Better than Grant's other X-Files novel, the absolutely execrable "Whirlwind", but not by much. Grant only wrote the two novels for this fandom before Kevin J. Anderson (thankfully) took over, I believe, and in "Goblins" (like the follow-up) I'm never sure I'm reading about the same characters that are on the tv show. Mulder and Scully don't feel in-character to me - Scully in particular is under-used and seems to exist primarily as some sort of maternal babysitter for her partner.

And this is unrelated to the uninspired content, but: that cover is truly terrible. I don't know if you can quite see its awfulness as a thumbnail, but trust me. It's dire.