UFO Book Reviews and GLARING Omissions

Every now and then I like to take a peek at how my book is being reviewed at Amazon and goodreads, and I'm always happy with what I find. The Close Encounters Man: How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs, has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon and  3.99 rating on goodreads. Not too bad.

I especially like reading the negative reviews. Sure, sometimes it smarts to have someone ripping on your work, but sometimes it can be kind of hilarious. My favorite negative review came from a guy who wrote something to the effect of, "I consider myself to be far more knowledgeable about the UFO phenomenon than the average person. However, until I read this book I had never heard of Dr. Hynek."

I still laugh at that one...

My latest review on Amazon (dated January 12, 2020) was pretty negative, and I have been struggling with what to make of it. Perhaps you can help. The reviewer gave my book two stars out of five, and wrote:

"Meh. Dry and dull. I have read better. Also the fact that the author did not add Dr Hynek’s opinion of the much more frightening (and documented BY THE USAF) case of Air Force Sgt Jonathan Lovett in 1956 which occurred at the New Mexico White Sands Air Force testing base is in my opinion a GLARING omission."

Basic rule of UFOlogy: you can't believe every story you hear,

I admit, I knew nothing about this case, so I looked it up and found that it involved this guy named Lovett who allegedly saw a UFO at White Sands and whose body was later found in the desert, very dead and very mutilated. That is indeed frightening, if true. But is it true? I never came across any reference to the case in Dr. Hynek's files, or in any Blue Book files. That doesn't prove anything, of course -- I may not have seen any reference to the case because I wasn't specifically looking for it -- but it makes me wonder how this Amazon reviewer knows for a fact that the case was "documented BY THE USAF" and that Hynek had an opinion on the case. If both of these things are true, why not include the documentation in your review, to back up your claims?

Anyway, assuming this really happened and it really was written up in a Project Blue Book case report, I doubt very much that Dr. Hynek would have given the story any credence unless he actually saw the dead body in situ. But it stretches credibility to think that the Air Force ever would have allowed Hynek to see Lovett's alleged corpse, much less asked him to comment on it.

Also, the fact that the Project Blue Book TV series has coincidentally done a recent episode on this Lovett story tells me that not only is the story likely to be false, but that Project Blue Book staff may be posting reviews of my book to stir up interest in their show. I know that's also a stretch, but you have to admit, it's an odd coincidence.