reading it instantly, curious about the "so-called" differences between this version and the beloved film. Of course this isn't just based on the film, but rather based off the first screen-play of the movie. The opening scene was the same, except for a few changes, especially the absence of Macready. He is actually introduced after the encounter with the Norwegians and the dog. All of the characters are the same except for Windows, who was called "Sanders" for some reason. Glad they changed the name in the film. Sanders just doesn't sit well with me. Some of the character's descriptions are different too, such as Childs having a beard. Believe me after seeing the movie over a 100 times, that was hard to picture in my head. Keith David with a beard? Just about as hard as it was for me to imagine Windows with the name "Sanders", so again I just replaced it with "Windows" in my head.

The book handled some of the deaths from the film differently as well, in fact Bennings has a more violent and brutal death than he does in the movie. It's actually scarier to picture it., and it takes place during a scene where he, Macready and Childs are chasing after the dogs. This scene was to be included in the movie, but was cut for some reason. Anyways the scene takes place after the Norwegian dog Things out. The novel explains that the surviving huskies had attacked the dog-thing and bitten off pieces of it, which in turn had infected some of them and they tried to escape. There's more to that scenario, but I really hate to spoil everything so if you want to know, buy the damn book or get it from your local library if they carry it.

Anyways, as I was saying, the deaths are handled differently. The characters who had completely different deaths apart from the film were: Bennings, Copper, Nauls, and Windows. Actually come to think of it, Gary's death is rather different too, just in the manner he is killed. Again no spoilers, because you need to read the book dammit! =P
Now for the ending, it is totally different, especially because Macready actually bulldozes most of outpost 31 while pursuing the thing. Some say the ending is kind of weird, but I liked it. It shows that Macready has finally lost it. Literally, as he is the only one left besides Childs who he discovers at the end just like in the film.
Overall it was a great read, and I'm glad I bought it. Highly recommended to any fan of the movie. You will like it, it carries the story just as well as the film. Even in some areas, a whole lot better!