A review by gengelcox
Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed the Basis of the Thing by John W. Campbell Jr.

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

A classic SF horror piece, the source for a couple of movies including John Carpenter’s The Thing. It takes it awhile to get going, but eventually the situation is established: an antarctic expedition of a little less than two-dozen men come upon a crashed vessel in the ice, discovering a frozen “being” that they bring back to their camp and promptly thaw out, unfortunately discovering that the thing still lives and is able to transform into other living beings like their dogs, cattle, and themselves, complete with knowledge of what the being was that it has taken over. Paranoia sits in and the struggle is to determine how to determine whom is man or monster. The second half moves much more quickly as the story rushes to a denouement that seems hopeless. The cast of characters is a bit unmanageable and Campbell isn’t very good at differentiating them, so when they finally start dying off, it’s a bit of a relief. But, overall, the idea holds up—it’s the science fiction version of the doppelgänger given feasibility by being an alien race, and while the style of story is somewhat dated, it still has thrill power.